In the second story I read, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, we see a different background story with the same kind of problem. This girl, supposedly Jacobs, is the daughter of mulatto parents, which means that she came from white and black parents. Jacobs lived with her parents, her brother, and her maternal grandmother. After her mistress died, she had high hopes that she would be set free. Unfortunately, those hopes fell short when she was “given” to her mistress’s young niece. After bouncing around for a while, she escaped from her owner, Dr. Flint. Though he died some years later, she still had a hard time with everything, i.e. staying free. Though she had white in her, she always struggled in society because she was part black.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Journal #6
Today I am writing about two stories that are both quite depressing. The first one I read was The Quadroons, written by Lydia Marie Child. This story focused on the Xarifa, the child of a white father and African American mother. Xarifa had a pretty good childhood until she was nine. Her father left her and her mother, Rosalie, to marry a high-class white woman. Though Edward, her father, still loved Rosalie, he could no longer be with her. After he was married, Rosalie died and Edward took Xarifa under his wing. But once her father died, she was heading straight for doom. Though she was well educated and being supported by her father’s widow, she was somehow sold back into slavery (as her mother was the child of slaves). Though she was in love with a white man, there was nothing he could do about it! Xarifa is definitely caught between two cultures because she knows that her mother was black, but her father was of high class and was white. She was privileged as a child and I think that twisted her mind a little bit. Her conflict with society is shown especially in the last section of the story. When she is sold into slavery, she doesn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t know what to do either if I had spent my whole life with “privilege” and now I am to work for someone else
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I agree that both of these stories are quite depressing. It is very difficutlt for people of our background, privledge and time period to understand the amount of pain that these characters and authors endured. What great strength they had! To me it is overwhelming to think of what it would be like to have no control over our own lives. Linda in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was not allowed to marry whom she wanted, to make decisions for her children nor live where she wanted. Xarifa also was restricted in her decision-making. It is amazing to ponder how one aspect of who you are - gender, race, etc. - can be deemed so important by others that it dicates every other notion and aspect of one's life. This was a sad reality in the time of slavery. I am saddened that those enslaved were destined to suffuring and grief. This is a violation of our basic rights as human beings.
ReplyDeleteBut doesn't race, gender, and class still dictate "every other notion and aspect of [your] life"? Are we really that different today than the 19th century?
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