Chapters 29-34

• Blog – What is Linda’s experience of the North? Is it what she had hoped for? Think particularly about the train ride.

In Chapter 30 both Linda and Fanny are smuggled onto a ship that is headed north, to Philadelphia. The ship arrives to port during the night so that captain suggests to them to wait until daybreak to leave the ship to avoid any suspicion. It took Linda some time to get use to things in a big city. “At daylight, I heard women carrying fresh fish, berries, radishes, and various other things.” (Pg. 204) Later, Linda experiences her first discrimination when she learns that blacks are not allowed to ride in the first class section of the trains. “They don’t allow colored people to go in the first-class cars.” (Pg. 205) This is not what Linda had hoped for; she thought that people of her race were allowed to do the same things as white people.
In New York Linda and Fanny separate and Linda found her daughter Ellen. However, Linda was upset to hear that her daughter still could not fully comprehend the letters she had written to her. Linda had expected Mrs. Hobbs to see that Ellen received an education. “When she was placed with Mrs. Hobbs, the agreement was that she would be sent to school.” (Pg. 209) There is however one bright moment for Linda when she is in Brooklyn. Linda reunites with her son William.

Chapters 25-28

• Blog – Why does William leave Mr. Sands? Do you think his actions were justified or rude?

“A lad was sent by Mr. Sands to tell grandmother that William did not return with him; that the abolitionists had decoyed him away.” (Pg. 168) William did not leave Mr. Sands because of the abolitionists; he left because since he was a boy longed for freedom. He told his grandmother in a letter not to worry about him and that he would always think of her. His actions were somewhat rude. In his letter he stated, “Mr. Sands had always treated him kindly…” (Pg. 169) If someone is nice to you and doesn’t make you work, then why would you leave? When the Flint’s heard of Williams decision they chuckled to themselves. Just goes to show that the Flint’s are unfriendly people.

Chapters 22-24

• Blog – How does Mr. Sands come to get possession of the children? Why does Linda trust him? Do you feel he’s trustworthy?

Mr. Sands gets possession of Linda’s children when he hired a speculator to buy her children for him. The speculator was to buy her children and then commission them to Mr. Sands, which he did. Linda trusts Mr. Sands because he has always been there for her when she needs him to be. I believe that he is trustworthy because not only does he promise to do what he can with Linda’s children he also goes to Linda’s grandmother and tells her that he has talked to Linda and that he feels Linda should not stay the night there because “it was the height of madness for me to be there…” (Pg. 159)

Chapters 14-17

• Blog – Why does Linda get so upset when her daughter is given a gold necklace to wear? What is she comparing that act to? Do you agree with the comparison?

At the very end of chapter 14 Linda’s daughter is given a gold necklace from her father’s old mistress. Linda thanked her for the gift as every polite person would, but in reality she was upset with the gift. In her eyes, Linda saw the gold necklace as a symbol of slavery. “I wanted no chain to be fastened on my daughter, not even if its links were of gold.” (Pg. 100) Linda never wants her daughter to be in the same situations as she was when she was a kid. Obviously slaves see things differently then we do so I can’t say that I agree or disagree with Linda’s comparison. It would have been so easy for a slave to portray something, as being bad while another person wouldn’t even have thought of it. Not only was Linda upset with the gold necklace but also upset at her father. “I loved my father; but it mortified me to be obliged to bestow his name on my children.” (Pg. 100) Before Linda’s daughter received the gift she was christened. Linda gave her daughter the surname of her father, which she did not want to do.

Chapters 11-13

“The slaves generally compose their own songs and hymns; and they do not trouble their heads much about the measure. They often sing the following verses:

Old Satan is one busy ole man;
He rolls dem blocks all in my way;
But Jesus is my bosom friend;
He rolls dem blacks away.

If I had died when I was young,
Den how my stam’ring tounge would have sung;
But I am ole, and now I stand
A narrow chance for to tread dat heavenly land.”

This passage interested me because it shows the reader a clear example of something the slaves can choose if they want to do. It also portrays the slaves’ involvement in how they see the church. The slaves use these verses when working in the fields to pass by the time. During this point in the book, Linda is describing how the church relates to slavery. She told stories of different ministers and depending on the minister whether he saw slavery necessary or that blacks and whites should be equal.

Chapters 5-8

It is hard for a slave to even love at all. If they do love someone, they soon figure out that it is not as easy as they thought. As Linda put it, although she loved a free black man, he would have no power over her master if they became married. She also said that if they were to have any kids that they would then belong to Dr. Flint, so it would be hard enough to have a family. Throughout chapters 6 and 7, Linda repeatedly asked to be sold to her lover. She thought that since Mrs. Flint was jealous of her that she would be more than willing to sell her, that way she could stop worrying about Linda and her husband. But, as soon as Dr. Flint found out about Linda’s affection towards this man, he told Linda never to mention his name or to speak of the situation again. He told her that if he caught the man in his premises that he would shoot him as he would a dog. The man told Linda that he was going to Savannah to look at a piece of property and that he would be back to see her, but, as hard as it was for Linda to tell him, she told him that it would be best if he stayed there. For Linda to tell this to a free man, shows that she really cared for him.

Chapters 1-4

In the first few chapters of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl the author Harriet Jacobs does an excellent job of portraying the different aspects of slavery to the reader. In the first chapter the readers learns how black mothers are devoted to their children. In the narrative, Linda Brent, a slave, describes her grandmother, who was forced to watch her son sold at the age of ten. Brent describes that instead of just passively accepting her fate, her grandmother did everything she could to reunite her family again. Jacobs illustrates the cruelty of the slave owners, in this case Dr. and Mrs. Flint. Near the end of chapter two Jacobs tells the story of a male slave who is nearly beaten to death. These are just a few examples of the way Jacobs illustrates slavery. What is so powerful about it is that the story is from a slave’s perspective. Linda presents a broad view when she describes stories about other slaves.

Colonial Period Blog

Today in class we were assigned different periods in history. I was assigned the Colonial Period and read different articles about the period. One of the articles that I read to learn more about the Colonial Period was Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford. The article began with the Mayflower Compact of 1620. It described the voyage that the Pilgrim’s had to endure to reach the New World. From these articles we were to pick out important events, historical figures ect, to make a PowerPoint about. In US History we just completed our unit that talked about the Mayflower Compact. This article would have been helpful in writing our unit paper which had us compare two colonies, one of them being Plymouth.

In Class Response

Today we discussed the three levels of reading. Level one being the level where all you do is understand the content of the novel such as the main characters, where the story takes place and when. The second level of reading is the symbolic level. In The Great Gatsby this would be an object like the green light, which represented Gatsby’s adulthood dream. Level three is the evaluating and connection level. This is where the reader should ask himself or herself how this book could relate to their own life. When ended the day’s discussion talking about hopes and dreams and whether or not people should have them. I think that people should have dreams, because if not, their life would be boring and that is what realized in the middle of the book.