Chapter Sixteen "Scene's at the Plantation"

In chapter 16, Linda goes to the plantation with her daughter Ellen. When she reaches the plantation, Ellen is given work and treated as a slave already. Linda can't take it, so she sends Ellen back to her grandmother. Mr. Flint gets mad at her, but doesn't do anything to her since she is such a good worker. Mr. Flint's great aunt, Miss Fanny visits him and the readers find out that Miss Fanny bought Linda's grandmother's freedom. Linda runs away to see her grandmother and children. When her grandma sees her, she tells Linda to stay at the plantation. When Mr. Flint throws a dinner party as a celebration of his new home, Dr. Flint and his wife are invited. A day after that, Linda sees how the young Mrs. Flint treats her old slaves. She refuses to give food to the older slaves because she believes that they were "too old to work, and they ought to be fed on grass." The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when the young Mrs. Flint refuses to give old slaves their rations just because she had an absurd belief. Since she is the plantation owner's wife, she also had power among the slaves.

Chapter Fifteen "Continued Persecutions"

In chapter 15, Dr. Flint visits Linda and brags about how much money he's going to make selling her children. Linda's friends try to free her by convincing a slave holder to buy her from Dr. Flint. As always, Dr. Flint refuses to sell her. He is enraged by her actions and takes it out on her son Benny by throwing him at a wall. Benny was passed out for such an extreme amount of time, that Linda thought he had died. When he finally wakes up, she isn't sure of either being happy to see him alive, or sad that this kind of action will continue any further. When Dr. Flint visits Linda again he tells her to make a decision; she was to choose whether to become his mistress, or work on his son's plantation. She decided to go work for his son. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter because Dr. Flint pressures Linda to choose between becoming his mistress or working on his son's plantation. It was pretty much a do or die situation since she will probably work until she dies, or she will die emotionally if she chose Dr. Flint.

Chapter Fourteen "Another Link to Life"

In chapter 14, Linda is still living with her grandmother because Mrs.Flint threatened to kill her if she ever stepped foot in their house. Linda gets pregnant again at the age of 19. When Dr. Flint finds out, he cuts off all her hair, and throws Linda down the stairs. When Linda finds out her baby is a girl, she feels depressed because slavery is worse for women. Linda's grandmother and herself take her children to get baptized. Linda names her son after Benjamin and names her daughter after the name that her father's old mistress gave her. She also adds her fathers surname. After the baptism, Linda's father's old mistress comes up to the newborn baby and gives her a gold chain. The gold chain symbolizes slavery since Linda did not want her daughter to feel the chains of slavery. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when Linda's father's old mistress gives her daughter a gold chain. Although it symbolizes slavery, it also symbolizes loyalty and obedience. Much like a tag/collar for a dog.

Chapter Thirteen "The Church and Slavery"

In chapter 13, slave holders believe that teaching slaves about church will help them resist rebellions. Linda is invited to listen to a sermon at the house of a free black man named Reverend Pike. However, Reverend Pike tells the slaves that they have been disobedient and naughty. He also tells them that they need to obey their masters or else they will be thrown into the fiery pits of hell. Linda tells her readers that the "Christians" in Edenton are hypocrites. The reason for this is because white men who sleep with white women will be dismissed but if they rape a slave, they will be excused for it. If a white man donates even a few cents, then he is considered religious. Dr. Flint joined the Episcopal church and told Linda that she could have a sexual relationship with him and still be considered "virtuous". Linda however, does not fall for his scheme and tells him no. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when the Reverend tells the slaves that they were born to work for their masters and that if they were disobedient, then they will be sent to hell. Reverend Pike did not know what was really going on behind the scenes because slave masters refused to tell him what actually happened. Also, slaves would be severely punished if they even let out a word about what really goes on in slavery.

Chapter Twelve "Fear of Insurrection"

In chapter 12, the word of Nat Turner's rebellion in Virginia reaches Harriet's neighborhood. The slaveholders in Edenton were afraid that the slaves around there would also start a rebellion. In order to prevent this, slaveholders hired poor white men to search everyone's houses. In order for Harriet to not get caught, she cleans her grandmothers house so that they won't be suspicious of her. Mr. Litch, who led the search of the slaves, searched the house of Harriet's grandmother. Harriet hid in the attic for weeks. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when Mr. Litch goes to her grandmother's house without any notice in search of evidence for any slave being there, especially since this is Harriet who he was looking for.

Chapter Ten "A Perilious Passage in the Slave Girl's Life"

In chapter 10, Harriet tells readers about Dr. Flint's new plan after her lover goes away. Dr. Flint believed that Harriet's fear of her mistress was the greatest obstacle of pursuing her. He informed her that he was going to build a small house for her in a place secluded from the town. Due to the fact that he kept pursuing her and his wife's jealousy, she became the biggest gossip news in her neighborhood. After she finds out that he already built the cottage for her, she tells him that she will never go there because she will become a mother in a few months. Without saying anything, he leaves the house. She goes to her grandmother's house and tries to confide in her. However, her grandmother shuts her out because of the vicious rumors about her and Dr. Flint. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when all those gossip and lies had been spread around until they reached her grandmother and Harriet never had a say in it because it was easy to believe that a master would have sexual relations with his slaves. She then forgiven later on and her grandmother believed her.

Chapter Nine "Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders"

In chapter 9, Harriet tells the readers about the slave owner named Mr. Litch. Unlike any other slave owner that Harriet knew, Mr. Litch was by far the most cold blooded and inhuman slave master she has ever come to know. One of his most infamous tortures was to suspend a slave from the ground and have him tied up underneath a cooking piece of fat pork while the drippings of burning fat scorched his bare flesh. Another torture less "painful" would involve catching a slave stealing and have him beaten up. Murder was so common on his plantation, that Mr. Litch refused to be alone after nightfall. Reason being because of his belief in ghosts. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when Mr. Litch Murders slaves as if it were a common thing to do.

