A motif is a recurrent thematic element in a literary work. Jacobs "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" is full of them.
In the slave narrative, there is an element included that is there to add excitement to the story. To drive home the plight of the slave, the story of the escape to the North is an important element. The trek to the North is fraught with hardships and narrow escapes. Clearly, Jacobs crosses mental and physical boundaries as she makes her escape from the plantation belonging to Nicholas Flint, the son of Dr. Flint. As Jacobs makes her escape to the North, she crosses many emotional and literal boundaries before her narrative ends.
Another recurring motif closely associated with the tale of escape is one of deception and disguise. When Jacobs pretends that she cannot read and does not understand Dr. Flint's notes, her pretended ignorance in its own way is an attempt to deceive. Later, Jacobs disguises herself as a sailor and then slips into the attic of her grandmother's shed. Eventually she makes her escape to the North. To do this, she once again uses a disguise and subterfuge to get away. Later, a white friend of Jacobs endangers her own child so that Jacobs can have the guise of being a slave caretaker of the child and is thus able to escape.
One of the most common motif's of a slave narrative is violence. Jacobs uses it when she recounts one of her earliest memories of Dr. Flint as he savagely beat one of his plantation slaves. She tells of seeing the blood and gore on the walls the next morning. She tells stories of slaves who were washed with brine after being beaten to torture them, and of slaves frozen, burned or whipped to death. These are just a few of the accounts of violence that Jacobs intersperses throughout her book.
Another recurring motif of the slave narrative is seen in "the exchange of money" that is threaded throughout the story. We can see it in the tale of Jacobs' grandmother as she loans her mistress $300 that she was saving to buy the freedom of her children. The money was never repaid. Jacobs' own freedom was bought by her close abolitionist friend. This was possible because of the greediness of Emily Flint's husband. The bottom line is this: Money was the big motivation for slavery. Large scale farming was the backbone of the economy of the South. A large, cheap work force was needed to produce this product. The Southern solution for years had been slavery. Without it there was a real fear of economic devastation.
Using that for comparison, how does the justification for the growing of coca and marijuana for the manufacture of Cocaine and other drugs in Columbia compare with the justification of southern plantation owners for the ownership of slaves? What is the bottom line? Is the motivation for both the same...money?
Symbolism is prolific throughout the slave narrative. Bloodhounds symbolize The Fugitive Slave Act and the hunters who carry it out. They are like bloodhounds, sniffing out the trails of the runaway slaves. Another strong symbol common in the slave narrative is the symbol of snakes. Snakes can stand for either life or death in the slave narrative. In Jacobs' "Incidents" snakes markedly appear on her escape to the North. As she sheds her old slave self, she is reborn....just like a snake sheds its skin. Still, the escape to freedom is fraught with danger and snakes are a reminder that death is never very far away.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Other Prevailing Themes in the Slave Narrative Seen in "Incidents"
In a previous post, I discussed the themes of family loyalty, a sense of community, and the strong instinct of motherhood. There are many themes in "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Another important one is the theme "Slavery is harmful to both slaves and slave owners." In her narrative, Jacobs relates the emotional pain that slavery causes both white and black women alike.
The infidelity and rapes that the institution of slavery encourages is painful to both. For the slave woman, it is an unwanted assault to her body. The mental anguish of rape and the unwarranted guilt that accompanies it is sometimes never overcome. For the white woman, it is the shame and sorrow that her husband would turn to another. No matter how wrong the assumption, it makes a woman feel as if she isn't enough. Somehow she feels as though she has failed her husband and herself. She is bound to her husband as surely as the female slave is bound to him. To deal with this, most turn their anger and low self-worth towards the slave woman. She takes out her angst and feelings of being powerless against the poor slave.
Jacobs also speaks of the detrimental affects of slavery for the men, white and black. She tells of instances where the white slave owner would have been a better man, if not for slavery. The pain of his wife would also have been nonexistent. The black man, also is emasculated by having to sneak out of his cabin so that the master can come in and have sex with the slave's own wife. There is nothing he can say or do without fear of brutal reprisal...not only to himself, but also to his wife and possibly other members of his family.
Another theme found in "Incidents" is the theme that "People often fail to recognize it when their moral choices are in conflict with the religion or philosophy they propose to uphold." Examples of this run throughout the book. Jacobs recalls how the pious Mrs. Flint was too delicate to do any work, but was fully capable of seeing someone beat until they bled, without a flinch. She also recounts seeing Mrs. Flint spit into each container of food if Sunday dinner was late. This was to keep the slaves from having anything to eat that night.
