Linda, the protagonist of Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Sethe the protagonist of Morrisons Beloved both experienced the intersecting cultural myths of motherhood and blackness that shaped them into who they are. Black women were ultimately viewed as inferior and unfit to be mothers by society at the time, which led to their end of the social hierarchy. However, despite the chains society has placed on them, Linda and Sethe were able to break off the chains of slavery and the ideologies of motherhood that plagues the stigma of how women and mothers are treated through maternal acts.
Linda had a problematic experience as at the time she was a slave. She was forced to have children by her slave master, Dr.Flint, who wanted to control every aspect of a slave's life. Linda was not unaware that her children were like her, a slave, and since they were born into this oppressive system, she knew she had to do whatever it took to protect them from a dehumanizing future as a slave. The way Linda resisted the cultural
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Although they both fought against these ideologies, their resistance took different forms as both sought freedom, and each used their own strengths to their advantage. Despite the lasting trauma they endured from the complexities of slavery, they refused to accept limited notions of motherhood and womanhood for black women during their time. Linda refused to be controlled by her master and the patriarchal reigns he had on her but also broke the definition she was defined as an immoral cattle made to breed more children. Sethe as well as the love of her children used that power to break down walls with the strength she gathered to challenge the myths she was against. Both women suffered to reveal the hardships black female slaves
Of course the family was more concerned with breeding more kids they could sell into slavery. “White folks what wanted niggers to breed like livestock.” Lulu’s mother went on to have nineteen children, which the Hodges gave away soon as they could. Lulu’s owners were cruel, they starved her, beat her, and were not the least bit concerned about her well- being. She was fed just enough to keep her alive, and able to work.
In Incidents, there are a multitude of challenges presented through Linda where the reader can explore the indecencies submitted to young slave girls. Outside of being torn away from their children and family, spoken to through various degrading commentary causing emotional and mental strife, the most damning tribulation to being the misrepresentation of a hideous, colored women would be the constant and continuous raping done by slave masters and other men who lacked melanin. Another bereavement of conception would be the requirement to respect and retain loyalty to those who neither deserve nor reciprocate the same actions due to entitlement, color pigmentation, or ranking. Young slave women were beaten and dehumanized by individuals whose
Lennie Is treated differently just because of his mentality and Curley’s wife is treated differently because of her gender. She is the only woman on the ranch. Lennie dreamt of having a farm just to tend the rabbits. And curley’s wife had a dream of becoming a movie star. Both of their dreams didn't come true.
Nobody knows about this better than her because she was there when this occurred. Linda could not see her kids being slaves and she would do anything for this not to
There’s no doubt in history that the slave life was the worst fate one could be born into. Even the Southern women, though deeply racist, hated slavery and the paternalism that went with it. Linda Brent in Harriet Jacobs’ account of her life in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl retells the stories of how Linda/Harriet grew up, bounced from mistress to master, learned hard life lessons, and eventually found “freedom.” Meanwhile, Barbara Welter’s article The Cult of True Womanhood shows the values that a Northern free woman held dearly when left to be a “slave” of virtue. An analysis of Welter’s article as well as Harriet Jacobs’ biography of her pseudonym shows how Linda Brent desperately wanted to fulfil the expectations of a white woman,
When Dr. Flint forbade Linda from marrying the man of her choice, Linda felt the necessity to involve herself with a white unmarried man, who felt a great deal of sympathy toward and wished to aid her. In him, she found the “freedom of having a lover who (had) no control over you.” (Jacobs 929) Two children sprung from their union, but having the first child was the scariest. When Linda continued to refuse Dr. Flint’s continual sexual advances, he would threaten to sell her child.
Baldwin uses vivid imagery when talking about Deborah’s rape which serves as an eminent example in which women, especially black women, are subject to violence and abuse. Deborah is described as a “living reproach, to herself and to all black women and to all black men.” (Baldwin 67). Society now looks down on her after this horrible event, which was out of her control and shames her for it rather than giving her the support that she needs.
She became a matriarch that was nothing but cruel. Just like her husband who loved to beat slaves and cause them pain in any way. He hated slaves in many ways. This slave holders name was mr.severe, his name is a perfect description of his personality.
In the article of 'Slave Girl in California' Linda is a little girl and she's having a good life, until her mother dies and has to go live and work with her mother's mistress. However the mistress seems like a pretty nice lady. Linda's grandma whose name is Aunt Martha was so faithful and smart that her owners treated her very well. Sometimes they let her stay up late so she could make her own business and pay for her own clothes out of the profit!
She had siblings that would soon be sold into slavery and to nearby plantations. She endured physical violence throughout her childhood and some led to permanent injuries. She later married a free black man little knew
Curley’s wife, since being the only woman who lives on the ranch, represent the struggle women have in the world. She also is strictly prohibited to talk to anyone on the ranch by Curley. ” Standin ' here talkin ' to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an ' a dum-dum and a lousy ol ' sheep— an ' likin ' it because they ain 't nobody else.” (4.102-103)
Morrison’s authorship elucidates the conditions of motherhood showing how black women’s existence is warped by severing conditions of slavery. In this novel, it becomes apparent how in a patriarchal society a woman can feel guilty when choosing interests, career and self-development before motherhood. The sacrifice that has to be made by a mother is evident and natural, but equality in a relationship means shared responsibility and with that, the sacrifices are less on both part. Although motherhood can be a wonderful experience many women fear it in view of the tamming of the other and the obligation that eventually lies on the mother. Training alludes to how the female is situated in the home and how the nurturing of the child and additional local errands has now turned into her circle and obligation.
Slaves faced extreme brutality and Morrison focuses on rape and sexual assault as the most terrifying form of abuse. It is because of this abuse that Morrison’s characters are trapped in their pasts, unable to move on from the psychological damages that they have endured. “Morrison revises the conventional slave narrative by insisting on the primacy of sexual assault over other experiences of brutality” (Barnett 420). For telling Mrs. Garner what they had done, she was badly beaten by them, leaving a “chokecherry tree” (16) on her back. But that was not the overriding issue.
She was influenced by the ideologies of women’s liberation movements and she speaks as a Black woman in a world that still undervalues the voice of the Black woman. Her novels especially lend themselves to feminist readings because of the ways in which they challenge the cultural norms of gender, slavery, race, and class. In addition to that, Morrison novels discuss the experiences of the oppressed black minorities in isolated communities. The dominant white culture disables the development of healthy African-American women self image and also she pictures the harsh conditions of black women, without separating them from the oppressed situation of the whole minority. In fact, slavery is an ancient and heinous institution which had adverse effects on the sufferers at both the physical as well as psychological levels.
A constant comparison and contrast between Maggie and Dee is prominent structural feature of the narrative. This structural strategy helps in conceptualizing the plurality of female experience within the same milieu. This strategy encapsulates another dimension of womanism, viz. , womanism refuses to treat black woman as a homogeneous monolith. Unlike feminist position, womanism is sensitive to change with time.