Kara Walker is an American artist born in Stockton, California in 1969.
ENCOUNTERS
Numbered responses are by ECU students.
Quotations are in red.
Italics indicate instructor comments and questions.
Quotations are in red.
Italics indicate instructor comments and questions.
. . . I had to do surprisingly extensive and specific googling to figure out what a ‘gimlet’ was, which is an old-timey hand drill.
1. Her inclusion of the accounts given to her by others is helpful in understanding the story as a whole... . but it raises the question as to how she came about knowing the details of the story. It is most likely that Betty told her at the time, or she was told later by others.
Rape Politics
8. . . . black women were often sexual targets for white men because they knew they could do terrible things to black women without getting in trouble. So these white men would sexually assault black women, and then if these women ended up getting pregnant, they were punished for their motherhood with the trauma of watching their kids being bound in chains.
9. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl continues to be a difficult, but rewarding read. (In last class we discussed how hard truths of the past are important to learn in the modern day, and I tried to bring that mindset here.) One of the most gut-wrenching revelations about Linda’s abuse as a slave was the revelation that her situation was not an isolated case. Linda mentions “. . . slaveholders have been cunning enough to enact that [‘]the child shall follow the condition of the mother,[‘] not of the father, thus taking care that licentiousness shall not interfere with avarice....]” Linda’s children were immediately born into slavery due to this law. They didn’t have the opportunity to have freedom like their father. I looked up when this law was enacted, thinking it was created sometime in the 1800s. This policy had been in effect since 1662[,] [a]lmost two-hundred years before this story was published. More time has passed between when this policy was enacted and when Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published, than the publication of this story and the modern day. This helps show that in the grand scheme of history, these events are still recent.
Slave as Victim/Hero
10. Linda’s story of her pursuit of freedom is heart-wrenching[;] however, I am shocked at her genuine concern for the safety of those around and assisting her. Jacobs writes, “I was in great anxiety lest I should implicate the friend who harbored me. I knew the consequences would be frightful; and much as I dreaded being caught, even that seemed better than causing an innocent person to suffer for kindness to me” (Ch. 18), openly admitting that she would rather be caught and severely punished than for any innocent person to face the consequences for protecting her. Even while on the run for her own life, she remains selfless and remembers the kindness of those who have taken on the risk of aiding her in such a perilous time. She says in Chapter 18, “It seemed as if I were born to bring sorrow on all who befriended me, and that was the bitterest drop in the bitter cup of my life,” and it seems to me that she sees herself as more of a burden than a victim in desperate need of escape. The selflessness and courage that she possesses during these intense and dangerous trials is something that stood out for me, and I believe needs to be recognized.
Aesthetics: Dialect
2. One thing that stuck out while reading Jacobs’s narrative is her use of eye dialect, such as, “When dey finds you is gone, dey won’t want de plague ob de chillern; but where is you going to hide?” I thought this was a very clever and effective tool because it shows that not every slave was able to get an education like Jacobs was.
Aesthetics: Sarcasm
3. I found sarcastic undertones when Jacobs wrote “She was tired of being her own housekeeper. It was quite too fatiguing to order her dinner and eat it too” (chapter 18). It seems that Jacobs was satirizing the sensitivities of masters and mistresses to house work, which I found witty and funny.
Aesthetics: Irony
4. Jacob[s]’s borrowing of Patrick Henry’s famous line, to “Give me liberty, or give me death” also veils several implications. There are of course the obvious ones, in which it would make sense for her to demand legal equality and freedom, but I also interpreted this as an ironic use of a phrase which likely festered wildly among the revolutionary population in spite of its sheer hypocrisy, turning it on its head and giving real context to the term [“]freedom[.”]
The Mind of the Slave Owner: Slave as Merchandise
5. The
slave is to own nothing—surely not himself, not in legal contract, and not even
when he is all alone inside himself. The enemy will extract every resource from
him as if he were no more than cotton to be picked . . . or an ore vein to be mined
The Mind of the Slave Owner
6. Although it is made clear that Dr. Flint is an extremely vindictive man, it still is shocking just how much effort he puts into catching Linda. Flint even goes as far as borrowing five hundred dollars to go to New York to hunt for her. This is of course a fruitless effort as she is hiding right under his nose the entire time, but that really goes to show the lengths that he will go to get her back.
Consider: "I was daily hoping to hear that my master had sold my children; for I knew who was on the watch to buy them. But Dr. Flint cared even more for revenge than he did for money."