One of the most important elements in the slave narrative is a repeated theme in "Incidents." It is the theme that "A Focus on Education is an Important Key to Freedom." Even when Jacobs was hurt and angry at her mistress for not freeing Jacobs upon her death, she still spoke of being "thankful" to her mistress for teaching her to read and write. Jacobs also tells of trying to hide her ability to read and write from the vile Dr. Flint, as he is trying to use her 'gift' to demoralize and corrupt her. Still, she is ever thankful for the ability. It allows her to write to Dr. Flint and mislead him into thinking that she is in the North, when she actually is right down the street from him. Jacobs credits this ability as a real gift and thinks of it that way throughout her narrative.
What other themes can be seen in "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?" Can you see other themes that are known to be a part of the slave narrative in her story?
The infidelity and rapes that the institution of slavery encourages is painful to both. For the slave woman, it is an unwanted assault to her body. The mental anguish of rape and the unwarranted guilt that accompanies it is sometimes never overcome. For the white woman, it is the shame and sorrow that her husband would turn to another. No matter how wrong the assumption, it makes a woman feel as if she isn't enough. Somehow she feels as though she has failed her husband and herself. She is bound to her husband as surely as the female slave is bound to him. To deal with this, most turn their anger and low self-worth towards the slave woman. She takes out her angst and feelings of being powerless against the poor slave.
Jacobs also speaks of the detrimental affects of slavery for the men, white and black. She tells of instances where the white slave owner would have been a better man, if not for slavery. The pain of his wife would also have been nonexistent. The black man, also is emasculated by having to sneak out of his cabin so that the master can come in and have sex with the slave's own wife. There is nothing he can say or do without fear of brutal reprisal...not only to himself, but also to his wife and possibly other members of his family.
Another theme found in "Incidents" is the theme that "People often fail to recognize it when their moral choices are in conflict with the religion or philosophy they propose to uphold." Examples of this run throughout the book. Jacobs recalls how the pious Mrs. Flint was too delicate to do any work, but was fully capable of seeing someone beat until they bled, without a flinch. She also recounts seeing Mrs. Flint spit into each container of food if Sunday dinner was late. This was to keep the slaves from having anything to eat that night.
One of the most important elements in the slave narrative is a repeated theme in "Incidents." It is the theme that "A Focus on Education is an Important Key to Freedom." Even when Jacobs was hurt and angry at her mistress for not freeing Jacobs upon her death, she still spoke of being "thankful" to her mistress for teaching her to read and write. Jacobs also tells of trying to hide her ability to read and write from the vile Dr. Flint, as he is trying to use her 'gift' to demoralize and corrupt her. Still, she is ever thankful for the ability. It allows her to write to Dr. Flint and mislead him into thinking that she is in the North, when she actually is right down the street from him. Jacobs credits this ability as a real gift and thinks of it that way throughout her narrative.
What other themes can be seen in "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl?" Can you see other themes that are known to be a part of the slave narrative in her story?
"Incidents": Written in the Style of the 'Domestic Novel'
Popular in the mid 1800s was a style known simply as the Domestic Novel. It was written by women for women and emphasized the home, family, female chastity and marriage. Although influenced by contemporary writers and friends Lydia Maria Child and Fanny Fern, her greatest influence was Harriet Beecher Stowe and her famous book "Uncle Tom's Cabin(1851)."
In an attempt to jump on the bandwagon of interest created by Beecher's novel, Jacobs used many of the literary contrivances of domestic fiction to draw the same audiences who were so taken with "Uncle Tom's Cabin": white female Northerners. Jacobs refuses, however to adopt the promotion of "true womanhood" that required that women be pure, submissive, modest and humble. She explains this by reiterating many times that "it is not possible for a black slave woman to maintain her chastity and virtue."
Something that Jacobs does take from the Domestic Novel genre and is prolific throughout "Incidents" are the themes of family loyalty, a sense of community and the strong instinct of motherhood. You see it potently portrayed, especially during times of extreme hardship. Jacob's relays the dread of New Year's Day (also known as hiring day to the slaves)for the slave mothers on page 16 of the book.
