It's difficult to be a Slave, and a Woman

In her essay, Jennifer Larson argues that Jacob's writing examines the social structures that oppressed women, black and white, and kept them divided, unable to achieve a true “sisterhood.”She interprets the exploration of active and passive actions by both black and white women as a critique of the power of the “Cult of Domesticity (True Womanhood)” which was discussed in lecture and how black and white women were in unequal situations to be applied. The tenets of the cult and the slave institution presents a quandry for the women of the time, with pressures coming from two social institutions to comply to contradictory rules.

Larson urges us to examine the responses of Mrs. Flint in relation to the lustful actions of Mr. Flint towards his slaves. Because Mrs. Flint follows the passiveness (Submissiveness) principle, she refrains from direct confrontation with her husband and therefore passively allows the abuses to continue. By following a principle of the cult, the white woman allows the black woman to be disrespected and unable to follow those same principles which she is judged by. Mrs Flint's purity is also affected by her inaction because the sanctity of her own marriage and household are affected.

The story continues with Linda, failing intervention of her husband, turning her attention to Linda. She interrogates her, watches over her at night, and torments her in her sleep. The situation has turned one woman into the abuser of another with Jacobs noting, “What an unpleasant situation it must produce to wake up in the dead of the night and find a jealous woman bending over you.” The slave institution has brought out the power from a previously docile woman, and turned her into a monster with power. We see this throughout the history of Slavery, with many documentations of Mistresses being the most oppressive to their female slaves.

We can conclude that in the slave household of the Flints (and representative of many others in the time) following one aspect of the Cult causes a contradiction in the other. By upholding passiveness, Mrs Flint destroyed her purity, and the same for Linda had she given in. Instead of following the tenets, Linda chooses neither and in the end takes control of her own situation. Jacobs writes later in the book that a slave woman should not be judged by the same standards as others; The “Cult of True Womanhood” cannot be followed in a slave woman's situation. .


Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl. Dover Publications, 2001.

Larson, Jennifer “Converting Passive Womanhood to Active Sisterhood: Agency, Power, and Subversion in Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.”
Women's Studies; Dec2006, Vol. 35 Issue 8, p739-756, 18p
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Accessed: 28 Oct. 2009.