What Is The Significance Of Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

There are four incidents from, In The Life Of A Slave Girl that have enhanced, challenged, reinforced and enlightened me. The first quote deepened my understanding, the second enhanced and deepened my thoughts, the third reinforced previous notions and the fourth enhanced my understanding of slaves ways of coping. This book in general has made me second-guess my previous thinking, solidified other ideas and challenge new ideas.
One of the first quotes that stood out to me in Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, was “As a child, I loved my mistress; and, looking back on the happy days i spent with her, i try to think with less bitterness of this act of injustice” (Jacobs, Pg. 9). Reading this quote deepened my understanding of Southern American
Flint, a few months before, pushed her down the stairs. Harriet Jacobs says, “Some months before, he had pitched me downstairs in a fit of passion; and the injury i received was so serious that i was unable to turn myself in bed for many days” (Jacobs, Pg. 99). This reinforces my previous thoughts of Southern American slave culture because who in their right mind and a good conscious would push a human being down a flight of stairs? It does not take a genius to know that someone being pushed down the stairs like that can be seriously be injured and in extreme circumstances die. Many slave owners i believe had a darker side, they wanted to feel some sort of power. I mean who does not like a sense of power? But this level of inhumane power is sickening. I feel this incident is important for others to be aware of because if you threw any living being down the stairs, you should know that there is something wrong and off about you or the person you know. Knowing it is wrong can save your life or someone
I myself genuinely believe that these incidents really did happen and i do not feel by any means that she is exaggerating her incidents. She might have had more emotion or had a different experience than someone else in the same situation, however, i do not think that this would give me any reason to believe that Harriet Jacobs was lying. There are two documents that i think are the most convincing. One being, ”Advertisement for the capture of Harriet Jacobs”(Jacobs, Pg. 301). I mean an actual document of the newspaper article that was looking for her, i believe is proof enough of her existence. In the paper it actually says, “$100 reward will be given for the apprehension and delivery of my Servant Girl HARRIET. She is a light mulatto, 21 years of age, about 5 feet 4 inches high”. This evidence to me shows that she is not some fictional character, her master was out looking for her and even put an ad in the paper to find her. The second piece of evidence that i think convinced me was Dr, Norcom’s note to his daughter, talking about the exchange of Harriet Jacobs children. The description on one of the pages of evidence states, “Dr. Norcom’s note repaying his daughter for having sold her ‘two mulatto Slaves named Joe & Louisa, the Children of woman Harriet,’ bu substituting two other children, August 4, 1837.” Why would