Perry Leatherman
Chris Mackey
English
2/29/02
Looking through the lens of Mary Louise Pratt, we can see various contact zones in Harriet Jacobs Essay Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Few are obvious like the differences between black and white, and other zones lie beneath the skin and deal with relationships. Most notable are the relationships that Harriet Jacobs converged during her vicarious bondage. We can see sundry contact zones in her essay such as the overall struggle of freedom and bondage, her relationship with Mr. Sands, Mr. Flint and the audience.
The theme of contact zones lies in the futile fighting between freedom and bondage. Harriet Jacobs is in a constant struggle in physical, emotional, and mental realm, and emotional ones. Pratt describes the zones as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as...slavery”(582). Pratt accentuates the main problem with Jacobs, slavery. In this story of slavery, we see the social spaces, relationships and fighting that Pratt speaks so eloquently of. First their social space is never large enough. They are always held down and oppressed. The air they breathe is never free. The way they walk is never free. Their thoughts are never free. Their minds, body, past, and future are in chains. Their master dominates the second aspect, the relationship, by oppressing them. They are subject to another human being - being used or abused. A quote from Abraham Lincoln describers the third aspect, the battle taking place, “Slavery is founded on the selfishness of man’s nature -- opposition to it on his love of justice. These principles are in eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow” (http://www.quoteland.com/author.asp?AUTHOR_ID=1042 ). In simple terms, he describes the fighting eloquently - ceaselessly fighting, never at rest. One relationship that falls under Pratt’s contact zones would be between Mr. Sands and Jacobs.
As we explore this relationship between Jacobs and Mr. Sands, it is interesting to examine how this contact zone was formed, why it was maintained for so long, and the clashing and grappling this contact zone had within itself and with other contact zones. The formation of this contact zone was on the initiative of Mr. Sands. He “constantly sought opportunities to see [Jacobs], and wrote [Jacobs] frequently” (409). His great sympathy and his longing to aid her encouraged Jacobs and flattered her by “so much attention from a superior person” (409). It is interesting to note that the contact zone between Jacobs and Mr. Sands occurred outside the confines of slavery; however, the fact that Jacobs was a slave plays a huge role in the relationship. Moreover, it was a friendship that wasn’t forced upon Jacobs by slavery, but a general consent on both sides to be friends and to see each other. Although this relationship was not highly asymmetrical like Jacobs and Dr. Flint’s relationship, Jacobs notes “the impassable gulf between” (490) them, and we can see the grappling and clashing within it when exploring the reasons this relationship continued.
In examining Jacobs’ reasons for continuing this relationship, we find three interesting reasons. First, she stated “there is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you, except that which he gains by kindness and attachment” (490). So we see that Mr. Sands flattery and sympathy have convinced Jacobs it was a “great thing to have such a friend” (490) like Mr. Sands. Jacobs realized quickly what new possibilities this relationship offered in regards to revenge on Dr. Flint. She reasoned, “I knew nothing would enrage Dr. Flint so much as to know that I favored another; and it was something to triumph over my tyrant even in that small way” (490). So, we see that Jacobs pulled out of this relationship all she can for herself and used it for her advantage, which is understandable in her circumstance. This is also evident in the third reason she mentioned for continuing this relationship. She expounded this reason in the following statement, “I thought [Dr. Flint] would revenge himself by selling me, and I was sure my friend, Mr. Sands, would buy me… I thought my freedom could be easily obtained from him” (490). With looking at Jacobs reasons for continuing to engage in this contact zone across ethnic and social boundaries, let us move to the reasons Dr. Flint furthers this relationship.
