The Harsh Realities of Brutality Towards Slaves

The Harsh Realities of Brutality Towards Slaves

After reading Harriet Jacob’s autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, I am truly shocked at what has been left unsaid regarding the slavery era in our countries past. The horrific treatment of slaves and the gruesome conditions they were forced to live through are truly brought to light in this primary account that tells the life story of a young slave girl and her family. My idea of slavery will never be the same after hearing the account of Linda Brent, who represents Harriet Jacobs in this autobiography. The way she portrayed her life and the details she recorded make this story different from many other accounts of what slavery was like in the south.

Every American has their idea of what slavery must have been like, but no one can really know for sure unless they were there. Linda uses her first hand perspective and gives a very detailed account the conditions slaves lived with. She learned at a very young age that obedience to the master was quite literally a matter of life and death. Linda describes this when she says, “I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should be surrendered to his” (Jacobs18). Slave owners did not care if the slaves are fed or not, so long as they obey without complaining. Linda said her master did not care about how much pain a slave was in or how tired they were, so long as they completed their tasks. Linda told of her master once saying to her, “you are my child, and when I call you, you should come immediately, as if you have to pass through fire and water” (Jacobs 9). Slaves were the property of their masters and nothing more. When a slave had children the master automatically owned these little ones, seeing them as property also. Some plantation owners also owned animals, and with the maliciousness noted in this book it can be said that these livestock led better lives than the slaves....