For those of you unfamiliar with this book, I'll give you a basic plot summary. Harriet Jacobs writes about her life of slavery and journey to freedom under the name of Linda Brent, a pseudonym used to protect herself, family and friends during the unsafe time. Her childhood was relatively comfortable, and she never dreamed her condition of slavery was anything that mattered, let alone anything at all. But her parents died when she was relatively young, and with no one to legally protect her, she was abruptly kicked from her pleasant life to the Norcom family (referred to as the Flint family in the book) as a slave girl. Dr. Norcom/Flint constantly attempts to seduce her, and resorts to many dirty and slimy tricks to force her into sexual relations. Fortunately, Harriet/Linda manages to reject and escape them all, and eventually becomes pregnant with the child of a well respected white man in town, hoping her condition will be enough to provoke her Master into selling her.
"I knew the impassable gulf between us; but to be an object of interest to a man who is not married, and who is not her master, is agreeable to the pride and feelings of a slave, if her miserable situation has left her any pride or sentiment. It seems less degrading to give one's self, than to submit to compulsion. There is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you, except that which he gains by kindness and attachment."
Jacobs defends this move with a compelling and heartbreaking argument. She insists that slave girls and slave women cannot possibly be held to the same moral standards as white women, considering that their lives are not ethically protected through any laws of government, religion, or society. She writes:
"O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely! If slavery had been abolished, I, also, could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws ... but all my prospects had been blighted by slavery. I wanted to keep myself pure; and, under the most adverse circumstances, I tried hard to preserve my self-respect; but I was struggling in the powerful grasp of the demon Slavery; and the monster proved too strong for me. I felt as if I was forsaken by God and man; as if all my efforts must be frustrated; and I became reckless in my despair."
I'd like to stop here and point out the profound heartbreak within this passage. All too often throughout this book, I sat and thought to myself, "What if this had been me? What if I had been born a slave girl, with no rights of my own, no freedom to live life I can be proud of?" It would have been all too easy for God to plop my soul into the body of a young black woman during these horrific times, and then it would be me in the place of Jacobs, hating my life, feeling alone and beaten and worthless on a daily basis.
I usually get quite annoyed with people when they refuse to sympathize with my problems and refute my complaints with arguments like "Well Anne, there are children starving in Africa, so I'm pretty sure you'll be okay," or "Okay Anne, try being homeless on the streets of New York City, and see if your problems really matter then." Because okay, yeah, a lot of people have it a lot worse than I do, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm going through a difficult time and I'd appreciate some support and encouraging words rather than some patronizing comments and obnoxious eye-rolls. But when I read books like this, I really am thankful that my problems involve not much more than a pretty tough French class and some frivolous insecurities about my not-even-that-bad acne.
Anyways, Jacobs plan to be sold to the Father of her children fails, because her Master refuses to sell her, though his wrath is an even more intense force to be reckoned with. She becomes more and more desperate, and after the birth of her second child, she decides to run away. Before she makes her escape from town, she takes shelter in her friend's backroom, and then switches to the attic between the ceiling and roof of her grandmother's shed, in which she barely has enough room to roll over, let alone stand up.
Here's the crazy part: she lived in that cramped attic space for seven years. Seven years! She crawls down every once in awhile to prevent herself from becoming a cripple, but not often and she is still confined to the tiny shed. Her life consists of lying in an incredibly uncomfortable, dark, dismal place, watching her children grow up before her eyes through a little peephole in the wall of her den. Can you imagine? This whole time, her Master is obsessively searching for her, putting signs out for her recapture and harassing her family and friends for information.
My book came with illustrations, photographs, and scanned documents. Here's a picture of Dr Norcom/Flint's reward sign for Harriet/Linda's recapture. It is truly horrifying to look upon something like this, a demand for the right to a fellow human being's freedom and life, and think that these were all completely acceptable and familiar documents to society at that time.
Everything I have to say about slavery has been said before, but I'll say it again anyways: it was a disgrace to humanity. It was a shameful, offensive, and purely evil institution that will forever remind us of our fallen natures, of how filthy and wretched the soul can become when drunk with power. It is impossible to underestimate how twisted we humans will let our lives and families and communities become before we are put in our place.
This may sound dramatic and perhaps unnecessarily pessimistic to many of you; but I think it is important remember that we are all naturally prone to imperfection, and fighting the evil within ourselves will be the war of our lives. I think it is important to understand how easily and naturally entire societies, states, and nations fall into conditions of vile sin, and to constantly remind ourselves that we are not immune to this wayward behavior; we must constantly remind ourselves to follow the good, to stay on the right path, to fight for the saving of our souls. Reminding ourselves of our fallen nature is vital to our soul's survival, lest we become too comfortable and proud in our imperfect condition. God knows even angels fall.
Eventually, opportunity presents itself, and Jacobs is finally transported to the North. But the ghost of slavery is still with her wherever she goes, and she finds that the North is not as free as she would have liked to think. Even though she discovers that Dr Norcom/Flint has died, his son and daughter in law still claim her as their property, and eventually come to the North to take her back once more. She obtains freedom after being bought from the Norcoms by her Northern friend, who then sets her free. Although she is happy and content with her life at the end of her story, she is still plagued with the scars that slavery leaves on souls, and even her freedom is tainted with the dirty hand of that vile institution.
"There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury. The man was odious to me while he lived, and his memory is odious now."
"I well know the value of that bit of paper; but as much as I love freedom, I do not like to look upon it. I am deeply grateful to the generous friend who procured it, but I despise the miscreant who demanded payment for what never rightfully belonged to him or his."
"It has been painful to me, in many ways, to recall the dreary years I passed in bondage. I would gladly forget them if I could."
I admit, I was not particularly satisfied with the ending of this story — but then again, many slaves have had stories with endings far less satisfying than this one. I suppose that's part of reading an autobiography, a story written from real life... The endings are not always happy, or satisfying, or even necessarily good at all. But I think the disappointing mediocrity of her ending presents a call to duty, a call to action for the reader that would not be as strong if everything had gone according to her favor. It implies that there is still much to be done, and society is still unjust and cruel in many ways.
I highly recommend this book. It was historically enlightening as well as emotionally invigorating, and presents profound and important food for thought to the attentive reader!
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Does this sound like something you'd enjoy? Let me know! :)
Another excellent review. I'm definitely going to follow your blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm so glad you appreciate them! :)
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