"Incidents" begins with a Preface by the author that establishes that it fits the first criteria for a slave narrative: It proclaims that it is anautobiographical account of the life of Harriet Jacobs, although she has changed her name and the names of others to protect them. In the account she calls herself Linda. The next element is an endorsement by a white friend saying the work is authentic. This is written and included in the Introduction.
In the first chapter, "Linda" relates the story of the circumstances that allowed her to be unaware that she was a slave until her mother's death when Linda was only 6 years old. She then tells of her mother's mistress, who was raised and loved with her mother. The mistress took great care of Linda until her death when Linda was about 12. At this time, everything changed for Linda. Instead of freeing her, as had been expected, her mistress left Linda to her sister's daughter, and thus began Linda's true education into what it really meant to be a slave.
In chapters three and four we begin getting the detailed depictions of violence and degradation suffered by other members of her family, and a hint of what is to come for Linda herself. Even though Linda is upset with her former mistress for putting her in this dire situation, she is still thankful that the woman taught her to read, write and spell. She is also a bit scornful for her biblical teaching, however, because she doesn't feel that the mistress followed the scripture of treating their neighbor and they'd want to be treated, and made the comment that apparently her mistress did not consider her a neighbor. You can hear the bitterness as it begins to creep into Linda's life.
Much is said about how some slave owners would allow the slaves to make themselves money, even though it was against the law for a slave to "own" anything. Linda's grandmother is cheated out of money that her slave owner had "borrowed" to buy a candlelabra that she never was paid back for. It was $300.00, which was a small fortune in those days. This establishes two of the most commonly used motifs in slave narrative: the exchange of money and the gross deception of slave owners to their slaves.
Linda relays a story about her grandmother being freed and then recaptured and sold again. There is also much talk of saving money to buy freedom for the slaves themselves and other family members. Linda's grandmother represents another motiff common in slave narratives....that of family loyalty and a mother's love for her children.
In the first four chapters, we are already seeing the developement of a few underlying themes. The groundwork is being laid for the theme "Knowledge can be the key to both power and freedom." Linda sets the tone for this in her Preface, and then lays the first stones on the path by mentioning her mistress teaching her to read and write.
Another theme being developed is evident when Linda talks of her first mistress, and then of Dr. Flint's wife. It is the theme "Sometimes people don't recognize it when their moral choices conflict with their religious or philosophical ideas." This is alluded to when she talks about Mrs. Flint being so delicate that she cannot do any work, but she is fully capable of seeing someone beat until they bleed. Linda recounts the fact of Mrs. Flint spitting in each container if Sunday dinner was late so that the slaves wouldn't have anything to eat. Even her old mistress doesn't escape this when Linda says that she didn't consider Linda "her neighbor" because she didn't free Linda at her death.
The story thus far can be compared to "The Life and Adventures of Venture: Chapter III" that we read from the text. Unlike "Linda," Venture was not born into slavery. He actually had childhood memories of when he was not a slave. "Linda" only has memories of "not knowing" that she was a slave. We also really began to read about Venture after he obtained his freedom. So far, a big part of "Linda's" story concerns her journey to obtain freedom. Also, Venture originally wrote the Preface himself. However, he did have the Preface writer identified as Elisha Niles, and American revolution soldier and school teacher when it was reprinted in 1897.
The time of the writings is also very different. Smith lived between 1729-1805, where as Jacobs lived between 1813-1897. Attitudes towards slavery were a bit different as were the laws concerning slavery. Jacob's lived as the slavery issue was heating up and the first signs of Civil War were beginning to become very apparent. The longer slavery went on, the more evident the abuses of slavery.
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