Linda and The Antebellum South

Linda and The Antebellum South
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Introduction
In the antebellum American society, gender roles seemed to be so defined. This is especially so for women, who seemed to have their responsibilities cut out. They were expected to stay within their household setups, talk less, carry out their household chores, keep their domestic matters within, and try their best to ensure they were not taken as a problem in the larger society. It seemed like women were not really expected to take their spheres of influence outside the simple enclosure of their homesteads. Anything that involved public engagement seemed to be a sphere that was entirely cut out for men, and therefore, women were not welcomed. There was, however, some difference based on whether it was in the North or the South. In the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, the experiences of Linda illustrate the experiences of women in the Antebellum South.
The Antebellum America
This was a time when there was too much oppression for people of color, specifically blacks. It was high season for slavery, especially in the South. Blacks were owned as property by their white masters. They worked mostly in the large plantations. Agriculture was the backbone of the South, and therefore, slave labor was quite important there. Black women bore the brunt of it all. As noted in the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, while slavery was bad for men, it was worse for women. They were expected to be quiet, obedient, and submissive to all the demands of their white masters. Some of these demands were indeed sexual and, therefore, not quite welcomed. The North was relatively a safer haven for fleeing slaves compared to the South. Getting there, however, wasn’t as easy. Linda is a woman caught in between the brutal and exploitative stranglehold of slavery; and the fleeting tenets of feminism and womanhood.[History 17A. Antebellum Slavery.] [History 17A. Antebellum Slavery (end);Trail of Tears.] [History 17A. The Jeffersonian Vision.]
What were the most significant challenges Linda faced as an enslaved woman in the antebellum South?
She is faced with a relationship challenge. Having lost her parents, she also loses her owner, Margaret Horniblow. As was the slave culture in the South, slave owners were allowed to inherit or acquire other slaves in case their owners were incapacitated in one way or another. Linda, therefore, found herself being owned by James Norcom, a white, middle-aged man. She was still a teenage girl at the time and wanted to explore love and relationships. She, therefore, found herself in love with a certain black carpenter. James, however, is mean and jealous since he is interested in Linda as well. He, therefore, makes life difficult for her, frustrating and threatening her with isolation. In so doing, she is denied her basic rights to freedom and even association.[Harriet A Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, ed. Nell Irvin Painter (New York: Penguin Books, 2000).]
Secondly, she is faced with the challenge of sexual victimization and sexual abuse. Lind faces extremely incessant and aggressive sexual advances from James. She goes through a lot just trying to...