First of all, I would like to refer to «Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself». Harriet Jacobs describes her own life. The main concept that runs through all the work of the author, it is the idea of incommensurability of sufferings of men and women in slavery. According to Jacobs, a female slave woman is not only subjected to all the tests, through which the men are also going (overwork, starvation, flogging, etc.), but she also becomes a victim of even more serious tortures: “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs, 88).
These sufferings involved forced sexual slavery that female slaves were forced to bear. Even if their whole nature resisted it, their owners would use several means to make them put up with this aspect of their life in the South.
Harriet Jacobs underlines that the whole life a female slave was full of things, which were prohibited in the world of white people. Therefore, while describing the shameful practice of sexual violence, she does not mention any specific names of women that she knew. Instead, the author simply uses the pronoun “she” as a generalizing one: “She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave” (Jacobs, 35).
Apart from it, the women were often deprived of the right to start their own family, because their duty was to serve the family of the owner and not be distracted for anything else. Moreover, even if they did manage to get a permission to start a family, it became rather a new challenge, because the husband was unable to protect his wife from the attacks by the owner. Furthermore, all children acquired the social status of their mother and became slaves.
White owners, who were often the fathers of female slaves` children, used them as property. They sold kinds at auctions in order to separate them from their mothers. Separation from the children was the most terrible challenge to the slaves, because despite all attempts of the owners to destroy all the human feelings of the slaves, they were unable to destroy the maternal instincts.
One more story to mention is the life of slave Patsy from “Twelve Years a Slave” (12 Years a Slavу, dir. S. McQueen). Patsy was the favorite slave of the religious master Edwin Epps. During the day, Patsy was picking up the biggest amounts of cotton from Edwin`s plantations. However, when the night came, she often had to “surrender” to her master. For this particular reason Patsy was hated and mocked over by Mary, the jealous wife of the planter (12 Years a Slavу, dir. S. McQueen).
Overall, Patsy reached the critical point, and asked Solomon to kill her, but he refused. Once she disappeared from the plantation. Upon returning, Patsy explained to Edwin that she just went to get a piece of soap. Enraged Edwin ordered to tie her naked to a stake and made Solomon lash her with the whip (12 Years a Slavу, dir. S. McQueen).
It is evident that Patsy was emotionally engaged in the love-hate relationship with her master. However, it was not only the relationship between the slave and the master. Apparently, it was also the father-daughter relationship. Moreover, there was also the Stockholm syndrome, because Patsy became attached to the person, who hurt her. All of her days were full of confusion – she was wondering if there was any love.
Finally, the analysis of the problem of female slavery would be incomplete without the reference to the victims of contemporary human trafficking. There are stories, when the female victims of domestic violence prefer to stay home with their husbands instead of running away. Moreover, this scenario may also be applied to certain victims of the human trafficking. Why don`t they run away? (Sex, lies and psychological scars: inside Ukraine's human trafficking crisis, Tucker).
Actually, in some ways the reasons why wives choose to put up with domestic violence are similar to those why girls, who are involved in the sex traffic, do not run away from their “masters”. Both types are mentally broken. Yes, it is that simple - and at the same time that difficult. Frankly speaking, fear is the trigger that makes contemporary females put up with abuse and violence (Human trafficking: The lives bought and sold, Martens).
Furthermore, if we look at the stories of Harriet Jacobs and Patsy, we may see that there is a common pattern in them. Hopelessness and fear determine the behavior of female slaves. However, Jacobs only describes the horrific crimes against the human dignity, which she had to go through. On the other hand, Patsy from “Twelve Years a Slave” is a personification of despair, which is the driving force behind submission. Female slaves were not told about self-respect. They had no hope for the future.
All things considered, it can be said the concept of the 19th –century slavery has created an ill set of values and standards in the minds of a lot of people. Especially it is true for the females. Another cup of tea is that the reasons for submissive behavior are set in minds so deeply, that they may not be visible for other people from the outside. This issue means that, in order to understand a submissive female, we should study each case separately.
Eventually, it is terrifying that in the 19th century women had to deal with violence and rape on their own. But it is even more terrifying that we still have to deal with the outcomes of such humiliating past in the contemporary world.
Works Cited
Jacobs, Harriet . Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself. New York: Barnes &
Noble Classics, 2005. Print.
Martens, Jacky. “Human trafficking: The lives bought and sold.” BBC News. Web. 28 July
2015. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-33592634 .
Tucker, Maxim. “Sex, lies and psychological scars: inside Ukraine's human trafficking
crisis.” The Guardian. Web. 4 February 2015. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/feb/04/sex-lies-psychological-scars-ukraine-human-trafficking-crisis .
12 Years a Slave. Dir. Steve McQueen. By Solomon Northup. Video France Télévisions
Distribution, 2014. DVD.
