Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Brent Jacobs, known as Linda Brent undercover is a novel following the reality of the life of a slave, more specifically "Linda Brent" and the many hardships she was put through during her life as a slave in the 1800's. Jacobs talks about her life as a little kid "I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away." (Jacobs, 1). when both her parents were still alive and she was under the care of a very nice Mistress. Her life does a complete 360 when her mistress passes away and she becomes a slave for her mistresses neice, under the master Dr. Flint.
Being a slave has a giant toll on your emotions. As a slave Jacobs was sexually pressuerd by her Master, Dr. Flint which caused her not only anxiety but aslo fear for her physical safety. Dr. Flint would constantly ask for private meetings with her and follow her around. She states "I cannot tell how much I suffered in the presence of these wrongs, nor how I am still pained by the retrospect" (27). Dr. Flints wife also added to Jacobs terror and anxiety. Because of the fact that Dr. Flint wanted sexual relations with Jacobs his wife became extermemly jelous and offered to help Jacobs by letting her sleep in the room next to her. During these nights Jacobs would wake up to her Mistress watching her or interrogating her in her sleep. Jacobs describes "I began to fear for my life. It had been often threatened; and you can imagine, better than I can descirbe, what an unpleasent sensation it must produce to wake up in the dead of night and find a jelous woman bending over you" (33). The emotional toll Jacobs went through affected all parts of her life, even while she was sleeping.
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