In addition to the brutality suffered by all slaves, women suffered the additional anguish of sexual exploitation and the deprivation of motherhood. In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave,” Harriet Jacobs focuses on racial subjugation but also gives voice to a different kind of captivity that men impose on women regardless of color. This form of slavery is not only imposed on women by men, but is also accepted and perpetuated by women themselves. Jacobs' narrative provides a faithful account of the unique struggles of slave women, a perspective that has received relatively little historical attention, and how even within this tremendously challenging situation one can fight for liberation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Community and personal relationships are described as a key element in shaping the slave experience. Jacobs attributes the success of his escape to a community effort, but the importance of relationships in his narrative goes far beyond this aspect of his story. First, the slave mother's primary concern is the relationship with her children. This relationship is the reason Jacobs doesn't run away when she could, but later it's the reason she becomes determined to do so. By emphasizing the importance of family and home throughout his narrative, Jacobs connects it to universal values ​​that his Northern readers empathize with. She goes on to point out that happy home and family are those blessings from which enslaved women are excluded. Jacobs reveals that she was taught to read and write by her first lover. Her ability to read makes her vulnerable to harassment from her master; he begins to press his immoral attentions on her through vulgar notes, which force Jacobs to feign illiteracy. After Jacobs flees to the North, her former master continues to harass her through letters, sometimes threatening her and other times attempting to entice her to return. Although her ability to read makes Jacobs vulnerable to her master's abuse, it is still a source of power for her. For example, even before reaching the North, he is able to arrange for his letters to be sent from different cities in the North. Jacobs's decision to take a white man other than her master as a lover is more complex than a "bad choice" that rejects virtue in favor of illicit sex. She is denied the choice of virtue and marriage, and the only opportunity Jacobs has to assert her sovereignty lies in the act of choice. He chooses one illicit union over another, explaining: "It seems less degrading to give of yourself, than to submit to compulsion. There is something like freedom in having a lover who has no control over you except that which he achieves with kindness. and attachment" (71). Jacobs takes responsibility for her choice, stressing that she “made it with deliberate calculation” (70). Although she aspires to the same ideals of virtue and purity as her white readers, she emphasizes that for the slave and the conditions of slavery this ideology is simply unattainable. Jacobs fully acknowledges her transgressions against conventional sexual morality when she was a slave. At the same time, however, she articulates an indisputable truth: that the morality of free white women has little ethical relevance or authority when applied to the plight of enslaved black women in the South. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a custom essay Even at the end of the narrative, after Jacobs was freed, she did not fulfill her desire to.