Harriet Jacobs

Spencer Lambert
ENGL 48A
Journal for Harriet Jacobs
October 14, 2009

"The painful and humiliating memory will haunt me to my dying day. Still, in looking back, calmly, on the events of my life, I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others."

Internet Quotation: "Through her book, she gives the reader a clear picture of the life of a female house slave in the South before the Civil War." - Julie R. Adams

Summary: As a method of protecting herself from the sexual advances of Dr. Flint, Jacobs, writing as Linda Brent, pursues a relationship with Mr. Sands, a white man. He fathers two of Linda's children, much to her humiliation. She feels degraded by her choice to willingly give herself sexually to this man. She ultimately concludes, however, that slaves cannot be held to the same moral standards as free people, essentially justifying her actions with the cliche, "desperate times call for desperate measures."

The internet quotation is from Julie Adams, who maintains a page at the University of Virginia on Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The quotation is straightforward, but important. This book really was one of the best insights into the life of a slave girl. These narratives help to complete the portrait of slave life that is so vital to the understanding of our past.

My Ideas: I find in this reading and in the Douglass reading many parallels, despite the difference in gender and general lifestyle. Jacobs was not a worker, having been kept in a house most of her life and only coming to realize she was a slave at six when her mother died. As such, she developed into a much different kind of slave, one who serves their masters directly instead of the more common slave who works in the field for his or her master's economic benefit. This portrait of slavery, then, is from the inside looking out rather than outside looking in.



What is most interesting is how similar the inside is to the outside. There aren't any bloody fights or cruel beatings here, none of the brutal fury found in Douglass's narrative. But physicality is not taken out of the master and slave relationship. In the case of Jacobs, her physical torture is sexual. The advances of Dr. Flint cause her unending anxiety. She can't possibly stand the thought of the man doing anything to her. After much deliberation, she needs an escape, which drives her to a relationship with Mr. Sands.

What gets me about both of these readings is just how radicalized both Jacobs and Douglass become through their slavery. They aren't like the other slaves, who are just do their work and enjoy what little leisure time they have; instead, their time spent in the institution has caused something to break inside of them, forcing them to extreme, physical rebellion. For Douglass, it is his fight with Mr. Covey and his vow to fight any man who puts his hands on him. For Jacobs, it is her sexual relationship, and subsequent children with Mr. Sands. This isn't normal slave behavior, if there is such a thing.

Jacobs is moved to this peculiar method of rebellion because of her slave master's "special" treatment and a knowledge of the world outside of slavery. Growing up, her father was a skilled carpenter who hired himself out, and her family lived in their own house. For these first six years of her life, she may as well have been a free black girl in the South. The touch of slavery only came after her mother died, when she was sent off to a new mistress. She is also educated, with the ability to read and write. Finally, her first love interest, a free black carpenter, gives her a vision of her freedom, away from slavery and Dr. Flint. When all of these ingredients come together, you get a reaction like that of Jacobs, who used sex as a tool. There doesn't seem to be any pleasure in her description of her acts, only a staunch, if saddened, necessity.



It is this radicalization of slaves that attempted to break down and throw off the bonds slavery in the forms of escape, narratives, and speeches. It shows that ideas can only take a person so far. For Jacobs, it only gave her an intense longing, but never any relief from slavery. Relief came only when she took action physically, in her sexual relationship with Mr. Sands and her escape to the attic.