There aren’t many eloquent ways to describe the most detrimental events in history. However, Harriet Jacobs managed to translate her experiences of slavery into melodic, entertaining stories. Most accounts of slavery from textbooks and scholars barely graze the surface of the time period, but Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl reveals the truth behind common atrocities experienced and witnessed by slaves that are unmistakable. I argue that Jacobs directly charges the habit of slave-owners to use and maneuver laws to support their inhumane and cowardice behavior, as it affects her experiences of slavery.
As this novel is mentioned throughout political conversations, many critics only focus on the presence of singular issues within the novel, …show more content…
More specifically, the Fugitive Slave Act that was passed in 1850. The act was designed to keep African American slaves enslaved, return runaways from the Northern states, and prevent future escapes; it was designed to keep this race imprisoned. This law was one of few that slave-owners obeyed, in light that it benefits them in the end. Jacob recounts her experiences of being hunted by Mr.Norcom when she escaped slavery when the law was passed. Jacobs said when the North turned into a bloodhound, “it was the beginning of a reign of terror to the colored population” (173). This law was another crutch for the white to maintain control and continue stripping humanity of the African American …show more content…
While her statement is accurate, women and children were also separated out of spite. All children born during slavery times follow the status of the mother, usually leading to them being enslaved. Therefore, it was the master’s discretion how the mother and her children interacted, if the children were to be sold, and how her children would be treated. This policy was one that slaveholders sought as profitable-- financially and personally. For example, masters used that policy to maintain control of their women slaves. When Jacobs had her first child, “ he [Norcom] did not fail to remind me that my child was an addition to his stock of slaves.” Her child was liable to be taken from her or worse, Jacobs understood and noted that. Jacobs also mentioned a woman that was sold because “it was a crime for a slave to tell who was the father of her child.” One of the only laws that slaveholders saw fit to their inhumane operations, constituted women being stripped away from their children or having being tortured by the presence of
As this novel is mentioned throughout political conversations, many critics only focus on the presence of singular issues within the novel, …show more content…
More specifically, the Fugitive Slave Act that was passed in 1850. The act was designed to keep African American slaves enslaved, return runaways from the Northern states, and prevent future escapes; it was designed to keep this race imprisoned. This law was one of few that slave-owners obeyed, in light that it benefits them in the end. Jacob recounts her experiences of being hunted by Mr.Norcom when she escaped slavery when the law was passed. Jacobs said when the North turned into a bloodhound, “it was the beginning of a reign of terror to the colored population” (173). This law was another crutch for the white to maintain control and continue stripping humanity of the African American …show more content…
While her statement is accurate, women and children were also separated out of spite. All children born during slavery times follow the status of the mother, usually leading to them being enslaved. Therefore, it was the master’s discretion how the mother and her children interacted, if the children were to be sold, and how her children would be treated. This policy was one that slaveholders sought as profitable-- financially and personally. For example, masters used that policy to maintain control of their women slaves. When Jacobs had her first child, “ he [Norcom] did not fail to remind me that my child was an addition to his stock of slaves.” Her child was liable to be taken from her or worse, Jacobs understood and noted that. Jacobs also mentioned a woman that was sold because “it was a crime for a slave to tell who was the father of her child.” One of the only laws that slaveholders saw fit to their inhumane operations, constituted women being stripped away from their children or having being tortured by the presence of