Chapter Eleven "The New Tie to Life"

In chapter 11, Harriet is currently living in her grandmother's house. One day, Dr. Flint shows up and demands to know the race of the baby's father. Harriet comes up with a plan to tell Dr. Flint that the baby's father is a white man so that she can set free and given to the man. However, Dr. Flint swears that he will never sell her and she knows that her plan has backfired. After a couple of days, Harriet get's sick and her baby is born early. When her baby was the age of one, he get's really sick. She prays that he will live even though her previous belief was of death being better than living in the life of a slave. The corrupting power of slavery is shown when Dr. Flint finds out the baby's father is a white man, but still refuses to sell her.

Chapter Eight "What Slaves are Taught to Think of The North"

Harriet tells the readers that the slaveholders lied about the free-states in order to refrain any of them from running away. The slaveholders would make the North seem as if it were unappealing.  Masters attempt to get into the minds of slaves by saying things such as “god created Africans to be slaves.” The corrupting power of slavery in this chapter is shown when slaveholders lie about the North and keep the “free-states” away from them. They control slaves minds so that they won’t want to go to a better place.

Chapter Seven "The Lover"

In this chapter, we see that Harriet finds love in a free black man who offers to pay her ransom. However, her master Dr. Flint refuses to let her go. He does not want her to find happiness in another man and wants her for himself. Dr. Flint stated, “If you must have a husband, you may take up with one of my slaves.” His meaning was that she may marry one of his slaves because she will not be out of his reach. He could still try to pursue her because the slave that he "explained" in his statement would have no choice but to let his master pursue her. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when Harriet falls in love with the free black man and Dr. Flint forbids her from having any contact with him.

Chapter Six "The Jealous Mistress"

Harriet has just been informed by her master that she must live with him and his daughter. His mistress finds out that he sends Harriet to stay in the bedroom with him and his daughter and starts to question her while demanding she swears on the holy bible.  Mrs. Flint protects Harriet in some way by having her sleep in an adjoining room. During the dark of the night, Mrs. flint wakes up and tries to catch Harriet in her "lie" by pretending to be Dr. Flint. She whispers to her and tries to see if she bothers responding by seeing him in her dreams. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when Harriet had no choice but to sleep in the same room as him and his daughter. Also Mrs. Flint confronts Dr. Flint about whispering the foul words into Harriet’s ear. Dr. Flint denies all of this and Harriet is seen as a liar.

Chapter Five "The Trials of Girlhood"

In chapter 5 the readers see that Dr. Flint attempts to pursue her. The age difference between them is really high. Dr. Flint is 55 years old while Harriet was 15 at the time. He whispered foul words into her ear. He want’s her to succumb to him. She is unable to tell her grandmother, because he threatened to kill her if anyone were to find out. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter because Harriet was not able to inform anyone of his desires since he promised to kill her.

Chapter Four "The Slave Who Dared to Feel Like A Man"

Harriet’s uncle Benjamin had been pushed far enough that he was willing to attempt an escape to the North. He had a fight with his master and threw him to the ground. The reason behind this was because he was whipped when he did not immediately go to his master after he was summoned. After this incident, he fled to the North but was caught and brought back to his master. He was thrown into jail right after. When Harriet and his mother went to visit him, they saw that he was pale, and malnourished.The corrupting power of slavery is mainly shown in chapter 4 when Harriet and his mother visit Benjamin in jail. He was covered in rats, roaches and feces. He wasn’t treated as a prisoner at all, he was treated as if he were an animal. Although he was treated so cruel, he didn’t let this affect him and instead sang and laughed. The master was so furious that he sent him to live in an apartment full of dirty slaves covered in vermin and feces.

Chapter Three "The Slaves New Year's Day"

On the first of every year, slaves are put up for auction. On the second day the slaves are expected to go to their new masters. Rather than starting a new year with their families, they start out with their new owners. Some slaves were treated so well, that when New Years came, they were surrounded by a crowd begging not to be sold to a new master. Signs of corruption in this chapter can be shown when slaves are unwilling to go with their new master and are either locked up in jail or whipped until flood flows at their feet. Another way shown is when a mother is separated from all of her children and her master refused to tell her where he intended to take them.

Chapter Two "The New Master and Mistress"

After being passed onto a new home, Harriet’s owner turns out to be a 5 year old girl. However, the parents took Harriet in since their daughter was too young. Despite the fact that her previous mistress was nice, Dr. and Mrs. Flint turn out to be the opposite. Dr. Flint hides his sexual desires until Harriet is older and Mrs. Flint is a hypocrite for “loving god” while doing vile tasks. One of them would be spitting in kettles/dishes used for cooking. All went well until Harriet’s father dies without her being notified. After his death, she describes the house being “more dreary than ever”. However, with the love of her grandmother she still manages to go through tough times. The corrupting power of slavery is shown when Harriet isn’t able to visit her father at a funeral because a funeral wasn’t even held. It was as if a slave wasn’t important enough to have a funeral.

Chapter One "Childhood"

Born into slavery, Harriet Jacobs never knew about her status as a slave until the age of 6. Harriet lived with her mother and father, as well as her grandmother and siblings. During the same year, her mother passed away. Harriet’s mistress took her in and treated her like a child of her own. As time passed, her mistress also passed away and she had to be passed onto another family member. Harriet was not happy with her new “owners”. The corrupting power of slavery is shown in this chapter when Harriet’s grandmother lent 300 dollars to her mistress but she never paid her back. To make matters worse, Dr. Flint never had the interest to pay her back either.