Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a slave narrative by Harriet Jacobs, under the .
pseudonym of Linda Brent, that gives a true account of the brutality slavery held for women. .
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is Jacobs" own story of what it was like to be born and raised.
in slavery. Through her book, she gives the reader a clear picture of the life of a female slave in .
the South. The story is very much interwoven with the "cult of true womanhood"(where is this quoted from?). Brent hardly embodied the ideal picture of true womanhood painted by white, upper class and later middle class women: pious, pure, submissive, and delicate. The story gives the perspective of a woman slave on slavery, a perspective that was relatively secretive during Jacobs" time. Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl focus on the challenges Brent faced as a female slave and emphasizes the sexual harassment she experiences working in the home of Dr.Flint. .
Harriet Jacobs was born a slave but "never knew it till six years of happy childhood had .
passed away."(Jacobs 1) when Jacobs was six, her mother died. Still her life was not difficult. .
She moved into the home of her mother's mistress - a kindhearted lady who taught her to read. .
However, upon the death of her mistress, ownership of Jacobs was transferred to the mistress" niece. But since the niece was only three years old, Jacobs" actual master was the father, Dr. Flint. This man is the major cause of miseries in Jacobs" life. (verb tenses may need to be present).
Jacobs is only fifteen when Dr. Flint begins his sexual pursuit of her. At first he whispers foul words in her ear. Jacobs says "Cruelty is contagious in uncivilized communities" (Jacobs .
49). He tries every possible way to get her, but Jacobs refuses to give in. She writes .
"Everywhere the years bring to all enough of sin and sorrow, but in slavery the very dawn .
of life is darkened by these shadows" (Jacobs 27).
