Jacobs_Omission_of_the_Real_Dr._Flint

Jacobs Omission of the Real Dr. Flint Harriet Jacobs wrote a poignant memoir about a slave girl named Linda, a character who was very close to her heart. In Jacob’s book, she addresses many harsh topics about the ways in which slaves were treated. In the book, she gives many examples of the harsh treatment of other slaves, but omits any overly abusive treatment by her own slaveholder. It is a topic that many critics have addressed, and argued that Linda was raped by her slaveholder, Dr. Flint. It is an arguable matter that Linda was in fact raped by Dr. Flint. Although Jacobs did not say anything about rape, Linda hated Dr. Flint to very core of her being, and his lack of physical actions toward her in the text did not seem to merit her hatred to that point. In my view, Dr. Flint could very well have been a sociopath and possibly a sex addict. He fathered 11 children with other slaves, and it could be argued that he raped those women as well. It was very common for slaveholders to rape their slaves, which was not usually a secret to the entire household. Dr. Flint even treated his own wife with such disregard, so I do not believe a man that is so incapable of having human emotion would be able to control his sexual or mental desire for Linda. To him it was all about power, and sex can be equated with power; especially the over-powering of a woman he was literally obsessed with. Throughout the book, Dr. Flint never lets Linda too far out of his sight. He even builds her a house by his plantation so that he can properly monitor her. The fact that Linda was able to actually escape and hide from him made him that much more obsessed with her. The fact that Linda was light-skinned, beautiful and intelligent seemed to make Dr. Flint wild with desire for her. The fact that she hated him seemed to only fan the flames of desire. It was uncomfortable and uneasy to read of his meetings with her. If he wasn’t getting his way with Linda he would grow so furious; it was as if I could feel his anger coming off the page. Linda never led him on or showed him the respect he felt he deserved, so his anger toward her seemed to get worse with time. Dr. Flint would readily beat on all of his slaves, so I think it’s possible he also beat Linda. This could be another omission, although she did say he hit her a couple times; he never beat her. I think that he probably did, but why she left this out isn’t clear. The cult of true womanhood is something that all women tried to behold throughout their lives, whether slave or mistress. These include piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. Jacob’s Linda mentions in the book that she was unable to obtain her purity because of Dr. Flint. Her omission may be due to the other three values may have been the reason she kept quiet. At times throughout the book it is clear that Dr. Flint was an awful person. At some points, I started to sway my opinion of Dr. Flint, and my assumption is that this could be a natural human response; but I actually started to feel sorry for Dr. Flint. I asked myself, “was it possible that Dr. Flint was simply infatuated with Linda, and deeply loved her with all his heart' Where is all this hatred Linda has for him coming from' If only Linda could love him they could be happy together, live a secret romance and he would treat her well'” It is clear that Jacobs did not want the reader to empathize with Dr. Flint, but her omissions of his behavior could be the cause of my short-lived sympathy for such a horrible person. If Dr. Flint had truly not treated Linda with such disgrace, she would not have gone to such great lengths to get away from him. The fact that she hid in a tiny crawl space for seven years is almost unbelievable. To me, this is the point that cements the evil living inside of Dr. Flint. It seems to beg the question, how could a human being live in such conditions for that long' The only conclusion is that Dr. Flint perpetuated some kind of lewd acts that Jacobs felt the need to leave out. She brought up several times that he would whisper filthy things into her ear, but Dr. Flint did not seem like the type of man that would not follow through with actions. I believe it was by either luck or fate that she was not impregnated by Dr. Flint, because she seemed in such a hurry to go sleep with Mr. Sands. Mr. Sands was a white man, who treated Linda as a friend and made her feel comfortable. Linda figured if she was to get pregnant, it should be by a man she respected and liked. Dr. Flint had already ruined her chances of true love, so she felt that this was the one way she could one-up him. It was easy to feel the jealousy and rage that lived in Dr. Flint, which erupted when he heard of her being pregnant by another man. This was one way Dr. Flint could have justified his own actions in raping Linda. It could also be argued that she could feel the rape coming on by Dr. Flint’s dirty messages, and this could be another reason she slept with Mr. Sands. She never revealed what was in the messages that Dr. Flint would send her, but I think that there are many reasons she withheld the contents. One could be that she felt they were too pornographic and did not want to write it. It does seem odd that this book is meant to be aimed toward anti-slavery groups, yet she may have withheld critical information such as this. There could be many reasons for this. My first thought for the reason is because Linda mentioned many times how Northerners looked at slaveholders. She believed that they were blind to the real south, or turned a blind eye to how slaves were being treated, so she may have thought that to believe such a crime could occur would be impossible. I also think that she felt she could prove her point without alluding to things that frankly, people just may not want to read. People were very religious in those times, and Linda revealing her rape may have caused a serious uproar, resulting in jail time or even something worse. To accuse a white doctor of something so heinous is something that could sway readers’ opinions from focusing on the important issues; slavery as a whole, and the need for Northerners to help stop the injustice. Jacobs cried out to Northerners throughout the book to take action and stop the terrible things that were taking place all over the south. She felt if she could relay her own story and that of her peers, people in the North would hear her pleas. Jacob’s narrative would have affected readers more, had she not omitted the truth about Dr. Flint. The difference in the omission from over a hundred years ago is that she would have affected readers today more. It is understandable that Jacobs omitted these things. Had she known the greater effect that could have been, she may have chosen differently. It was okay for her to talk about the instances and particulars of other slaves stories because they were not there to confirm or deny their truth. There were no real names given, so speculation is all readers could do about them. It is obvious that someone was able to identify Dr. Flint and some others true identities and I think Jacobs knew that. Jacobs knew that her real identity could not be forever hidden, so she left out what she felt she had to. It seems like it would be painful to write about other peoples gross misfortunes, but maybe reliving her own truth was something she could just not do. She could have been publicly ostracized for writing such things over 100 years ago. It just would mean more to an audience today, because they would be able to read about the real truths of slavery. Jacobs’ omission of the real Dr. Flint is evident in every mention of his name. The reader is able to experience the horror Linda felt from his actions, whether they were written, left out, or implied. Works Cited Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Modern Library, 2004.