She says, "One of these sale days, I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction-block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all. The children were sold to a slave-trader, and their mother was owned by a man in her own town. Before night her children were all far away. She begged the trader to tell her where he intended to take them; this he refused to do. How could he, when he knew he would sell them, one by one, wherever he could command the highest price? I met the mother in the street, and her wild, haggard face lives to-day in my mind. She wrong her hands in anguish,and exclaimed, 'Gone! All gone! Why don't God kill me?' I had no words wherewith to comfort her. Instances of this kind are of daily, yea, hourly occurrence."
She goes on to tell of her youngest brother being sold, and her fear that her own children would suffer the same consequences. This same fear prompted her to pretend to run away and instead hide in the attic of her mother's shed for seven years. She was permanently injured because of her incarceration. Do you think she really thought it through having children, with the knowledge that the vile Dr.Flint could use them against her? She was young and convinced herself that he would let her go, but in her heart, do you think this rung true for her?
In an attempt to jump on the bandwagon of interest created by Beecher's novel, Jacobs used many of the literary contrivances of domestic fiction to draw the same audiences who were so taken with "Uncle Tom's Cabin": white female Northerners. Jacobs refuses, however to adopt the promotion of "true womanhood" that required that women be pure, submissive, modest and humble. She explains this by reiterating many times that "it is not possible for a black slave woman to maintain her chastity and virtue."
Something that Jacobs does take from the Domestic Novel genre and is prolific throughout "Incidents" are the themes of family loyalty, a sense of community and the strong instinct of motherhood. You see it potently portrayed, especially during times of extreme hardship. Jacob's relays the dread of New Year's Day (also known as hiring day to the slaves)for the slave mothers on page 16 of the book.
She says, "One of these sale days, I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction-block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all. The children were sold to a slave-trader, and their mother was owned by a man in her own town. Before night her children were all far away. She begged the trader to tell her where he intended to take them; this he refused to do. How could he, when he knew he would sell them, one by one, wherever he could command the highest price? I met the mother in the street, and her wild, haggard face lives to-day in my mind. She wrong her hands in anguish,and exclaimed, 'Gone! All gone! Why don't God kill me?' I had no words wherewith to comfort her. Instances of this kind are of daily, yea, hourly occurrence."
She goes on to tell of her youngest brother being sold, and her fear that her own children would suffer the same consequences. This same fear prompted her to pretend to run away and instead hide in the attic of her mother's shed for seven years. She was permanently injured because of her incarceration. Do you think she really thought it through having children, with the knowledge that the vile Dr.Flint could use them against her? She was young and convinced herself that he would let her go, but in her heart, do you think this rung true for her?
Other Aspects of a Slave Narrative found in "Incidents"
All slave narratives had the same basic motivation: an end to slavery. Slave writers were urged by white abolitionists to follow distinct guidelines so that they could produce what they considered to be their most powerful weapon against slavery. They were encouraged to give accurate and explicit details of their personal experiences as a slave, stressing the cruelty and suffering inflicted upon them by their brutal masters. In "Incidents" Jacobs does this and more. Not only did she accurately portray the physical and mental anguish of her own experience, she also shares many "incidents" that she witnessed of other slaves, male and female.
Pro-slave writers tried to discredit these autobiographical slave narratives by saying that it was impossible for the stories to be written by slaves because a slave could neither read nor write. This led to the need for another element to be included in the slave narrative; that of a sort of justification. An explanation of how/why the slave had become educated enough to relay their own experiences themselves in print. Jacobs does this in the Preface and in chapter one of "Incidents" when she explains that after her mother died, her mistress took her in and treated her with kindness. She taught her to read, write and sew. Jacobs also explained that she never really knew that she was a slave until her mother died when she was six, and was not really treated as a slave until her mistress died when Jacobs was 12.
Not only did the write of the slave narrative have to "explain" how it was that he/she could read and write; they also had to have a "white" benefactor to attest to the truth of the claim. The "editor" did this in the Introduction of the book.
Do you think that this was really necessary for anyone to believe the stories? Were the majority of the people in the North so gullible as to believe that the stories were made up by the abolitionists? Of course, the Southern slave owners try to pooh pooh the mistreatment of slaves away, but surely the people of the North knew better than that. It is the same question we ask of the German people during the Holocaust. "Were you really so blind?"
Perhaps they were. Maybe they are just like we humans tend to be today. If something doesn't touch us personally, we tend to ignore it until it is put in our face. Do you think that is what was going on then?
