Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Dover Thrift Editions)
The true story of an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman. This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to liberty and reunion with her children in the North.
Written and published in 1861 after Jacobs' harrowing escape from a vile and predatory master, the memoir delivers a powerful and unflinching portrayal of the abuses and hypocrisy of the master-slave relationship. Jacobs writes frankly of the horrors she suffered as a slave, her eventual escape after several unsuccessful attempts, and her seven years in self-imposed exile, hiding in a coffin-like garret attached to her grandmother's porch.
A rare firsthand account of a courageous woman's determination and endurance, this inspirational story also represents a valuable historical record of the continuing battle for freedom and the preservation of family.
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Community Reviews
It's hard to say if these books are factual stories. This and 12 Years a Slave. It's the extreme side of slavery showing how horrible a situation can become when the master/boss has all the power and doesn't need to listen to common sense or ask for advice. There is little pushback. The master's feelings is all that matters.
She mentions Nat Turner rebellion too as something making the slave masters nervous during a specific period of her life. In that case we have his own retelling of the story only. Nothing else. This is how it was with Black slaves as many weren't allowed to read as it was thought it would make them independent and then rebellious - which seems true. Meaning we often have 1 single source for a story and you can be more or less critical. But obviously there is no story where Linda admits she failed or was the one in error - she's always the victim in all her stories which doesn't seem true to a real life.
We hear how she was a teen girl with a master in the 60's. And as in the movie 12 Years a Slave the master becomes obsessed with her. He keeps forcing her to sleep with him and she absolutely hates him to a degree where she feels life is not worth living. She keeps avoiding him. At one point he wants to go to his apartment and take her with him - clearly an excuse to have this affair. His wife finally puts her foot down and asks Linda about the situation. She admits to everything. The wife can't do too much about it either though. She can scream and complain, but it's not like she has power over the plantation owner who owns everything including the slaves.
Linda falls in love with a free Black man yet the master refuses to sell her to him. As a sex slave she is irreplaceable to him and he lies about her belonging to his daughter hence he can't legally sell her. He keeps manipulating her and lying to her. Building her a hut far away from the house so that he can come visit her.
Linda hides in a small hut by her grandmother's house for years as a runaway slave. On the loft not being able to stand up. Getting very weak as she can't move around. Finally goes to New York. Yet soon slaves are not free in the north and slave hunters come looking for them. She stays in hiding then finally is bought out and is free.
In the north her personality fully changes. In the discussions with her master she refuses to say much. Is extremely polite and seldom complaints openly without being asked first and even then is calm and rational. In the north she is met by anti-slavery people and gets support. Here small events like not being able to eat where White people eat or ride in the seats with White people becomes an offense she cannot tolerate. Not clear if she found her voice or changed her personality to adapt to the northern ways. But here complaining about even minor offenses is normal while in the south it felt like British nobility or Victorian England style of communicating where 99% of things went unsaid and God was all you had to open up to.
The overall communication style is easy to understand and direct initially. There is a A LOT of meta communication. Basically all lines are said in a childish way as if the reader has never read a book before. Modern readers will feel it's too much hand holding. It also means the book grows tiresome after a while as the writing style is outdated and aimed at inexperienced readers. Her being unemotional in her own eyes adds another layer of an old fake-ish style. She does make countless mistakes. It's just that it's very old style writing where even her spilling her feelings is behind a layer of wordy explanations.
It's definitely the best old biography I've ever read bar none. It stands out and is excellent writing. The story is engaging and emotional factor significant. Yet I do wish for a follow-up chapter giving us more details about the history. Some in her time didn't even understand USA had a president. Speaking of a queen. And she herself doesn't refer to presidents or parties. When the north sends slaves back south it's merely a new law. We don't understand what politicians put the law into place. Weird, today it's all about parties and groups. To her it was an unfairness created in the country by random unfair people.
She mentions Nat Turner rebellion too as something making the slave masters nervous during a specific period of her life. In that case we have his own retelling of the story only. Nothing else. This is how it was with Black slaves as many weren't allowed to read as it was thought it would make them independent and then rebellious - which seems true. Meaning we often have 1 single source for a story and you can be more or less critical. But obviously there is no story where Linda admits she failed or was the one in error - she's always the victim in all her stories which doesn't seem true to a real life.
