The Immoral Attitude to Slaves in The Us as Explained Through The Story of Harriet Jacobs

Harriet Tubman once said, “I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.” This shows the true immorality of slavery. If people were so hesitant to go back to slavery that most likely meant it was such a hostile environment nobody would want to go back to. Correspondingly slavery was so morally wrong that slaves snuck away and did not want to come back willingly. This essay will focus on how the terrible morally wrong actions slavery brought upon the slave masters, people throughout the towns, and the slaves themselves have dreaded America for generations and can be shown in Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

The slave owners themselves, more obviously, receive the immorality from the horrors of slavery. When Harriet’s grandmother was younger, she lent three hundred dollars to her mistress to buy some fancy silverware. This money was never paid back to her grandma or the family. This displays a large amount of morally wrong actions towards the slave owners because when someone borrows money, or anything for that matter, it should be repaid or replenished. It uncovered their immorality because they were careless about the slaves even enough to give them pay for the jobs they did do. This shows the immorality of slavery in the slaveholders because he straight up tells her that she will never be free and he will always own her. This does not make sense because owning a person shows immorality in itself and he goes the extra step to say that he will always own her.

Obviously, slavery shows the morally wrong actions of the slave holders, but it likewise reveals the immorality in the people of the community. Although it may not be as obvious, the immorality of the community due to slavery proves itself multiple times. For example, when the slaves went to the church the preacher preached on how the slaves needed to be obedient and when they disobey their masters they consider it sinning. This shows the immorality because they tell the slaves how they sin by being disobedient, however they know that the slave owners sin everyday by owning people. Also, during one of the sermons the slaves were encouraged to share their problems with the group. One girl stated how she lost all her children and the guy leading the sermon just laughed at her. This shows the immorality as well because the “pastor” does not care about the girl’s problems when in reality he could not stand if these problems affected him today. This example may be pretty obscure, but the immoral effect of slavery on the slaves themselves proves much harder to understand.

The slaves also have some immoral properties from the institution of slavery. It may be rather hard to explain how the slaves have immorality when they receive all of the punishment. One example appears when Harriet says that she wished her children to be poor Irish farmers, hardworking plantation farmers, or even criminals in a cell. This shows the immorality because no one should have to wish their children to have a different life just so they did not live a harsh one. Many people may think that they have horrible lives, but in reality someone could have much harsher or worse experiences.

Also, once Harriet turned the age of fifteen she soon noticed sudden changes in Dr. Flint’s behavior towards her. She hinted in the sexual abuse against her by saying he began using foul language towards her. This makes her immoral because part of being a moral person contains not engaging in sexual activity until either consenting or after marriage. Neither of these proved true in the case with Dr. Flint, so she had a sense of immorality even though others forced it upon her. Also, Harriet probably did not feel like a good person due to these actions brought upon her. Therefore, slavery can bring about immoralities to the slaves themselves even though an outside source brings the immorals upon them.

Therefore, as seen from the essay, the immoralities of slavery in the United States can be explained through the story of Harriet Jacobs. She shows the immoralities of the slave owners themselves, the people of the community, and even the slaves themselves. Without this book many people could not understand the other side of slavery and how it really affected people’s everyday life. Although the immoralities of slavery show up in during this time, without slavery the United States would never be the same.