Comparison of a Slave Master and an Abusive Father

As an English major, I am constantly reading upwards of 10 new texts a week, and often classes overlap in themes or specific works. The most surprising overlap that I’ve noticed this year is the heartbreaking similarity between Josie Mendez-Negrete’s “Las Hijas de Juan,” and Harriet Jacob’s “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Both works are autobiographical accounts of the physical and sexual abuse imposed on young girls by patriarchal figures who treat them literally, as property. Even though they were published nearly 150 years apart, the parallels between their details are staggering.

I had to read “Incidents” as part of my American Literature survey course, and it came after  discussing “Las Hijas de Juan,” a work so powerful that I haven’t been able to get it off my mind. The autobiography is one of the many slave narrative published in the mid 1800’s before the Civil War. This one, written by Harriet Jacobs under the pen name Linda Brent, details the abuse the author dealt with during the time she was owned by the Flint family, in particular from the father, Dr. Flint. As I read the scenes of abuse I couldn’t help but be eerily reminded of Mendez-Negrete’s own experiences.

One scene in Jacobs’ text describes being in Dr. Flint’s study, and her immense fear of him.

How I dreaded my master now! Every minute I expected to be summoned to his presence; but the day passed, and I heard nothing from him. The next morning, a message was brought to me: “Master wants you in his study.” I found the door ajar, and I stood a moment gazing at the hateful man who claimed a right to rule me, body and soul. I entered, and tried to appear calm. I did not want him to know how my heart was bleeding. He looked fixedly at me, with an expression which seemed to say, “I have half a mind to kill you on the spot.” 809

 The dynamic between Jacobs and her master is very similar to the dynamic between Josefina and her father, Juan. Just as Jacobs fears the presence of her master, Josie fears the presence of her father, and with great reason. Although he is her father, not a slave owner, Juan claims to rule his wife and his daughters, “body and soul,” the way the slave master does. Also, Juan is always within inches of killing his wife and daughters and threatens to end their “good-for-nothing” lives often. Josie and her family have to live in constant fear of the abuse that can come at any moment, and are helpless to do anything about it. The resemblance of their lives to that of the slave girl Harriet Jacobs are astoundingly heartbreaking. The worst part is, that Josie’s family lives in contemporary America, and yet they prove that people will always live in oppressive, unjust, abusive systems of patriarchy as long as society allows it.

 

 

 

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