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Book Review Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Book Review: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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Slavery was a monstrous institution that brought so much pain and suffering to slaves and their families. Several slaves wrote about the horrific experiences in the hands of their masters, and the extremes they went to as they tried to save themselves from pain. Harriet A. Jacobs’ book, ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,’ talks about her experiences with different kinds of abuse as a slave, how she tried to fight against the institution, and how she eventually broke free.
The main argument in the book is the evil of the institution of slavery. The book is set in the early 1800s when slavery was a normal part of life, especially in the South. Slaves were put to work in plantations, industries, as well as in their master’s homes. In these places, they endured different kinds of abuse, such as verbal, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Children of slaves were not spared either as they were subjected to physical labor, which is a form of child abuse. In the introduction of the book, Jacobs explains that writing her story brought her much pain, and she would have kept it private, but she knew it would help the antislavery movement. Jacobs wrote under the pseudonym of Linda Brent. The main point of her book is, therefore, to shed light on the many evils of slavery towards the argument that it should be abolished. Sexual abuse of slaves was a common issue as slaves were seen to belong to their masters entirely. Another issue in slavery was the separation of families as they were sold off to different masters. Slave-owners did not recognize marriages among slaves. Slaves were also physically abused through hard labor in the plantations and severe beatings when their masters chose.
The book ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’ gives many examples that illustrate the suffering of the slaves. One of these is sexual abuse that Linda tried to evade for a long time. Other slaves were not as lucky as she was to have a choice. When her mistress died, Linda went to live with a new mistress whose father made sexual advances towards her. Linda tried many tactics to evade him but realized she could not escape him forever. She chose a lesser evil, an affair with a white neighbor named Mr. Sands. Linda also speaks of the physical abuse slaves were subjected to. When Mr. Flint found out about her affair with Mr. Sands, he sent her to become a farmhand. Mr. Flint planned to do the same to Linda’s children as punishment to her NOTEREF _Ref37922876 f h 1. She chose to hide out in her grandmother’s attic for years with the hope that Mr. Flint would sell her children. Given the tiny room she was confined to, she progressively lost the use of her limbs and eventually became permanently disabled.
Separation of families was one of the most inhumane acts of slavery. Children would be separated from their parents with no consideration, stemming from the idea that slaves did not feel the same emotions as their masters. The whole premise of slavery was that slaves were less than human; they were mere objects to be used for the benefit of their masters. Jacobs tells of her experiences and those of her fellow slaves as they tried to fight against the unfair and inhuman treatment. A perfect example of this is Linda’s sacrifice to live in a tiny attic for seven years, which eventually destroyed her body. As a mother, she would do anything for her own children. Some of the slave-owners, such as Mrs. Bruce and Emily Flint’s aunt, showed kindness to their slaves, but this was not enough. At the end of the day, a slave remained a slave no matter how well they were treated.
In writing her book, Harriet Jacobs uses primary sources. She relies on her own first-hand account and also incorporates testimonies from three individuals to confirm the accuracy of the information. Amy Post, was a white abolitionist who confirmed Jacobs’ story in addition to a black antislavery writer named George W. Lowther. At the beginning of the book, an abolitionist named Lydia Maria Child confirms the accuracy of the events in the book and explains that the story would be useful for antislavery movements NOTEREF _Ref37922876 f h 1. Jacobs’ first-hand narration of the horrors she endured makes the story more believable to readers as she explains events as they happen and her reaction to them. The abolitionists who contributed to her book also lend credence to the story as people might have dismissed her work as mere tales from a slave.
‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’ fits perfectly into the literature of the Pre-Civil War era. Writings about slavery mainly by slaves were becoming more common at the time as the antislavery movement gained momentum. These kinds of literature shed light on the horrors of slavery and promoted the argument that the whole institution of slavery was wrong, a violation of human rights and dignity of slaves. The book is quite similar to other books of the time as it gives the first-hand experience of slaves. Many slave authors at the time had similar themes in their book, such as sexual, physical, and other kinds of abuse meted out upon the slaves. These accounts helped readers at the time and in later years understand the appalling treatment of slaves, and the desperate measures they took to save themselves and their families.
