Analysis Of Josiah Henson Recalls Broken Families And Personal Opportunity, By Jacob

every slave’s experience was distinctive and different, and all slave owners did not treat their “property” the same. This leads to the next point that men and women also had different experiences as slaves. Many slave narratives from this time were written by men who depicted physical pain, but Jacobs gave us a good portrayal of what women experienced as slaves. In Jacob’s autobiography she stated that “slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.” There were some things that women had to suffer through that men did not. For example, women slaves experience emotional torture, because whether or not they were physically beaten, overworked, or starved, females were tortured in other ways. Many women were sexual victims of white males, which could have been mental and physical torture. They also had to suffer in ways such as losing their children, due to a connection they had with their kids that most men did not. In “Josiah Henson Recalls Broken Families and Personal Opportunity” (Life in Bondage 235) another slave tells a story of being split from his family. His mother was “paralyzed by grief” and “distracted with the thought …show more content…
In Jacob’s story, Linda always puts her family first. Her main priority was not just seeking freedom for herself, but also for her family. Many times in Linda’s life she had to go without seeing her children in order to protect them. Looking at Aunt Martha’s character, she was a little more selfish; she mourned over the fact that when her loved ones escaped and were free she may not get to see them again. Often, in order to accomplish freedom families had to cut ties and split up. This is another example of how each slave had a unique experience, and they all had a different story to