Differing Paths to Freedom

Both Cornelia Marion in Recollections of a Southern Matron and Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are slaves to their roles in society. However, while Cornelia chooses to suffer in order to comply with her 19th century perception of what she considers to be a natural hierarchy that places women below men in the human social organization, Linda chooses to suffer in order to sabotage the system of slavery. Despite seeking these seemingly contradictory ends, both women choose to suffer in order to gain freedom. Cornelia anticipates that freedom will come in heaven while Linda hopes it will come for herself and her children with the end of slavery.

Cornelia’s choice to fulfill her perceived role as a submissive wife deprives her of her freedom to expresses herself. She is not able to convey her true thoughts or emotions nor is she able to pursue her own ambitions. She explains that constantly manipulating her actions to fulfill her role as a woman puts her close to the point of breaking when she says, “The task of self-government...sometimes requires a struggle like life and death” (256). Thus, while Cornelia is not enslaved in the traditional sense that Linda is, her decision to allow her perception of the natural hierarchy of men over women dictate her life leaves Cornelia just as socially and psychologically constrained as Linda.

The consequences Cornelia accepts in order to conform to the model of a good wife during the 19th Century include not only a loss of freedom of expression but also a psychological struggle that the “principle of self-sacrifice” (256) creates. Contrary to Cornelia's appreciation of purity, living by the “principle of self-sacrifice” (256) causes her to repress her true emotions and opinions in order to please her husband, Arthur. In abiding by her choice to live within her perceived social limitations, rather than by her own moral values and true emotions, Cornelia lies not only through her words spoken but also...