Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl [1]
The effects of Slavery on Marriage and Family in the life of Harriet Jacobs are presented through the autobiography of her pseudonym Linda Brent. The narrative reflects the harsh results of the corrupt system of the sale and mistreatment of human beings through the lens of a female victim. As a victim of sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, and psychological abuse from the white society she lived in, Linda Brent provides a disturbingly accurate account of the distorted marriage and family relationships brought about by the imposition of slavery.
Shown through the relationship between Mr. Sands and his own illegitimate children with Linda, the political ramification of slavery constituted justification in his mind for the possibility of selling his own children as slaves if the financial need arose. In Linda’s own words, “[slavery] makes a father Cruel and sensual” (46). By disrupting the fundamental nature of a parent to love their own child, slavery presents the opportunity for monetary gain from sexual abuse of female slaves by a white male slaveholder. Because they were born to Linda Brent, the slave of his neighbor Dr. Flint, Mr. Sands’ children were considered to be black, thus property of the slaveholder whom the mother belonged to. Unfortunate scenarios in which a family is separated because of individual members’ ownership by different people was reflected through Linda’s children being sold to Mr. Sands (their own father although he chooses not to acknowledge them as such) by their owner (who is of no relation) (88-89).
It was Linda’s love of her family (specifically her children) that prevented her from escaping to the north to resist separation from her children, causing her to need to hide in such places as an attic crawlspace (96) and under floorboards to prevent leaving her children behind risking losing them forever. The only intact black family in the narrative is the
Linda mentions her linking of marriage to freedom in her statement “My story ends with Freedom, not in the usual way with marriage … We are free from the power of slaveholders as they are free in the north” (164). Linda’s inability to marry because of her status as a slave in the south was obviously a pressing issue on her mind throughout the novel especially in statements such as the aforementioned. With the freedom from slavery comes the freedom to marry and love a person of your choosing, not the forceful sexual interaction between a black female and a white slaveholder. Just as people in the north were free from the destructive effects of slavery on their family, people in the north were free to marry; they were free to create families with people they loved instead of people they feared the vengeful wrath of. Although Linda fought against Dr. Flint’s sexual advances, she was still driven to have a relationship with another slaveholder for the unsuccessful purpose of discouraging her previous abusive white pursuer. Not only was Linda a slave to her owner, she was a slave to society; unable to form loving bonds with a person in legitimate matrimony while subjected to sexual abuse by her white male owner.
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