Pro-slave writers tried to discredit these autobiographical slave narratives by saying that it was impossible for the stories to be written by slaves because a slave could neither read nor write. This led to the need for another element to be included in the slave narrative; that of a sort of justification. An explanation of how/why the slave had become educated enough to relay their own experiences themselves in print. Jacobs does this in the Preface and in chapter one of "Incidents" when she explains that after her mother died, her mistress took her in and treated her with kindness. She taught her to read, write and sew. Jacobs also explained that she never really knew that she was a slave until her mother died when she was six, and was not really treated as a slave until her mistress died when Jacobs was 12.
Not only did the write of the slave narrative have to "explain" how it was that he/she could read and write; they also had to have a "white" benefactor to attest to the truth of the claim. The "editor" did this in the Introduction of the book.
Do you think that this was really necessary for anyone to believe the stories? Were the majority of the people in the North so gullible as to believe that the stories were made up by the abolitionists? Of course, the Southern slave owners try to pooh pooh the mistreatment of slaves away, but surely the people of the North knew better than that. It is the same question we ask of the German people during the Holocaust. "Were you really so blind?"
Perhaps they were. Maybe they are just like we humans tend to be today. If something doesn't touch us personally, we tend to ignore it until it is put in our face. Do you think that is what was going on then?
Thursday, April 7, 2011
What makes "Incidents" a slave narrative?
There seems to be a never ending need of the black writer to ingrave the existence of "self" on the world. This is probably due to the fact that the world has denied it historically. This seems to give the writing "intensity and focus." The commonality of American slavery is an experience that can teach us much when "treated narratively." "The Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel" says it is the only original form of American writing, and the slave narrative 'belongs' to African American novelists as no other literary form does. Jacobs' "Incidents" has the distinction of being the first slave narrative written/published by an African American woman. Up until her narrative, most of them were written by men. Men narratives basically stressed the bodily pain and physical fortitude of the slave. Vivdly described details of whippings and other tortures that destroyed an individual's manhood was its focus. To regain his masucalinity, the slave had to take back control of the master physically. This meant the slave had to physically fight the master. Consequently, he then had to flee to the North. The journey was filled with more injustices as well as narrow escapes before he victoriously made it to freedom. Jacobs' story is a new type of slave narrative given from the female slave's perspective. It begins with the autobiographical account of her life. It also includeds the endorsement by a white friend saying the work was authentic. She informs us in the Preface that she has changed the names to protect those innocent, and not so innocent.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The Role of Linda's G-ma
Going through the first parts of the book, I am able to see something stable and constant: Linda's grandmother. I mean, I know later she tries to disown Linda when she becomes pregnant, but for the first portion of the book, she is so stable and consistent. She always reminds the children that God is in control, and she does not seem to hold bitterness or resentment.
She is also a source of stability because she brings humanity to Linda and her brother when they are in an inhuman situation. For me, this shows stability; the ability to remain consistent and maintain some sort of harmony in a dire situation. And, even though her grandmother is angry with Linda for getting pregnant later on, she still accepts her and loves her in the end. I think this shows remarkable courage. I'm certain that watching her grandchildren and children be dehumanized and demoralized in this way was almost impossible; however, from what the reader sees, Linda's grandmother takes every situation that comes their way with patience and faith. I think this is remarkable considering the circumstances.
For me, having this stability for Linda in the earlier parts of the book is good for her. It keeps her human and reminds her that family is the most important part of all of this. Do you think Linda's grandmother lessened the blows of the things that were occurring (as much as they could be)?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Identity in the first portion of Ch. 1
Very early on the book, I noticed something interesting. The first chapter is entitled, “Childhood,” and when someone asks me about my childhood, my first and natural response is, “Well, I grew up in Pittsburgh . . .” This was not the case for Linda. The first thing that we learn about Linda is about her father. He was a skilled carpenter; she takes pride in this. I feel that she says this right from the start to show the readers that her father, grandmother, and family were not “just normal slaves.” I think she takes some type of identity in this; she finds her identity in her father’s skill. He was not just a slave; he had useful skills, and many slaves were not educated in this way. Linda has so much pride in the fact that her father did know a trade. It is interesting to me that she did not start out with “My name is Linda, and I was a slave growing up.” She does not primarily see herself as a slave but as a daughter, a granddaughter, and a member of her family. Because of this, there is so much love and protection between the members of her family, and I believe that this will bind her to something greater and something beyond herself. I found it incredible that she took to much pride and found her identity in her family and their skills because many slaves did not have this outlet. They did not have the chance to grow up with their families, but Linda’s grandmother tried as hard as she could to keep them all together.
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