LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Student Presentation on Reading Selections, fall 2000

Reader: Gwendolyn Darrell

Respondent: Jane Ftacnik

From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

By

Harriet Jacobs

"I knew what I did and I did it with deliberate calculation"

In the usual romance novel the male hero pursues a virtuous white woman sexually because she is submissive and domesticated. He sees her purity personified as the jewel he will capture. He falls in love and marries her, or she is ravaged by him and dies, redeeming herself through grace. The latter scenario is similar to Charlotte in Charlotte by Rowson. Jacobs, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, writes the slave narrative in the classic form and tone of the romance novel. The protagonist, Linda Brent, recounts her experiences to reveal some of the sensational elements of her life; the duality of asserting her womanhood projecting a new hero, not the male, the powerful female in slavery.

In her slave narrative Jacobs contrasts some elements of the captive black slave woman compared to the virtuous white woman. The submissive attitude that is idealized in the virtuous white woman is not possible for the slave woman. Jacobs shows how the protagonist, Linda Brent, establishes this contrast. Brent maintains virtue and integrity by establishing her own moral code. She strategizes by asserting her power that coordinated her beliefs with the situation of slavery.

The power role of the male in romance novels is reversed here. Brent resolves to assert her power rather than be submissive when she says, " I knew what I did and I did it with deliberate calculation" (p.835). Because of her captivity in slavery, virtuous womanhood was not available the same way it was to white women. Brent presents the duality faced by all enslaved women: the conflict between virtuous womanhood ideals and sexual exploitation by white masters.

The white submissive female in romance novels either gets married or dies to protect her morality. Here, Brent resolves to assert her power with deliberate calculation rather than be submissive. Her struggle of the ideal in "true womanhood" of being virtuous is confusing for a slave, rendering it impossible. Her power in the institution of slavery, as she struggles to maintain her womanhood comes from "...giv[ing] one’s self, [rather] than [to] submit to compulsion..." of a "lover who has no control over you" (p.836). This empowers the female to maintain her virtuous self.

This romance novel reveals a different hero, the black slave, who establishes her own moral code that is in harmony with her beliefs and the situation of slavery.

Question: How is the slave narrative romantic?

Gwendolyn introduced the reading by stating that Linda Brent had to create her own personal code of honor in order to survive and that Jacobs gives us a sensational viewpoint of the slave narrative. Gwendolyn also stated that she preserved her own integrity by not submitting to the power of her master. Also, it was mentioned that her readers were white women who were educated, and that may have been the reason that Jacobs did not explicitly state that Dr. Flint was sexually abusing her. Amana stated that she was asserting herself in her own dimension or her own space. Another student mentioned that reality may have intruded on the romance aspect. Doreen mentioned that the time that Linda Brent spent in the space located at the grandmother's home represented her mental imprisonment. It was mentioned that she was entombed while alive. A student argued that the narrative was not sensational. Dr. White mentioned that this could be called a romantic myth, and that we all do that to some degree in our lives. He offered the example of the job interview. Also, the attic was mentioned as a possible representation of the Gothic. The attic parts were compared to Poe's writings. Discussion concluded with the idea that the slave narrative may have some shreds of truth in it.