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Example research essay topic: African American Women Slave Girl - 1,297 words

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... ays that her circumstances as slave girl were unusually fortunate, because after her mother passed away she was left with Margaret Horniblow, whom Harriet was clearly fond of. Mistress Horniblow was the one who taught her to read and spell, and treated Harriet like she was her own daughter. Mistress never worked Harriet to hard or prevented her from having fun as little white girls did. Mrs. Horniblow kept her promise that Harriet should never suffer from anything.

So, under the care of her mistress, Harriet's life was a happy one. Still the affects of slavery had not taken hold of her. This went on until her mistress died and Harriet for the first time was exposed to her value as property. It is clear that Harriet Jacobs has spent the better part of her life trying to reconcile the feelings she has towards her first mistress. On one hand, Harriet loves her mistress deeply for the way she treated Harriet.

On the other hand, how could someone that apparently cared for her so much leave her with such an unpredictable fate? It seems that Harriet's ignorance of her status as property is challenged greatly at this point. In Harriet's retrospect as an older woman she seems to not have feelings of love and affection to her mistress but does have appreciation for the knowledge that she gained from her. The next stage of Harriet's life contains the realization of what slavery is. It was at this time that her true education began. The days of happy frolic were gone, the anguish of slavery was all that lie ahead.

Everywhere, Harriet looked there was atrocities happening. Before, when she lived with Margaret Horniblow, she was taken care of. Now all she had was her grandmother. By the time she had spent a couple of years with the Norcom's (Flints) several people that were close to her had died. At the time of these deaths she was obviously very mournful.

She even rebelled against God, who had taken her bother parents as well as her loving mistress. However as time went on and the more she experienced the evils of bondage her view of death began to change. This first change came about when her grandmother suggested of her parents fate by saying, Who knows the ways of God? Perhaps they have been kindly taken from the evil days to come. (Jacobs p. 10) She was further subjected to this kind of outlook on death, when she witnessed a dying slave girl giving birth to a white baby, beg for the Lord to come and take her. The belief that death brought peace and freedom seemed to be a common sentiment among slaves who lived such an unrewarding and oppresses life. Many of them had very little to live for.

Whereas, the conflict in Harriet's mind must have been very divisive, because she valued so much about life. If it wasnt for her Grandmothers presence and the joy and self-determination she brought to Harriet's life then maybe accepting death as a blessing may have come easier with Harriet. Sometimes death did seem more appealing than life to Harriet while she was under mastery of Dr. Norcom. Jacobs never actually describes the specifics of her continuous raping by Dr. James Norcom, but it is easy to draw the most gruesome conclusions of what this predator must have done to the innocence of Harriet.

I think a cause of focus is the question of, why Harriet was so vague in writing the violations brought against by Dr. Norcom? A big factor may have been the puritanical ways of America at that time. It seems that people did not write about those types of things, no matter what. However, I think Harriet's upbringing was an important reason of why she was so elusive in her description of the raping. Clearly her Grandmother was a huge influence on Harriet.

With that influence Harriet was taught not to talk about such things. She was even afraid to tell her Grandmother about what was going on. I was very young and felt shamefaced about telling her such impure things, especially as I knew her (Grandmother) to be very strict on such subjects. Harriet said. I think this stayed with Harriet over the years.

When Harriet found love in the midst of her torture, she was again torn between the value of life and the freedom of death. She still had the deep love for her Grandmother and certainly adored her brother, but they were not enough to shed the dark clouds that lay over her head. No love was actually enough to free her from her misery. However, she fell in love with a young man that gave her hope that she explains only love can bring. She romanced about her affair by saying, I loved, and indulged the hope that the dark clouds around me would turn out a bright lining. I forgot that in the land of my birth the shadows are too dense for light to penetrate. (Jacobs p 37) This relationship also brought Harriet hope for freedom once again.

The young man who was Harriet's love interest was free born and wished to marry her. However, after Harriet's attempts to pursued her master to sell her to the young neighbor failed she was left worse off than before. Dr. Norcom was so cruel he forbade Harriet anymore contact with the young man. Harriet's next love came when she gave birth to her first child. Her son Benny was conceived as a way to get around Dr.

Norcom's reign of terror. However, this is a subject that was very painful for her. She conveys to the reader that she has great regret for the length she went to stop her Master. Along with her own guilt she carries the memories of her Grandmothers reaction to the news of her pregnancy. Clearly this was a very traumatic time in Harriet's life. In light of these difficult events Harriet once again found love and hope in her new born son.

When I was most sorely oppressed I found solace in his smiles. I loved to watch his infant slumber: but always there was a dark cloud over my enjoyment. I could never forget that he was a slave. (Jacobs p. 62) Bibliography Barone, Michael & Ujifusa, Grant. The Almanac of American Politics 1996.

Washington, DC: National Journal Inc. , 1995. Low, W. Augustus. Encyclopedia of Black America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981. Salem, Dorothy C.

African-American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1993. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc. , 1992. Smith, Sande, ed.

Who's Who in African-American History. Greenwich, CT: Brompton Books Corp. , 1994. Jordan, Casper LeRoy. A Bibliographical Guide to African-American Women Writers.

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. McDowell, Deborah E. , and Arnold Rampersad, eds. Slavery and the Literary Imagination.

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. Olney, James. I Was Born: Slaves Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature, in Charles T. Davis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. , eds. The Slaves Narrative. Oxford: Oxford Univ.

Press, 1985. 148 - 175. Press, Marjorie, and Hortense J. Spiller's. Conjuring: Black Women, Fiction, and Literary Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.

Sekora, John, and Darwin T. Turner, eds. The Art of Slave Narrative: Original Essays in Criticism and Theory. Macomb: Western Illinois University Press, 1982. Step, Robert. From Behind The Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative.

Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979. Sundquist, Eric, ed. Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990.


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Research essay sample on African American Women Slave Girl

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