Journal Harriet Jacobs

Christine LaKomy Sloss
Dr.Scott Lankford
English 48A  
October 19, 2011
Journal: Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Author Quote: The more my mind had become enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property; and to pay money to those who had so grievously oppressed me seemed like taking from my sufferings the glory of triumph.

Internet Quote: With no legal checks on their behavior, they inflict every conceivable kind of torture on their servants. Most slave masters view slaves as little more than animals or objects, never acknowledging their humanity.

Summary:Harriet Jacobs didn’t know she was a slave as a child, she grew up with both her parents and her grandmother. She was given tasks of light work, sewing, cooking, and her mistress taught her to read and write. After her mistress dies she realized the significance of who or what she was, she was someones property and this thought tormented Harriet immensely. The more she learned about slavery and her desperate situation, she became more determine to brake free. She fought back the only way she new how. She gave her purity to a man of her choice, instead of being forced upon by her owner.She hid away in a cramped crawl space for months, abandoning her children just to find relief from the agonizing sexual threats of  Dr. Flint, instead moving to a house he built to hold her for his own pleasure. Harriet had her own way about her, and she felt she should not be owned by anyone, and in the end she got just that, her freedom.

My thoughts: As Harriet grew from girl to young woman I though she was very lucky, compared to most. It would seem she would be more the type like her grandmother happy to servant. It struck me odd that she was calculating better odds with getting pregnant by someone she barely knew, over the thought of the sexual advances and perhaps one day Dr.Flint would force himself on her.  In her time it was expected to receive such treatment from a slave owner, I wonder if Dr.Flint would have become violent if she was more submissive. I know it is a terrible thought, but if she bore children of Dr.Flint it is conceivable her slave life would have been even easier. He built her a house, so she would not worry about Mrs.Flint harming her. And if she had children of Dr.Flint, she would not have had to hide for years in an attic, separated from her children and social contact. Beside she did have her grandmother to look after her, and if she was so close with her family, why she did not confide in them earlier to figure something out. I feel if thing got too crazy between Dr.Flint and Harriet that the grandmother would of intervene.  I’m sure it  wouldn’t take much to inflame Mrs.Flint, if Harriet thought about it more, she could of played Dr.Flint against his wife, and ended up in an even better scenario.

It is interesting though, I am less sympathetic to Harriet than to Frederick. I believe it is because of her selfish motives. Harriet did mention several times, that it was the sound of her children’s voices or the glimpse of them through the one inch hole, that got her through the difficulties of being in the crawl space. But, to me this makes no sense, what she did is abandon her children, for years. This is not Ok in my book! A mother makes sacrifices, (all types of sacrifices) for her children, and for her to lock herself up, away from her children, is very selfish. And, why did she have children in the first place, she did think of it as the joy of having a family, she only thought about how she could get back at Dr.Flint. The thought sickens me. No wonder her grandmother never forgave her! “poor child”, selfish child.