..Plantations in the South used female slave labor in non-traditional roles-in the fields and outside the home. Only about one-third of female slaves were household slaves. The rule was to use as few slaves as possible in the house, leaving healthy adult females to work the fields. The very old, or very young, performed tasks in the "great house." How did Harriet Jacobs' work roles differ from the norm?
As household slaves, women performed housewifery tasks, such as dairying, raising poultry, and making cloth and clothing. Directly inside the house, women were cooks (sometimes a man's task), washerwomen (never a man's task), and personal servants, such as the work Harriet Jacobs performed. Nursing women often performed "wet nurse" duties for the mistress' children. Notice the gender division of labor on the plantation: women did "men's work" in the field, but there were certain tasks within the home that men did not/could not perform, such as washing and nursing.
A woman slave's primary biological function was to bear and raise children, and, as Jacobs illustrates in Incidents, this function determined the course of her life. It was expected that a woman of childbearing age would have children. When she became pregnant, she typically no longer did housework, but was sent to the fields, where she continued after the birth, nursing her child as she worked.
Slave women working in the fields often lived with their husbands in slave quarters, usually small wood-frame, one-room houses. Masters provided beds, bedding, a few clothes, and a meager diet (see Douglass' description [in his narrative]). Often, space was provided for a garden. Women living in these conditions did "double duty": they both worked in the field AND did household chores, such as cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes for their families. Of course, men, too, had double duty: they fished, chopped wood, and repaired furniture, in addition to performing field work.
We can now compare Incidents with Frederick Douglass' Narrative. It is through a comparison of the two that some of the important themes of Jacobs' book will become evident. Consider some of the ways in which the two slave narratives are similar. Both works have all of the elements that are "typical" of this particular genre (type, or style) of literature: they describe slave life, they are prefaced by abolitionist letters, and they are written to condemn slavery and slaveholders as morally wrong. Both Jacobs and Douglass somehow managed to overturn, or subvert, the slave-master relationship whereby the master had power over the slave. Douglass overpowered his master, and Jacobs subverted her relationship with her master by having a sexual relationship with Mr. Sands, rather than Dr. Flint.
If these are the similarities, what are the differences between the Douglass and Jacobs narratives? If the primary goal of both Douglass and Jacobs was to obtain freedom, how did their experiences escaping slavery differ?
The sexual harassment Jacobs faces from Flint poses the first conflict in Incidents. An important question to ask, then, is how does Jacobs deal with Flint? In the mid-nineteenth century, both Jacobs and Flint know that the primary "job" of women is to bear children. Jacobs also knows the Black codes of slavery: the children of slave mothers are themselves enslaved. When she reaches childbearing age, she knows that having children is her destiny. But she acknowledges that, although she is a slave, she has at least SOME choice in her reproductive life: she can succumb to Flint's desires, or choose her own mate, the father of her children. In choosing Sands, Jacobs thinks she will be creating a future for her children: they will be purchased by their father, and made free. Flint, she feels, would not be inclined to free her children.
Jacobs' reproductive choices not only form her destiny, but also the moral dilemma of Incidents. She says that she feels it is wrong to sleep with a man with whom one is not married. Her grandmother also rejects Jacobs' choice on moral grounds. What are the parameters of this dilemma? Jacobs says she feels slaves ought to be judged by "other standards." Does this seem like an important stand for Jacobs to take? As in the Douglass book, we see slaves living with the tension of adapting to their condition of servitude, yet also resisting it.
Once Jacobs flees the plantation, she ultimately hides out in her grandmother's garret for seven years. Although she is living in self-imposed confinement, she finds ways of controlling her life, again through her children. How does she manage this?
Literary Devices
The plot of a literary work is the action within the work: what the characters do, as opposed to what they say or think. The plot often (but not always) drives the work. In other words, the plot moves the story from a beginning conflict or problem, to a climax point, through the resolution, and to the end. Plot works in conjunction with character and motif. Characterization indicates how the people in the story are shaped: their personalities and what motivates them to take whatever part they play in the plot. Motifs are concrete things that symbolize abstract ideas. Motifs are somewhat theme-related; they are symbols that appear and reappear in the story. Figuring out the nature of the symbolism is a key part to determining the theme of the work.
In Incidents, the plot of the book is interspersed with details about slavery in general. Jacobs tells us about her childhood, which one might describe as idyllic compared to that of Douglass. Trouble comes, however, when Jacobs reaches childbearing age. What is the trouble, and how does it shape the plot in part I of this autobiography? What happens when Jacobs meets Mr. Sands? What are the circumstances behind Jacobs' flight from the plantation?
Relative to characterization, what do you know about Harriet Jacobs? How would you describe her? Remember, this is an autobiography, so what we know about Jacobs is what she decides to tell us. Think for a moment what you would be willing to tell the world about yourself, and what you would not reveal if you wrote your autobiography. How does Jacobs describe her appearance? Do you get the sense that her looks are important to her? Read Dr. Flint's description of her [in Jacobs's narrative]. If Jacobs is herself the protagonist of this book, then Dr. Flint is surely the antagonist (use your dictionary if you are not familiar with these terms). How would you characterize him?
Different readers will find different
symbolism and importance in the various motifs throughout the story. Consider
the importance of Jacobs' female relatives in her book, and the appearance
and reappearance of breast milk in the story. What do think the symbolism
may be in these motifs?