Main Character in the Hunger Games is Katniss Everdeen
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English
Main Character in the Hunger Games is Katniss Everdeen who volunteers in place of her younger sister, prim Everdeen to participate in the hunger games. Katniss shows courage as she takes care of her family after the death of their father and takes up the role of the breadwinner. After volunteering to take place in the hunger games, she gives her mother an ultimatum, “Well, you have to help it this time. You can’t clock and leave Prim on her own” because she wanted her mother to take charge of the family now that she was gone (Collins 43).
Minor character is Prim Everdeen the sister of Katniss who is young and innocent. Katniss says, “My Little sister, Prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in my mother’s body, their cheeks pressed together.” Katniss inspiration was to better the lives of Prim and her mother, which motivation her to secure a win. Flat character include Rue a girl who came from District 11 and became Katniss’ ally. Rue dies in the end as they were carrying out a plan with Katniss to destroy the supplies of the other tributes in the game. Katniss describes, “Rue has rolled to her side, her body curved in and around the spear.” Foxface includes the dynamic character because she suffered severe trauma early in the story, but remained courageous and intelligence. The author claims, “Foxface! Leave it to her to come up with such a cleaver and risky idea!” Foxface does not hold a grudge against Katniss even though she did not help her when she was captured, and instead understands Katniss had no choice (Collins 143).
Round character represents Haymitch Abernathy who was the only of two people to secure a win from District 12. Haymitch begins as a drunkard, but later uses his intelligence and skills to coach Katniss and Peeta into a win. Katniss asserts, “I can feel Haymitch nudging me to keep up the act.” Static character is Gale who was Katniss’ confidant and friend. Gale does not change from being Katniss’ friend and Katniss wonders if he had any romantic feelings towards her. The author claims, “And Gale. I know him. He won’t be shouting and cheering” (Collins 280).
Antagonist of the story becomes Cato, a career tribute who received training from an early age to succeed in the Hunger games. Cato becomes the antagonist as he turns outs to be one of those who wish to destroy Katniss and Peete. Katniss declares, “Cato isn’t one to wait for his prey to wander by.” He is violent, fierce fighter, and also short-tempered as he seems merciless in his tactics to win the game (Collins 313).
Gregor Samsa from Metamorphosis by Kafka falls into denial when he wakes up one morning and finds out his entire body has turned into a giant bug. Gregor tries to roll and sleep silently in bed hoping that his body would change back and he can forget the whole ordeal. He seems to be in denial further as he informs the office manager that he just suffering some dizziness, but he would soon get back to work. Gregor felt anger towards himself for having become a burden to his family. He realized that no one understood his transformation and he could not do anything to assist them in dealing with daily chores. He also felt outrage that even though he could not help his family, they had also abandoned him and treated him differently. Gergor began bargaining with himself that he could possibly go back to work and assist his family financial situation (Kubler-Ross). He spends hours in his room listening to the family members and decides to remain hidden so that he does not become a bother to them. He resolves to remain hidden when anyone enters the room so that they do not have to bear his monstrous appearance (Kubler-Ross). Gregor suffers depression because of the guilt and remorse he feels for his inability to assist his family. He feels guilty for being a burden to his family and this causes depression and anxiety all the time. Gregor suffers in silent doing all that he can to ensure that he does not become a bother to the family. Gregor finally accepts his condition and resolves to die so that his family can be relieved. When he overhears his sister Greter and his father wishing he was gone, he accepts his situation and makes a decision to surrender to death (Kubler-Ross).
Gregor’s family suffers denial as they refuse to deal with their son as a bug and abandon him in his room. They family feels anger because Gregor’s condition leaves them with a financial crisis. They bargain that about Gregor’s condition, and feel that he may be a burden that needs to be removed. The family suffers depression and anxiety because their social status and family life is destroyed for having to live with a bug. Finally, they accept Gregor’s condition is useless and resolve that he needs to leave the family (Kubler-Ross).