7. As Harriet Jacobs continued her narrative, I began to wonder if Dr. Flint truly believed he treated Jacobs well and he was oblivious to his wrongdoings or if he simply did not care and lied to others regarding it. Dr. Flint stated, “Last night she ran off without the least provocation. We had treated her very kindly. My wife liked her” (Chapter 17). It was obvious that Flint’s wife hated Jacobs and that he treated her with very little respect, so I truly believe he may have been saving face and lying about provoking Jacobs.
Rape Politics
8. . . . black women were often sexual targets for white men because they knew they could do terrible things to black women without getting in trouble. So these white men would sexually assault black women, and then if these women ended up getting pregnant, they were punished for their motherhood with the trauma of watching their kids being bound in chains.
9. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl continues to be a difficult, but rewarding read. (In last class we discussed how hard truths of the past are important to learn in the modern day, and I tried to bring that mindset here.) One of the most gut-wrenching revelations about Linda’s abuse as a slave was the revelation that her situation was not an isolated case. Linda mentions “. . . slaveholders have been cunning enough to enact that [‘]the child shall follow the condition of the mother,[‘] not of the father, thus taking care that licentiousness shall not interfere with avarice....]” Linda’s children were immediately born into slavery due to this law. They didn’t have the opportunity to have freedom like their father. I looked up when this law was enacted, thinking it was created sometime in the 1800s. This policy had been in effect since 1662[,] [a]lmost two-hundred years before this story was published. More time has passed between when this policy was enacted and when Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published, than the publication of this story and the modern day. This helps show that in the grand scheme of history, these events are still recent.
Slave as Victim/Hero
10. Linda’s story of her pursuit of freedom is heart-wrenching[;] however, I am shocked at her genuine concern for the safety of those around and assisting her. Jacobs writes, “I was in great anxiety lest I should implicate the friend who harbored me. I knew the consequences would be frightful; and much as I dreaded being caught, even that seemed better than causing an innocent person to suffer for kindness to me” (Ch. 18), openly admitting that she would rather be caught and severely punished than for any innocent person to face the consequences for protecting her. Even while on the run for her own life, she remains selfless and remembers the kindness of those who have taken on the risk of aiding her in such a perilous time. She says in Chapter 18, “It seemed as if I were born to bring sorrow on all who befriended me, and that was the bitterest drop in the bitter cup of my life,” and it seems to me that she sees herself as more of a burden than a victim in desperate need of escape. The selflessness and courage that she possesses during these intense and dangerous trials is something that stood out for me, and I believe needs to be recognized.
The Good Slaveholder?: Shades of Gray
11. Jacobs writes, I was never cruelly overworked; I was never lacerated with the whip from head to foot; I was never so beaten and bruised that I could not turn from one side to the other…But though my life in slavery was comparatively devoid of hardships, God pity the woman who is compelled to lead such a life!
Even in these inhumane conditions, [Jacobs] goes on to further contend that she has not experienced what most would deem visceral physical abuse and lists many uncomfortable examples . . . This sort of . . . thankfulness from a different perspective . . . is echoed by her thoughts about both her first mistress and her benefactress; “Though she was a slaveholder, to this day my heart blesses her” (Jacobs). How should this position be ethically looked at?
Worse than an Animal
12. Furthermore, Harriet Jacobs’ experience while hiding in captivity has reduced her to a life that is not even comparable to that of an animal; Jacobs writes, “It was also pleasant to hear a human voice speaking to me above a whisper. This continued darkness was oppressive,” once more, it is clear that merely hearing a person’s voice speaking at a normal level was akin to a delicacy, a gift to her ears. Every sensory organ of hers has been discriminated upon, subjected to torture. Even in her rescue, her time evading captivity, she is still being held captive—her own senses are being stolen from her, as she writes, “O, those long, gloomy days, with no object for my eye to rest upon, and no thoughts to occupy my mind, except the dreary past and the uncertain future!” She has been damned to stare at a nothingness indefinitely, listening to life surround her and go on; the binds of slavery extend past a physical chain
Silence as Trauma
13. While Jacobs was hiding at her grandmother's, she often saw and heard her children walking about outside. Unfortunately, though they were free, she was still being hunted. To avoid putting her children in a dangerous situation, Jacobs did not want her children to know she was there. She sat all alone in a dark hole, listening to her children's voices as they passed for days and days. This is a different kind of trauma than a whipping, but no less impactful.
13. While Jacobs was hiding at her grandmother's, she often saw and heard her children walking about outside. Unfortunately, though they were free, she was still being hunted. To avoid putting her children in a dangerous situation, Jacobs did not want her children to know she was there. She sat all alone in a dark hole, listening to her children's voices as they passed for days and days. This is a different kind of trauma than a whipping, but no less impactful.
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