Harriet Jacobs

     To me this has been one of the harder reading assignments we’ve had. Not because the text was difficult to understand, but because it really shed a light on how horribly humans are capable of treating one another. I’m sure there were slaves in this time who had it much worse than Harriet Jacobs, but the psychological torture Dr. Flint and his family put “Linda” through was, in my opinion, simply vile.

         In the first few chapters Harriet Jacobs discusses her childhood experiences with her owner Dr. Flint and her Mistress, Dr. Flint’s Wife. Flint makes advances towards Linda, as Jacobs calls herself in the novel. Flint’s attention towards Linda makes his wife extremely jealous. Throughout Linda’s life she must put up with extreme psychological abuse of her owners. She is continuously denied the opportunity to be bought from the Flint’s, and eventually resorts to having children in an effort to procure her own freedom. When this does not work She runs away from the Flint family, and goes into hiding at a friend’s home. Throughout her writing Harriet pleads with the readers to understand what a horrible thing slavery is.

         The first few chapters of this assignment of course made me think of Peter Cartwright’s point of view on slavery. We discussed in class how his opinion was that the men who had children with slave women were not to blame for their actions. I believe Harriet Jacobs would have liked to have a few words with Cartwright on this matter. She tried very had to be moral, and do the right thing. Unfortunately, her position in the awful cycle of slavery made that impossible. On pages 83 & 84 she discusses how the brutality of slavery forced her into her desperate situation of having a child out of wedlock.  I do not see Harriet/Linda as being at fault in this situation. She was a victim, who was forced to make drastic choices in the hopes of improving her situation.

         One thing that confused me as I read was how and why Linda became a slave. From the reading it seemed like Linda’s grandmother was not a slave, though she may have once been. The text mentions that she had known the Flints since they were children. I also seemed to get the impression that Linda’s parents were also free. Did I miss something in the reading? If any one can answer that for me I would appreciate it!