Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Women and Femininity Quotes Page 1
Chapter.Paragraph
| Quote #1 I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse. (Preface.3) |
Jacobs states right out what she's trying to do: get Northern women fired up about the wrongs done to women. It might have worked, if the Civil War didn't happen first.
| Quote #2 When he told me that 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 surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong. (4.5) |
Dr. Flint’s attempt to objectify Linda (literally, to turn her into a sexual object) backfires, because it actually makes her realize that she's not an object. Total fail.
| Quote #3 I was an object of her jealousy, and, consequently, of her hatred; and I knew I could not expect kindness or confidence from her under the circumstances in which I was placed. I could not blame her. Slaveholders' wives feel as other women would under similar circumstances. (6.8) |
Even though Mrs. Flint terrorizes her, Linda justifies Mrs. Flint’s behavior in the context of the institution of slavery. This ability to empathize helps makes Linda a compelling and trustworthy narrator.
