Linda's Life in the North

Linda’s experience in the North is nothing like she expected it to be. On the train ride to New York, Linda discovered that colored men and women were not allowed to sit in the first class cars. In response to this, Linda stated, “Colored people were allowed to ride in a filthy box, behind white people, at the south, but there they were not required to pay for the privilege. It made me sad to find out how the north aped the customs of slavery.” (pg. 248) Linda realized that there are several of the same divisions between colored people and white people in the North as there are in the South.
Also, Linda always feels a sense of insecurity and uneasiness all of the time. Linda hoped that by coming to the North, she would be able to live a good life with her family. She was mistaken. Linda realizes that she is going to have to work harder than she thought she would have to to bring her family together.

William and Mr. Sands

In this reading, Mr. Sands gets elected as Congressman and has to move to Washington. He decides to take William with him with the intention of freeing William in the long run. However, William recognizes that Mr. Sands is not a very trusting man and does not want to go to Washington with him. William runs away from Mr. Sands because he does not think that Mr. Sands will hold up his promise and let him free. William instead runs away with some abolitionists in the North. I think that William running away is justified because we find out that Mr. Sands is not someone that William can trust. William knows that he will just have to work for Mr. Sands in Washington and will never escape the life of slavery. If I were in William’s shoes, I would probably do the same thing.

Mr. Sands

Mr. Sands comes into possession of the children when Dr. Flint finally decided to sell the children to a slave trader. The slave trader, one of the few caring slave traders, than sold the children to Mr. Sands.
Linda trusts him because he is the father of her children. Considering Linda felt safe enough with Mr. Sands to have children, she is pretty trusting of him. I think that Mr. Sands is trustworthy because he took the time to buy the children from the slave trader. If he did not care about the children and Linda, he would not have even considered helping Linda and her family out by buying the children. Plus, Mr. Sands purchased the children for a great deal of money, which he would not have done if he were not trustworthy.

Gold Chain

In chapter fourteen, we learn that Linda has had yet another baby. Linda’s grandmother wants Linda’s children to be baptized, but Linda knows that Dr. Flint would not like that idea. One Sunday, when Linda learns that Dr. Flint has to go out of town to visit a patient, Linda’s grandmother realizes that it is the perfect time to have the children baptized. When Linda was leaving the church, her father’s old mistress came up to her and placed a gold chain around her baby’s neck. Although it seems like a nice gift, Linda did not like it. To Linda, the gold chain resembled slavery, and Linda did not ever want her child to “feel the weight of slavery’s chain, whose iron entereth into the soul!” This sounds like an unusual statement because the gold chain seems like a genuine gift. However, Linda has been in slavery her whole life, and she does not want her child to endure slavery as well.

Interesting Passage

The passage that I thought was interesting was on page 98. Linda stated, “It was a grand opportunity for the low whites, who had no negroes of their own to scourage. They exulted in such a chance to exercise a little brief authority, and show their subserviency to the slaveholders…” The whole idea of the insurrection was surprising to me. It was strange how low whites would use the insurrection as a time to show brief authority over the slaves because they had no slaves of their own. The insurrection shows ignorance in a way because the lower class of white men would use authority over the slaves. In reality, some of the slaves were more educated than the white men who were ransacking their homes. For example, on page 99, one of the white men questioned Linda by asking, “What d’ye foller us fur? D’ye s’pose white folks is come to steal?” Linda replied, “You have come to search; but you have searched that box, and I will take it, if you please.” There is a huge difference between the speech of the white male, who is supposed to be an authority figure, and Linda, a slave who is not supposed to be very well educated. Linda makes the white male sound ignorant.

Love

Slaves are not allowed to have their own personal love lives if their master does not approve. A young female slave once told Mrs. Flint, Linda’s mistress, that a colored man asked the young female slave to be his wife. Mrs. Flint replied to the girl by saying, ‘“I will have you peeled and pickled, my lady,’ she said, ‘if I ever hear you mention that subject again. Do you suppose that I will have you tending my children with the children of that nigger?’” Linda was in the same situation as this young female slave. Slaves could not just pick up and leave a family to marry a colored man, especially a free colored man. Even if the man had money to buy the female slave, she still could not leave the family without the permission of her master. In Linda’s situation, her master, Dr. Flint, did not want her to leave the family and suggested that she come work with him in Louisiana, a completely different state. Dr. Flint would not even let Linda talk to the man that wanted to marry her. Linda really wanted to love someone, but she was unable to. As a slave, she was considered property and was under the control of her master.

Reaction to Slavery

Jacobs presents the reader with a very vivid view of how slavery was. I liked one of the quotations in the book. It was a good representation of the relationship between the slaves and their masters. The novel stated, “These God-breathing machines are no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend.” This quote really depicts a slave’s role in society. Slaves were looked at as “property,” not as human beings.
Jacobs explained the role of slavery in the South, but she also incorporated her individual story with it. She would talk about the role of other slaves in society, but she also included personal touches such as her grandmother and brothers.
In the story, Jacobs painted a picture that was really vivid in my mind when reading. It is so frustrating to know the struggle that people like Jacobs’ grandmother went through just to become free. If I lived during this time, I do not think that I would have been able to order someone around and to whip him or her when they did not follow my directions.

Reflection

Most humans have dreams that they are pursuing. Whether it be a dream that they are willing to die for or not, people still have goals that they want to accomplish in their lifetime. It is similar to Alexis de Toqueville’s essay, Why Americans are Restless. Humans are constantly chasing after a dream, but once they accomplish that dream, it is not as good as they thought it would be.
In The Great Gatsby, most of the characters die in pursuit of their dreams. This makes a person take a step back and wonder if these dreams are really worth dying for. Is it really worth pursuing these dreams when, in reality, accomplishing your dreams is not as gratifying as the chase? If Gatsby had not been murdered in the book, would he still say that it was worth it chasing after Daisy for all of those years?