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Mr. Wheeler
Jacob is a runaway enslaved man from South Carolina whom Hannah meets on her flight north. Jacob and his sister run away from their enslaver after he decides to separate them by selling the sister to a plantation owner in Texas. After the sister’s death, Hannah and Jacob travel together for several days. They develop an easy, friendly rapport even though the much darker-complexioned Jacob is a lowly field hand, not a relatively privileged and educated house servant like Hannah. Jacob is killed while stealing a boat so they can cross a river.
Jacob Quotes in The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The The Bondwoman’s Narrative quotes below are all either spoken by Jacob or refer to Jacob. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18: Strange Company Quotes
[“]I have heard them, when they called it praying, and when it seemed to me they were talking to themselves, or master, or some one else. Ministers used to come among us and pray, but I never minded them. They mostly prayed that we the slaves might be good and obedient, and feel grateful for all our blessings, which I know was fudge. It hardened my heart, and I could not bear it.”
She says this slowly and studiously, and occupies a long time in doing it. How I pitied the poor benighted soul to whom the sweetest influences of religion had become gall and wormwood.
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Jacob Character Timeline in The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The timeline below shows where the character Jacob appears in The Bondwoman’s Narrative. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 18: Strange Company
...weeks, she encounters others like her. One night, a pair of runaways (later identified as Jacob and his sister) stop to rest near Hannah where she sleeps in a forest. She...
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A storm gathers and it begins to rain. Jacob finds an improvised hut nearby that provides better shelter, and he and Hannah take his...
(full context)
The sister lingers through the night and dies at sunrise. Hannah and Jacob keep a quiet vigil over her body throughout the day, then Jacob goes out to...
(full context)
Chapter 19: An Old Friend
Hannah and Jacob travel together for days after the sister’s death, and although Jacob becomes very fond of...
(full context)
