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What Is Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

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As stated in the title, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the life of Harriet Jacobs is one of oppression and bondage. The incidents that occur are gendered, meaning the threat of rape by her slave master and his jealousy over her happen because she is a woman. Though Jacobs does not have agency or freedom over her body, there are two instances where she does have the freedom to choose, specifically in romantic choice. These two incidents allow Jacobs to challenge her status as a slave and not only reclaim her autonomy, but her humanity as well. Harriet Jacobs, who is under the alias “Linda Brent,” tells of her first incident in which she desires “to be with a free black man rather than being forced into a sexual relationship with her …show more content…

Flint, whom she loathes” (Robinson 42). Her lover is a free, black man who has proposed to her, but she realizes that her status as a slave and the law forbid marriage. Her master, Dr. Flint, confronts her about the marriage, telling her “if you must have a husband, you may take up with one of my slaves” (Jacobs 914). Jacobs boldly opposes this suggestion, demonstrating a newfound sense of agency. She challenges that even a slave can have some preference about who they love, asserting that who has access to her body will be on her own terms. This earns her “a verbal and physical assault from her scorned master. She is struck in the face, threatened with loss of her life, and forbidden by Dr. Flint to ever mention her lover’s name” (Robinson 42). Dr. Flint even threatens the other man’s life, warning Jacobs “if [he] know of your speaking to him, I will cowhide you both; and if I catch him lurking about my premises, I will shoot him as soon as I would a dog” (Jacobs 915). As Angelo Rich Robinson explains, “Jacobs completely crosses the line by verbalizing her desire to be granted the privilege of romantic autonomy, again a privilege reserved for those considered human beings. It is this assertion of privilege that prompts Dr. Flint to strike her.

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