— Anonymous
At the beginning of the novel “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” the author Harriet Jacobs points out that Northerners have no knowledge of the slavery. Northerners think slavery as a ceaseless bondage with the Southerners. They have no ideas of the word slavery that entails with ceaseless humiliation. Linda Brent (Pseudonym of Harriet Jacobs) spent the most crucial and predominant part of her life in the slavery, where she had to work relentlessly to support herself and her children. She hardly had time to put her realities into scripts. So, whenever she could seize a moment from household chores, she utilized the time to put her actuality into written words. Even if her descriptions were not enough compared to the reality she dealt with, her intention was to make the Northerners realize the facts that millions of women surviving at the South are still suffering with the same issues that she experienced. Moreover, the author is revealing the novel to those people who are residing in a free State that slavery is extremely miserable, horrified, and sorrowful situation in someone’s life, which only can be experienced by the slave.
Harriet Jacobs discusses about the Revolutionary War, which reminds us the period, when the 13 American colonies fought the British rulers for the independence of the United States. Furthermore, the novel recalls the time, when human was treated as an inferior good, “slavery.” How cruel and brutal the people were, who traded a person for money! Slaves had no freedom whatsoever. The author narrated a truly heartbreaking and heart-trembling scene when her father died, she had no legal rights of going back to her father’s house. The book illustrates the ruthless behavior of the slavers who had complete control over their slaves; they were taking away slaves’ freedom of speech, freedom of nourishment, and so on. The slaves were both mentally and physically abused by their masters; it depicts inhumane, savage, and beastly behavior of humankind.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is terrifically recommended for the readers. There are plenty of things to take from the book. It might change our notions and perspectives to the points of views of a slave. This book unveils the inappropriate behaviors, conducts, manners, and etiquettes that still belong in human being, society, and throughout the world.
