Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is about Linda Trent, a young slave girl who seems to live a normal life until she is six years old. One of the themes that Harriet Jacobs focuses on is the injustice to being a slave. Harriet Jacobs uses irony in the first few paragraphs. How she uses irony is because Linda doesn’t know about the truth about her origin. She still doesn’t know what a slave is and that she is one. One of the reasons may have been because most of Linda’s family is mulattoes. Meaning that she isn’t full black and neither her family. Her family also seems to be respected throughout the society even though they are slaves. Her childhood is described as happy and carefree as possible.
“I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passes away.”
It wasn’t until Linda’s mother had passes away that she finally discovered the true meaning of slavery. Even though Linda’s new mistress was kind to her, when she died she didn’t gave Linda her freedom. Instead she trusted Linda to a cruel master, Dr. Flint. How was this a form of injustice? Well first of all Linda’s mistress was Linda’s mother foster sister.
“She was the foster of my mother; they were both nourished at my grandmother’s breast. In fact my mother had been weaned at three months old, that the babe of the mistress might obtain sufficient food.”
Linda’s mother was also the slave for her foster sister, even though they had been fed by the same milk.
“They played together as children; and, when they became women, my mother was a most faithful servant to her foster sister.”
Harriet Jacobs adds the word most before faithful, thus emphasizing Linda’s mother’s loyalty, but Linda still remained a slave. When Linda’s mistress died she thought she was going to become freed. Alas, she was trusted in the care of a cruel and neglectful master, Dr. Flint.
“But I was her slave, and I suppose she didn’t recognize me as her neighbor. I would give much to blot out form my memory this great wrong. As a child, I loved my mistress; and, looking back on the happy days I spent with her, I try to think with less bitterness of this act of injustice. While I was with her, she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of a slave, I bless her memory.”
Linda mentions is this quote that she loved her mistress. By using the word loved Linda is emphasizing her loyalty to her. She uses the phase “great wrong” and the word “injustice” to name the deed that was taken with her. Again the deed was giving her to Dr. Flint. She does this to emphasize how this trading off was a cruel reward to her loyalty to her mistress. But even with this trading off she is still grateful to her mistress. She mentions that her mistress taught her to read and write. During the slavery era a slave was rarely granted this gift. This act of kindness still lets Linda to see her mistress with kind eyes. Through the story there are still more acts of injustices not only to Linda, but to other slaves among the society. As Linda grows up she encounters more and more of these acts of cruelty.