Harriet Ann Jacobs hides in her pen name, “Linda Brent”, the main character of the book, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”. As Linda Brent, she expresses her woes as a woman who unfortunately was denied by destiny to have a happy and normal life protected by the Law.
This book was published in the year 1861. The book is obviously a book pertaining to the appalling situation, which she had to live with as a slave. More than that, the book may be considered feminist literature as well. Truly, the author expresses how slavery has affected both the people around her (neighbors, white and Negro people) and the lives of the people she loved and cherished. But more than that, she expresses her woes as a girl who grew up in slavery and her contempt for her situation as a woman.
The society in which Linda, the main character of the book, was not only inclined to slavery but also to patriarchy, two things which she despised so much. Her story began with how all other slave stories began. She was a colored woman (Negro), upon being born, and her ancestors being the same as well, suffered the same state as she was currently undergoing. She states how her grandmother was very virtuous and very industrious as well. She was well-loved by her mistress and treated well. She was given a chance to be able to bake biscuits after her work so she can earn some money. Truly her grandmother was blessed enough not to suffer the cruelties of slavery with the aid of a generous mistress. She tried her best to earn money to buy her children from slavery by selling biscuits because unlike the pleasant fate that she was bestowed, she is aware that slavery is far crueler. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she was unable to do so, therefore, each of her children was enslaved by the children of her mistress.
In the beginning, Linda was lucky enough to have a kind mistress, a mistress who treated her mother like a sister and thought her the luxuries of reading and writing. Luxuries such as writing, reading, having proper clothing, are things that are denied to slaves. In fact, they are treated no more than mere property. Properties have no rights, not even the right to own is bestowed upon them. “While my grandmother was thus helping to support me from her hard earnings, the three hundred dollars she had lent her mistress were never repaid. When her mistress died, her son-in-law, Dr. Flint, was appointed executor. When grandmother applied to him for payment, he said the estate was insolvent, and the law prohibited payment. (p. 6)”
Happiness was scarce in Linda’s life. Both her parents died early and the kind mistress that she used to have died as well. Leaving her in the cruel hands of Dr. Flint and Mrs. Flint, since she was placed under the service of the 5-year-old niece of her former Mistress.
A slave is granted the luxuries of a holiday depending on the Overseer or the Master, and on the day of New Year, they are then auctioned. If their master is kind, they would be begging their master to take them back, and if not, they would have to pray fervently that they would be given a new master. Some masters are very undesirable, so the slaves would pray never to befall such a fate as to serve them. “If a slave is unwilling to go with his new master, he is whipped, or locked up in jail, until he consents to go, and promises not to run away during the year. Should he chance to change his mind, thinking it justifiable to violate an extorted promise, woe unto him if he is caught! The whip is used till the blood flows at his feet; and his stiffened limbs are put in chains, to be dragged in the field for days and days!”(p9)
As a slave and as a girl, Linda regrets living, and would simply wish that she would die. “No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery. The slave girl is reared in an atmosphere of licentiousness and fear. The lash and the foul talk of her master and his sons are her teachers. When she is fourteen or fifteen, her owner, or his sons, or the overseer, or perhaps all of them, begin to bribe her with presents. If these fail to accomplish their purpose, she is whipped or starved into submission to their will. She may have had religious principles inculcated by some pious mother or grandmother, or some good mistress; she may have a lover, whose good opinion and peace of mind are dear to her heart; or the profligate men who have power over her may be exceedingly odious to her. But resistance is hopeless. (p 35)” These are mere experiences which she has suffered for so many years. She fervently asks the reader not to have judged her actions but to pity her state that destiny has offered her. If Linda was born in a society with no biases, a society that offered laws in which she would be protected, a society where slavery and racism did not exist, her story would have been much different. If she was born in the same comfort as a white woman does, her life would have been much better.
Works Cited
Jacobs, Harriet Ann. Slavery in the System of Patriarchy: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Herself.