In his annual message to Congress on December 1, 1862, Abraham Lincoln commented, “In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free- honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.” Abraham Lincoln is historically known as one of the greatest presidents in American history primarily because of his success in the abolition of slavery. This comment to Congress shows that Lincoln understood that slavery was not good for anyone in America. Slaves were counted as less than a whole person for purposes of state representation, yet slavery dehumanized more than just the slaves. In a slave system, all suffer. Perhaps the saddest of all, it is the women who suffered the most. Through the characters of Linda Brent and Mrs. Flint in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs shows how slavery dehumanizes women, both white and black.
Slavery dehumanizes black women by robbing them of the ability to fulfill their basic human needs and instincts. Through the sexual harassment and abuse of white male owners, they lose their dignity, while oppressive laws and social attitudes prevent them from marrying and having normal families. If they bear children, they suffer through not being able to protect their children from the evils of slavery.
In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the main character, Linda Brent, describes her struggles with sexual harassment from her master, Dr. Flint, and explains that this is a common battle for female slaves. She suggests that beauty is a curse to female slaves, and points out how unnatural it is that “that which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave” (28). Beauty is naturally meant to be a blessing, not a curse, yet for the slave woman, it can lead to great troubles. Even those who are not beautiful suffer, as they lose their innocence living the life of a slave. They witness a vicious cycle, where female slaves are sexually abused and the white women are left with intense jealousy. Linda tells how a young girl, even before she is a teenager, “listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause” (28). Thus, the slave life forces black women to experience a premature loss of innocence, affecting their whole lives.
As a result of the oppression Linda suffers at the hands of her Dr. Flint, she makes choices for her life out of pure desperation. She falls in love with a free black man who wants to marry her, but “the laws gave no sanction to the marriage of such,” (38) as a slave’s owner must consent to marriage, and Dr. Flint will not consent. As a Christian, Linda has a resolute desire to maintain her sexual purity for marriage; seeing that marriage is impossible, she chooses to have a relationship with another white man in town. She does this partially in hopes that it will deter Dr. Flint, but also because “it seems less degrading to give one’s self, than to submit to compulsion” (59). When Linda becomes pregnant, she indeed succeeds in saving herself from Dr. Flint, but at the same time, enters a whole new world of suffering- being a mother of slave children.
Throughout the story, the author describes the evils of slavery as an institution, but above all, she expresses that, “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women” (85). The main reason is that children born of slave women are thus slaves themselves, and property of the mother’s master. This means that a mother lives in constant fear of her children being sold. Any parent can certainly understand that the thought of losing a child is more horrible than anything else in the world. Slavery thrived because the slaves were thought of as animals, as if they did not have the same feelings as humans. Linda comments that a slave woman, “may be an ignorant creature, degraded by the system that has brutalized her from childhood; but she has a mother’s instincts, and is capable of feeling a mother’s agonies” (13). Linda herself endures this agony when Dr. Flint threatens to sell her first child. She weeps over her baby boy, saying, “O my child! Perhaps they will leave you in some cold cabin to die, and then throw you into a hole, as if you were a dog” (84-85). Although Linda naturally would be devastated to have her children die, she believes that living as a slave is often worse than death. She comments that she “would rather see them killed than have them given up to [Dr. Flint’s] power” (88). It is a constant struggle for Linda to remain strong, doing the best she can to maintain dignity for her children and for herself, in a system that sees slaves as “no more… than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend” (5).
Even though white women do not suffer degradation in the eyes of society, they too suffer under the institution of slavery; they suffer internally as their sense of worth is demeaned and their relationships are corrupted by a system that hides and protects adultery. As society turns a blind eye to the fact that white slave holders, such as Dr. Flint, sexually abuse and have extramarital relations with their female slaves, this leaves white women helplessly jealous, with no recourse. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, we see this situation with Mrs. Flint.
When Mrs. Flint forces Linda to confess all that has occurred between her and Dr. Flint, Mrs. Flint weeps and groans as she finds out that Dr. Flint has made many attempts at an affair with Linda. These tears are not for the misery Linda has suffered; rather, “her emotions arose from anger and wounded pride. She felt that her marriage vows were desecrated, and her dignity insulted” (33). Although one’s initial reaction may be, as Linda’s probably was, to despise Mrs. Flint for not feeling compassion for Linda, even Linda points out that Mrs. Flint “was incapable of feeling for the condition… in which her slave was placed” (33). In a society that treats slaves as animals, Mrs. Flint’s suffering was in knowing that her husband was turning to a slave, rather than to her, to have his sexual desires fulfilled.
As slave women are deprived of the humanity of normal marriage and motherhood, slavery often prevents white women from enjoying a healthy marriage and motherhood. Linda explains:
“The young wife soon learns that the husband in whose hands she has placed her happiness pays no regard to his marriage vows. Children of every shade of complexion play with her own fair babies, and too well she knows that they are born unto him of his own household. Jealousy and hatred enter the flowery home, and it is ravaged of its loveliness” (36-37).
With slavery, these things go unspoken, and white women are left to choose a life of constant jealousy, or to simply ignore that it is happening. Either way, the result is not a happy, healthy marriage.
Perhaps the most crucial element missing from these marriages is trust. Regardless of the fact that Linda had previously sworn to Mrs. Flint that she never had relations with Dr. Flint and would do all in her power not to, when Linda becomes pregnant, Mrs. Flint has no reason to trust that her husband did not succeed in his quest for Linda. Linda is thus completely removed from the Flints’ house, as Mrs. Flint “vowed by all that was good and great, she would kill [Linda] if [she] came back; and [Dr. Flint] did not doubt her” (84). It is understandable why Mrs. Flint would say such a thing; being faced with daily evidence of her husband’s infidelity would be beyond degrading. Truly, remaining in such a marriage, while having this knowledge of unfaithful behavior, would break down the self-worth of even the strongest woman. Mrs. Flint seems to find her only solace in seeing Linda’s anguish. When Mrs. Flint visits the plantation where Linda was obviously unhappy, Linda noticed that Mrs. Flint “did not speak to me when she took her seat at table; but her satisfied, triumphant smile, when I handed her plate, was more eloquent than words” (103). It is as if Mrs. Flint manages to get by only when she is reminded that Linda is just a slave. There is something rather sad about when society forces a woman to find her self-worth in the suffering of others.
Indisputably, slavery’s most tortured victims were the females, both black and white. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl barely scrapes the surface of the abuse suffered by the slave women, but it gives a remarkable picture of what an absolute disgrace it is that this is part of our country’s history.
Works Cited
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Signet Classic, 2000.
Voelker, David J. “Abraham Lincoln, Messages to Congress (Excerpts) 1861-2.” History
Tools.org. 2005. Accessed on 9 Aug. 2006.
