Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself Free Essay Example, 1250 words

She could neither endure the torture nor leave their children behind and run away. So, their only way was to submit to their fate. But when other women would let themselves collapse under the crushing torture of slavery, Linda retains her mental strength to oppose Mr. Flint’s desire. Linda’s mental strength is evident in a speech: â€Å"When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong† (Jacobs 46). Indeed, this simple comment of Linda tends to summarize the gist of the whole narrative as well as of the evil of slavery in American society during the early nineteenth century. It can be viewed from different perspectives and angles. As a mother, Linda violently fights against slavery. She wants to save her children from the evil of slavery. She plays hoax on Mr. Flints in order to attain freedom for her c hildren, Benny and Elena. She had to spend innumerous sleepless night in the tight attic in which she can hardly stand. We will write a custom essay sample on Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now But her only pleasure is that she can see her run around her Aunt Martha’s house freely. Indeed, for any male reader, such sacrifice may seem to be something mere, but the pains, sufferings and angst she undergoes during those days of slavery are not anything mere for a woman who is familiar with a mother’s feeling at the core of her existence. Even Linda’s motherhood is in complete contrast with Mr. Sands’ fatherhood. Even though he is the father of two children with Linda, his concerns about his children are nothing. Rather his indifference to the children raises the doubt in the reader’s mind that he may sell his and Linda’ children (Benny and Elena). Such contrast between fatherhood and motherhood clearly show the difference between a man’s and a woman’s views about slavery. In slavery, a woman not only undergoes the brutal practice of whoredom, but also has to suffer from the most terrible experience of seeing her children being tortured, sold to another brute slave-owners or even being killed. Such the terribleness of such experiences is exclusively a mother’s own. In fact, Jacob is quite aware of the fact that women were profitable for a number of reasons to the slave owners. Since slave-traders could, no longer, meet the demand of slaves on the plantations in the South, sexual overtures with slave girls proved to be profitable primarily because such sexuality could reproduce more slaves, as Kim Wells says in this regard, â€Å"Surely it is obvious that the practice of slave "breeding, " was necessary for the continued existence of slavery since the U. S.