Kafka chooses to use a bug as the main character to show how strange and extraordinary conditions can change a family environment. By changing Gregor into a bug, Kafka discloses that people dealing with dire situations may feel frustrated by those around them because they do not understand the situation. The bug impacts the life of each family member, and they deal with the situation differently (Kubler-Ross).
A perfect man would be tall, physically built in a way that appears he is strong and also have blue eyes. The man does not have to be highly muscular, but should not have a skinny physique. He needs to have strong hands and having a sweet body smell like olive or lavender scent. The ideal man would, therefore, have to maintain a clean look and smart dressing in order to have a fresh scent from his body always. In terms of values, such a man needs to be honest and straightforward in his dealing at all times. A man who finds pleasure in lying about things he does or his lifestyle cannot make for an ideal individual. A man who is honest also becomes dependable because such an individual would be reliable, kind-hearted, humble, and even caring (Honacker).
A perfect man would be a person with a sense of humor to make life enjoyable and adventurous. Such an individual would ensure that even in harsh times, he makes the other person feel that they can tackle any situation. A sense of humor ensures that a person can have a strong relationship, and deal with stressful situations amicably. An ideal man would also be self-aware, and this ensures that such an individual knows how to interact with others. Self-awareness ensures that an ideal man can be able to recognize his strengths and weaknesses and still live life without self-loathing or low self-esteem. A perfect man is someone who can recognize mistakes and learn from them in order to better the future. The perfect man would, therefore, be all-rounded in terms of integrity, intelligence, emotional stability, self-confidence, discipline and also generosity (Honacker).
Works Cited
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games, Volume 1. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2009. Print.
Honacker, Carmen. “The 10 Most Desirable Traits in Human Beings.” California Psychics. 23 January 2011. Web. 27 June 2014. < HYPERLINK “http://blog.californiapsychics.com/blog/2011/01/10-most-desirable-traits-in-human-beings.html” http://blog.californiapsychics.com/blog/2011/01/10-most-desirable-traits-in-human-beings.html>
Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth. “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Five Stages of Grief.” n.d. PDF file.
Meta as a Social Media Platform
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Meta as a Social Media Platform
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is one of the most common social media platforms of the current age. Nearly everybody uses Meta to connect with friends and communicate. It is a networking site which makes it easy for people to connect and share with family and friends without necessarily seeing each other. Meta was originally developed for college students. It was developed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 while enrolled as a student at Harvard University. By 2006, anyone with a valid email address could join Meta as long as they were above 13 years. Meta remains the world’s biggest social networking site, with over 1 billion users globally.
Over the years, Meta Company has acquired other platforms, including Instagram, Whatsapp, Oculus VR, Onavo and Beluga. In 2022, Meta has almost 2.9 billion monthly users, a number that does not include its other acquisitions. Instagram is a video and photo-sharing application that Meta acquired on April 9, 2012, at the cost of $1 billion. Whatsapp is a Mobile messenger service that Meta acquired in February 2014 at the cost of $19 billion. Meta acquired Oculus VR, a virtual reality technology company, in March 2014 at $2 billion. It made the move just weeks after acquiring WhatsApp. The company was best known for its virtual reality video gaming headset, known as the Oculus Rift product. Meta acquired Onavo, a mobile web analytics business, in October 2019 at $100-200 million and Beluga, a messaging service, in March 2011 at an undisclosed cost (Kumar, 323). Meta is undertaking horizontal integration by purchasing other related businesses that are competitors. By purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta is controlling competition and growing as a business. This is a genius move for Meta as the company is expanding, and its revenues are increasing by extension.
References
Kumar, B. Rajesh. “Major Acquisitions by Facebook.” Wealth Creation in the World’s Largest Mergers and Acquisitions. Springer, Cham, 2019. 321-327.