Sexual Virtue and Sexual Abuse Theme Analysis

In her narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs uses the pseudonym Linda Brent to describe her own upbringing as a slave within a white household. In doing so, she focuses on the vulnerability and moral predicament of black women who are powerless against the sexual abuses of white men. Linda wants to fulfill contemporary norms of feminine chastity and respectability; moreover, she wants to present herself as a proper young woman in order to gain respect and sympathy from her audience. However, under the conditions of slavery this proves impossible: Linda is subjected to constant harassment from her lustful master, Dr. Flint, and to gain protection from him she eventually has an extramarital affair and two children with another white man, Mr. Sands. While Linda often expresses shame and remorse for these decisions, by emphasizing her lack of alternatives she argues that it’s unfair to impose the same sexual principles on enslaved black women and free white women.

Throughout the narrative, Linda takes pains to establish her moral character and to emphasize her adherence to contemporary ideals of female sexual virtue. Linda grows up under the care of a strict and religious grandmother, and she speaks highly of the “pure principles [she] instilled in me.” As a teenager Linda is courted by a free carpenter and hopes to marry him, thus creating a respectable future for herself and her children. Even when describing the sexual abuse she suffers from Dr. Flint, Jacobs refers to it obliquely, saying that her master harasses her with “words that scathed ear and brain like fire” and leaving the reader to infer exactly what he’s saying. Similarly, when Linda becomes involved with another white man in order to gain protection from Dr. Flint, she never speaks explicitly about sex; instead, she describes her choice by saying that “I shall be a mother” soon, couching her actions in terms of maternity, which is seen as much more respectable than female sexuality.

Once free, she seeks to present herself as a virtuous and respectable woman. For example, when she arrives in New York she’s outraged when a porter proposes to convey her and her belongings through the city in his open-backed truck, which she sees as inappropriate and immodest. In situations like these Jacobs emulates the Victorian prudishness of white society; she does so both out of serious moral conviction and in order to emphasize her similarity to her white female readers, whom she wants to view her as a fellow woman instead of a slave.

However, as Linda’s conflict with Dr. Flint and relationship with Mr. Sands shows, it’s impossible for enslaved women to fulfill ideals of sexual purity when they’re powerless against predatory white men. Young women of her time are supposed to be ignorant in all matters of sex (a quality which Linda evokes with her oblique discussion of the subject) but Linda says that “the influences of slavery” have allowed Dr. Flint to “pollute [her] mind with foul images” and “made [her] prematurely knowing, concerning the evil ways of the world.” Linda stands her ground admirably against Dr. Flint, but he constantly tells her that she “was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing.” In the eyes of the law, this is completely true – Linda has no recourse against him, and it’s only with luck and vigilance that she evades rape.

In order to gain some protection from Dr. Flint, Linda accepts the advances of another white man, Mr. Sands. This decision saves her from rape and gives her some extremely limited agency in her choice of sexual partners, but it also requires her to sacrifice the sexual virtue that is so important to her. Linda speaks of this decision in drastic terms, calling it “a plunge into the abyss,” but she also contrasts her situation to that of free women, “whose purity has been sheltered from childhood” and “whose homes are protected by law.” As a slave, she has no option to “keep myself pure.”

While Linda initially expresses remorse about this part of her life, she eventually concludes that black women should not feel ashamed for failing to live up to the standards of a system that actively oppresses them. When first describing her liaison with Mr. Sands, Linda says it “fills me with sorrow and shame”; appealing to her reader, she asks “ye happy women” not to “judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely.” While she understands that she has no alternatives, she speaks of this decision as a severe moral failing on her part. However, as she grows older Linda begins to take a less critical view of her moral qualities. When a friend in the North says that people might treat her with “contempt” if they knew her children were illegitimate, she responds that “God alone knows how I have suffered; and He, I trust, will forgive me.” Implicitly, she refuses to hold herself accountable to standards that, for slaves, are impossible to fulfill.

Later, when her daughter Ellen is setting off to boarding school, Linda forces herself to disclose the secret of her paternity, expecting the girl to be disappointed in her. Instead, Ellen says, “I never think any thing about my father. All my love is for you.” This compelling moment of acceptance and understanding from her daughter shows Linda that, in the eyes of those who matter, her moral character is untainted; she doesn’t need to feel accountable for the sexual abuse she endured as a girl.

Throughout the novel, Jacobs emphasizes the “wrongs, sufferings, and mortifications” that are specific to enslaved women. Her focus on the sexual abuse she and others endured is a political stance and an argument against slavery; but it’s also a personal exploration of the impossibility of fulfilling moral codes without personal autonomy, and the account of a journey from shame towards empowerment and self-respect.