Free At Last

4 Pages 911 Words

FREE AT LAST

“Free at last” an extract from “incidents in the life of a slave girl (1861) written by Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) describe how Jacobs struggled all her life to become free. This narrative written during the civil war record’s a pattern of horror and abuse as to stun modern readers. This narrative reflects the state of slaves and their families at that time.



Family is those who earn for each other and share both happiness and sorrow. Many features of an individual are characterized or influenced by his or her family. Thus a happy person is a person with a happy family. When we visualized a family we see a father, a mother and their children. If the father or mother is missing there is something wrong. It’s like drinking soup with no salt.



Jacobs shows clearly that she is from a matriarchal family. Her father is not with her because he is not a slave of Dr. Flint but a slave of a different family. Mr. Sawyer the white father of Jacobs’ two children also could not be a significant part of their family. So, there isn’t any dominant male who is supporting the family. There is a strong emotional flow in the story, which presents the pain and grief of having a matriarchal family that was not common at that time.



Jacobs’ grandmother Molly plays an important role in their matriarchal family. In the narrative there is no sign of molly’s husband, may be he is dead or has left her. She is old and alone but she is not a slave. Thus, she has greater liberty. Molly too has to suffer the consequences of being a part of a matriarchal family. She has been defrauded of the hard earnings she had loaned. May be this would not have happened if there was a male in the family. Molly can be considered as the head of the family. She takes the responsibility of raising Jacobs ‘children. Jacobs...