Harriet Jacobs a True Woman - 2422 Words

The nineteenth century was an age of male dominance as well as slavery; even white women were viewed more as property or a burden to men instead of an equal. In concur with male supremacy the cult of true womanhood was practiced, an ideology which was brought forth in the eighteen century stating four virtues which women should abide by, piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity, in turn they would be grant happiness and power; hardly being the case of either, women were subjected to the control and dependency of their male counterparts. These virtues were taken mostly in attention of the elite white woman, not considering poor white women as well as slaves, who were thought to be less than women; African American women were excluded†¦show more content†¦Women were perhaps naà ¯ve in the sense that they accepted that men were head of the universe. Instead Jacobs refuses to accept Dr. Flint, escapes and not with her benefit in mind but with the hope of freedom for her c hildren. She knows that Dr. Flint would not sell her children if she were there for fear of her escape in search of them, but she figured that if she were no longer around her children would instead be a burden to the doctor and he would eventually consent to selling them. When her children are finally safely in the North and Jacobs is able to flee the south in search of them, her main concern was to find employment and being able to provide for them, she told her daughter Ellis â€Å"I had laid up a hundred dollars and before long I hoped to be able to give her and Benjamin a home, and send them to school.† A woman supporting her children, with no man as head of the household was not viewed as domestic; she was degraded for not marrying and having children out of wedlock. Jacobs gives a new definition of domestic, it may have been too futuristic to people of her era, but today a domestic person is devoted to home life or household affairs. Jacobs did not need to accept Dr. Flint’s attempt to domesticate her or need to conform to the domesticity expectations of needing to be married, she provided for her children even when she had the bare minimal for herself, she always thought of their welfare first even if it meant an anguishedShow MoreRelatedIncidents In The Life A Slave Girl Summary1630 Words   |  7 Pages Harriet Jacobs writes, â€Å"No pen can give an adequate description of all [the] pervading corruption of slavery.† In the book, Incidents in the Life a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs recount her time as a slave before escaping the cruelties of slavery to freedom. This quote from the book outlines the intelligence Harriet Jacobs has about the torment in slavery. In the beginning of the book the preface and the editor’s introduction to the book outline Harriet Jacobs story. Both the preface and the author’sRead MoreHarriet Jacobs’ Fight Against Intolerance713 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"My master had power and low on his side; I had determined will. There is might in each† a statement from Harriet Ann Jacobs reflecting her will to overcome the standards of society (97). Harriet Jacobs’ life revolved around slavery from birth to death. Jacobs was a mother of two with determination and insight to make choices to change the way of life for her children. Harriet Jacobs was the first African American women to have her slave narrative published retelling her life story exposingRead MoreEssay about Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl1355 Words   |  6 PagesHarriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl The feminist movement sought to gain rights for women. Many feminist during the early nineteenth century fought for the abolition of slavery around the world. The slave narrative became a powerful feminist tool in the nineteenth century. Black and white women are fictionalized and objectified in the slave narrative. White women are idealized as pure, angelic, and chaste while black woman are idealized as exotic and contained an uncontrollableRead MoreEssay Harriet Jacobs Life of a Slave Girl1322 Words   |  6 Pages Harriet A. Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Jacobs’s construction of black female empowerment despite the limitations of slavery Harriet A. Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiography written under the name of Linda Brent. This autobiography is a detailed account of her life or lack thereof. I use the term lack thereof because Harriet Jacobs was raised by her grandmother due to her mother dying at a young age. Harriet was taught to readRead MoreThe Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs1335 Words   |  6 PagesHarriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Incidents) to plead with free white women in the north for the abolition of slavery. She focused on highlighting characteristics that the Cult of True Womanhood and other traditional protestant Christians idolized in women, mainly piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. Yet, by representing how each of her characters loses the ability to maintain the prescribed values, she presents the strong moral framework of the African AmericanRead MoreIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Feminism Essays1364 Words   |   6 Pagesidealized as pure, angelic, and chaste while black woman are idealized as exotic and contained an uncontrollable, savage sexuality. Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, brought the sexual oppression of captive black women into the public and political arena. br brHarriet Jacobs takes a great risk writing her trials as a house servant in the south and a fugitive in the north. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl gives a true account of the brutality slavery held for women. ARead MoreSlavery in America1124 Words   |  5 Pageswas a difficult time for African Americans. But do people truly understand how hard it was for the African American female slaves? Harriet Jacobs goes into detail about her life as a slave and gives the female perspective under the alias Linda Brent in the novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. She states that everything she says in the book is completely true. There are stereotypes of black women during this time: being looke d upon as sexual objects and being promiscuous. Jacobs’s attemptsRead MoreIncidents Throughout The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs Essay1475 Words   |  6 PagesMark 01 November 2016 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl In her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs is a slave that was born into slavery in 1813 that has decided to share her amazing story of slavery and her struggles to become free. When she was young her parents were â€Å"property† of a really nice lady that allowed her family to have a very comfortable life for a slave family. They were allowed to work for their own money and Harriet did not know that sheRead MoreHarriet Jacobs s Story : The True Meaning Of A Slave s Quest For Freedom1682 Words   |  7 PagesHarriet Jacobs’s story informs the reader of her experiences and transformative tribulations she had to undergo from childhood to adulthood. No one in today’s society could come close to comprehending the amount of heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery women had to suffer and endure during slavery. However, we can all learn from Jacobs’s heartbreaking story to understand the true meaning of a slave’s quest for freedom and the inalienable bond a mother has for her children. Life was toughRead More Slavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs Essays1074 Words   |  5 PagesSlavery and the Life of Harriet Jacobs It is well known that slavery was a horrible event in the history of the United States. However, what isnt as well known is the actual severity of slavery. The experiences of slave women presented by Angela Davis and the theories of black women presented by Patricia Hill Collins are evident in the life of Harriet Jacobs and show the severity of slavery for black women. The history of slave women offered by Davis suggests that compulsory labor overshadowed