Male Slave Girl

1607 Words7 Pages
If a male slave would be treated that harshly, the treatment of a female salve would be more understood. Incidents in the life of a slave girl was written by a woman who suffered terribly not only of slavery but of the sexual harassments she was subjected to. Harriet Jacobs expresses her feeling and every female slave feeling growing up: No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery. The slave girl is reared in an atmosphere of licentiousness and fear. The lash and the folk talk of her master and his sons as her teachers. When she is fourteen or fifteen, her owner, or his sons or the overseer, or perhaps all of them begin to bribe her with presents. If these fail to accomplish their purpose, she…show more content…
The writer continues saying that most of these masters are married, and this would cause hatred between the slave and the mistress. Obviously this would result in the punishment of the slave girl or woman by the mistress rather than blaming the guilty master, slaves were punished for the wrong doings of their male masters. The harassments were the main reason for Jacobs to start rebelling against the status-quo; she refused to submit to her master’s desires. Jacobs described his control over her saying “and I stood a moment gazing at the hateful man who claimed a right to rule me, body and soul” (37). Dr. Flint (actually Dr. James Norcom) was a sick jealous man, his jealousy over Harriet exceeded the limit, he struck her for just knowing that she loved another free black man, answering her “Do you know that I have a right to do as I like with you,--that I can kill you, if I please?” (Jacobs 38). When she is left with no other choice, she turns to having a sexual relation with another man and when she became pregnant and tells him, he called her a sinner and that she had brought disgrace and shame upon herself. This would only show the hypocrisy and the double standards of this man knowing that he wanted the exact same thing. Even though her action made her feel shameful and wretched, she felt some triumph over Dr. Norcom and replied “I have sinned against God and myself, but not against you” (Jacobs 56). This sort of rebellious act was only a result of his hideous acts. Compared to Dr. Norcom, Mr. Sands (actually Mr. Samuel Sawyer) he was loving and affectionate and was willing to buy Jacobs and her children, but of course like most white men when he married and had a daughter, he took his first child as a waiting maiden to his other

More about Male Slave Girl

Open Document