Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Jacobs

     In chapter 5, Travels of girlhood-The slaves master started out by telling her that she was his property and she must do all that he tells her and by this she is frightened  and scared of the violence, insults or death that could come from this. Right from the start I knew that this story was not going to be happy or any sort of free spirt like in Whitman. In the masters house all the slaves knew that they should not talk about punishments that they are encountered with because punishment for that will be even worse. But she was different, (at this point we do not know her name) but Dr. Flint, her master is not a fan of her grandmother and is pretty much scared of her. At this point I thought the grandmother was dead but at the end I found out that she wasn't.
     In Chapters 6 and 7, The Jealous Mistress and The Lover,It starts out with, "I'd rather my children be half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be the most pampered among slaves in" and "I would rather drudge out my entire life on a cotton field than to live with an unprincipled master." I agree with this, i'd rather have my children have only one meal a day than to be beaten. She started teaching herself to read and her master was mad at first but then he began to write her notes and teach her. A few days after that he got mad at her for being "stubborn" and she told him that she would then turn to her grandmother for protection. So then she started sleeping in the same room as her and her Aunt because the master wanted nothing to do with them. After the master figured all of this out he ordered her to sleep in his room and the mistress was not happy about this. She had gotten so mad that she made the slave girl swear on the bible that she would tell the truth about what had happened between the slave and her husband, Dr. Flint. As the slave explained to her the mistress got every upset and started crying and told the slave that she would protect her but she knew that she wouldn't be able to because the mistress has no say of what goes on with Dr. Flint.
     The slave girls friend then comes into play, they have been friends since they were young and he had finally told her that he wanted to marry her and buy her from her master but she knew Dr. Flint would not have this and she was extremely sad. And she knew the mistress would still be upset because even though the slave girl would be married, her master would always have control over what he wanted to do with her. Then a quote from the book, "a husband of a slave has no power to protect her."
     In my opinion I think slavery is wrong to begin with but then if someone wanted to marry her and take her away then let that happen. Her master should not be able to go and do whatever he wants with her if she has a husband.
     Once the doctor heard what was going on he called her into his office to ask her if she loved this man and he made her tell the truth, she said yes. Then he got angry for her saying that she loved him and started saying that they were "puppies"  and then she went into explanation  of how this man and her were the same so if he was a puppy than so was she. At the moment he stood up and hit her for the first time. He had told her that he wanted to keep her forever and that she was not allowed to get married to this man and if she still wanted to he would put her in jail. And if she talked him, they would both be "cowhide," I think this means whipped and if they saw each other he would be shot. Luckily for this boy, he was off to Savannah to see his Uncles land that he was given and would be back for a while but the slave girl told him it was in his best interest if he did not come back at all.
      Later on in chapters 10 and 11, A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girls Life and The New tie to Life, things got a little more intense. Master started building her a house of her own so they did not have to deal with this mistress hating her anymore but Linda (the slave) wanted nothing to do with this but she was a little pleased with the fact of her having her own home and feeling more like a lady. Linda then starts talking more direct to the readers by saying that this was the most unhappiest part in her life. She knew that master liked her because he usually gets rid of all his slaves and their babies, but not this time. He had built her her very own house and as soon as it was ready she told him that she was about to be a mother and she was not sure of how he was going to react. When she told her grandmother though, she called her a disgrace to her mother and to never to talk to her again and Linda got really sad because that is who she talks to and looks up to.
     When Dr. Flint finally found out that Linda was going to have a baby and got mad but said he would call her tomorrow also that he would never sell her and that it would always be his slave. When she finally had the baby , it was premature and the both the baby and Linda were sick for a very long time and Dr. FLint would check up on them regularly but then he would always remind her that it was his slave baby and Linda feared that most.
     In the last few chapters Linda was not allowed to go into the masters house or this mistress would kill her. And when she found out that she was going to have another child Dr. Flint got even more mad and cut all her hair off and threw her down the stairs so hard that she couldn't move for days. I don't understand why he gets so mad at her if he is the one doing this to her and making her pregnant. After he realizes what he has done he promises her that he will never do this again but she knows that he will forget.
     She ends up having a baby girl and only a few days after he makes her stand there with the baby until she faints. Then again he realized what he had done and feels bad. At this point I'm starting to think that he os bipolar because how can he switch his mood like that. After she starts feeling better a few days later her and the grandmother take the children to the church.

     In class discussion I found out that Mr. Sands bought her and the baby was his, not Dr. Flint. I was so confused about this until we talked about it because the way its written was hard for me to figure our what man had done what. As that in this point in time, hirarchy of genders were in control, for example Dr. Flint. And that white men treated the slaves like were not even people and even the mistress stated that, "the slaves tempted her husband along with all men". This was in no way true and it breaks my hear that one, they would treat people like they did in slavery and also that the mistress would think that the slaves wanted to be with their husbands. Because I am most certain that they didn't want to be anywhere around the,.

3 comments:

  1. This is a really detailed summary! It's good, however what do you feel about everything you've read?

    In those days the master had complete control over the slaves, even though she wanted to get married the master still had the power to sell her. Blacks were seen as the equivalent of cows, simply property to get the work done.

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  2. You did exactly what I did and gave a detailed summary! It helps me better understand the story when I have to write out what happened. But was there anything that you were curious about when reading the story? Did you have any questions about the chapters?

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  3. I know they were treated so horribly and personally I don't like reading about that because it breaks my heart but it is history and we have to learn it. I just believe that if you love someone you should be able to marry whomever that may be.

    Khrystal- Yeah I need to summarize as I read or I will be even more lost that I already was. Whoops. And I did have some questions that were answered in class but for the next reading I will be sure to put them in my blog. I'm just starting to get the hang of this.

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