We hear how she was a teen girl with a master in the 60's. And as in the movie 12 Years a Slave the master becomes obsessed with her. He keeps forcing her to sleep with him and she absolutely hates him to a degree where she feels life is not worth living. She keeps avoiding him. At one point he wants to go to his apartment and take her with him - clearly an excuse to have this affair. His wife finally puts her foot down and asks Linda about the situation. She admits to everything. The wife can't do too much about it either though. She can scream and complain, but it's not like she has power over the plantation owner who owns everything including the slaves.
Linda falls in love with a free Black man yet the master refuses to sell her to him. As a sex slave she is irreplaceable to him and he lies about her belonging to his daughter hence he can't legally sell her. He keeps manipulating her and lying to her. Building her a hut far away from the house so that he can come visit her.
Linda hides in a small hut by her grandmother's house for years as a runaway slave. On the loft not being able to stand up. Getting very weak as she can't move around. Finally goes to New York. Yet soon slaves are not free in the north and slave hunters come looking for them. She stays in hiding then finally is bought out and is free.
In the north her personality fully changes. In the discussions with her master she refuses to say much. Is extremely polite and seldom complaints openly without being asked first and even then is calm and rational. In the north she is met by anti-slavery people and gets support. Here small events like not being able to eat where White people eat or ride in the seats with White people becomes an offense she cannot tolerate. Not clear if she found her voice or changed her personality to adapt to the northern ways. But here complaining about even minor offenses is normal while in the south it felt like British nobility or Victorian England style of communicating where 99% of things went unsaid and God was all you had to open up to.
The overall communication style is easy to understand and direct initially. There is a A LOT of meta communication. Basically all lines are said in a childish way as if the reader has never read a book before. Modern readers will feel it's too much hand holding. It also means the book grows tiresome after a while as the writing style is outdated and aimed at inexperienced readers. Her being unemotional in her own eyes adds another layer of an old fake-ish style. She does make countless mistakes. It's just that it's very old style writing where even her spilling her feelings is behind a layer of wordy explanations.
It's definitely the best old biography I've ever read bar none. It stands out and is excellent writing. The story is engaging and emotional factor significant. Yet I do wish for a follow-up chapter giving us more details about the history. Some in her time didn't even understand USA had a president. Speaking of a queen. And she herself doesn't refer to presidents or parties. When the north sends slaves back south it's merely a new law. We don't understand what politicians put the law into place. Weird, today it's all about parties and groups. To her it was an unfairness created in the country by random unfair people.
Unexpectedly, most of this book is about a woman choosing to live in a very tight prison cell for years, in order eventually to escape slavery. The irony is thick, and powerfully telling. Who would go through such an ordeal, if the terror of what they had escaped weren’t even more unbearable?
Though it must have been suspenseful for her to live through, the story of her own confinement—long, suffocating years hidden away—doesn’t carry the suspense of a thriller, since you know from the outset that she survives. But it still has a quiet tension. The strain of the ordeal isn’t in the specific details, which are actually pretty blurry. It’s in the waiting and isolation, stretched out beyond imagination. When Jacobs finally reaches freedom, the sense of relief isn’t so much about plot resolution as it is about the loosening of a weight that’s been pressing on every moment. It’s also a validation of her truly incredible endurance.
In some sense, the book is too tied to Jacobs’ own singular story—an enslavement free of the physical tortures that others around her had to bear; an escape that wasn’t overly challenging, at least in its initial steps; a family of enslavers who won’t release her from bondage even when they truly can’t afford not to; children whose lives teeter right before her eyes on the edge between enslavement and freedom. Jacobs does often pause to point out how her experiences mirror those of others under slavery, and those moments are usually powerful. But still this is certainly her story, far unlike any other.
It’s that thread of motherhood that gives the book most of its emotional weight. As I said, you know all along that Jacobs survives and gains her freedom. But what happens to her children isn’t so clear, and you’re always aware of her deep dread at the thought of them falling into enslavement. Every decision she makes seems to be weighed against their survival and safety. That anxiety doesn’t fade even in the moments of triumph, and it keeps the story grounded at a human level rather than in any abstract idea of freedom.
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