Incidents 4

Why is freedom so important to an already escaped slave? I guess it's the grudges kept over them,"that I never should be free so long as a child of his survived" (201). The oppression drove them to the north and fear kept them there. The fear and sense of power kept over slaves turns slave owners into reckless monsters."The fact that he was entirely dependent on Luke's care, and was obliged to be tended like an infant, instead of inspiring  any gratitude or compassion towards his poor slave, seemed only to increase his irritability and cruelty"(197). If you can not show any compassion to someone who you think is lower than you how would you be able to show it towards anyone else. The system of slavery made everything in that time corrupt. Dr. Flint spent the remainder of his life after Brent escaped searching for her, all in vain. The one thing I did not understand in the book was why he continued all this. Was it to prove he did not lose to a slave? Or, Was he that obsessed with her? It had too have been more then the sense of power that he held over them that kept his efforts going.

PS This is the last journal entry for Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl. I liked the book in general but the way Jacobs wrote of certain things took away from the book. 

Incidents 3

Reading the book I noticed that the strongest emotions Brent shows is towards slavery and gaining her freedom,"But what cared the legislators of the "dominant race" for the blood they were crushing out of trampled hearts? (Jacobs 196). She acknowledges the pain and suffering of a slave in a way that shows that she is not that afraid of being caught by authorities. During the beginning of the book she speaks of the unspeakable things in such a plain way, but now it is as if her anger and pain has built up and is being released into her writing.I dislike how when her grandmother passes away she barely speaks of it. Even though it seems like she anticipated her death it doesn't make sense that she could say so little about the death of her own grandmother who was always there for her but talk about crying when she talks about her friend that bought her freedom,"but when I speak of Mrs. Bruce as my friend, the word is sacred"(207). This shows that Linda's hope for freedom comes before her family. How could Brent show so much gratitude to a friend but show next to nothing to someone who was there through it all? It may just be her style of writing that makes it seem like her grandmothers death was just another event in a slaves life but it seems like Mrs. Bruce became a better friend to Brent than her grandmother.