In probing for Mr. Sands’ reasons the text does not speak clearly on this issue like it does for Jacobs. However, an observation can be made for Mr. Sands’ reasons based on Jacobs’ reactions. I find it interesting that a white, unmarried man would take so much interest in a young, African-American slave girl. She stated, “it chanced that a white unmarried gentleman had obtained some knowledge of the circumstances in which I was placed. He knew my grandmother” (489). At first, his reasons seem solely trustworthy and sincere as he tried to help Jacobs in her difficult circumstance. However, Jacobs made no mention of Mr. Sands taking interests in Dr. Flint’s other slaves. Wouldn’t Mr. Sands had realized as Jacobs stated, “He was an educated and eloquent gentleman; too eloquent, alas, for the poor slave girl who trusted in him” (490)? One can imagine how Mr. Sands could have used this to his advantage and appealed to Jacobs, who was 15 at the time, by treating her as an equal human being and playing to her emotions. Additionally, Jacobs stated that “the wrong does not seem so great with an unmarried man”(490), and we find out later that Jacobs became a mother. Thus, we can safely conclude that Mr. Sands’ intentions were not purely sincere. There was obviously something more to his intentions, possibly even from the beginning of their relationship. Dare I ask? Could this possibly be because this poor slave girl was thought to be easy prey by the educated and eloquent gentleman Mr. Sands? Now that we have touched on Mr. Sands’ reasons, let’s move on to how this contact zone grappled and clashed with other contact zones and with Jacobs’ ideal self.
The biggest effect this relationship seemed to have is on Jacobs. After telling Dr. Flint that she was going to be a mother, immediately she stated, “My self-respect was gone!… and now, how humiliated I felt”(491)! We can see here that this friendship/ contact zone clashed with who Jacobs wanted to be. She stated, “I had resolved that I would be virtuous, though I was a slave. I had said, ‘Let the storm beat! I will brave’”(491). Another contact zone this relationship clashed with is the one between Jacobs and Dr. Flint. We see from Dr. Flint’s statement to Jacobs, “‘you are my slave, and shall always be my slave. I will never sell you, that you may depend on’”(494) that this relationship with Mr. Sands backfired on Jacobs and led Dr. Flint to something she had not expected. For, one of the benefits Jacobs wanted to get out of this relationship with Mr. Sands was her freedom. However, we see from that statement that Dr. Flint was so enraged by this relationship that he would not ever sell her. The next contact zone this relationship disrupted is the one between Jacobs and her grandmother. When Jacobs went to confess that she was going to be mother to her grandmother, Jacobs was ordered to leave and closed the gate on her way out “with a sound I never heard before”(491). She called for her grandmother later in the story and she finally came to Jacobs. Jacobs states that her grandmother, “did not say, ‘I forgive you’; but she looked at me lovingly”(492) and pitied Jacobs. Since we have now examined the contact zone between Jacobs and Mr. Sands, let us explore Harriet Jacob’s relationship with her master Dr. Flint who harassed her emotionally and sexually.
When Jacobs was 15, Flint began sexually and emotionally harassing her. He tried to get Jacobs to sleep with him. This caused Jacobs to treat her God-given beauty as “her greatest curse” (478). Flint “began to whisper foul words in my ear…. He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things” (477). Jacobs did her best to ignore the comments, but Flint was persistent. She desperately wanted to tell someone of all her troubles and woes, but Flint had told her that he would kill her if she told anyone. Jacobs was ashamed and mortified about her treatment, but she could do nothing to stop it. She could only avoid him as much as possible, but “my master met me at every turn, reminding me that I belonged to him, and swearing by heaven and earth that he would compel me to submit to him” (478). Flint easily found jobs for Jacobs to do that gave him a chance to break down her emotional stability. “Sometimes he would complain of the heat of the tea room, and order his supper to be placed on a small table in the piazza. He would seat himself there with a well-satisfied smile, and tell me to stand by and brush away the flies” (480). Jacobs continued, “These intervals were employed in describing the happiness I was so foolishly throwing away, and in threatening me with the penalty that waited my stubborn disobedience” (480). She did her best to avoid him until “he announced his intention to take his youngest daughter, then four years old, to sleep in his apartment” (480). Someone would have to sleep beside her, incase she awoke during the night. Flint selected Jacobs for the job with the intention of sleeping with her. Fortunately for Jacobs, Mrs. Flint heard of the plan and confronted her husband. She took Jacobs to sleep in a room next to hers in order to keep her husband from having her. Flint did not stop with verbal abuse and threats. When he saw Jacobs teaching herself to read, he started handing her notes. “I would return them saying, ‘I can’t read them, sir.’ ‘Can’t you?’ he replied; ‘then I must read them to you’” (480). He always ended the reading by asking if she understood, trying to humiliate her and break down her self worth.
Apart from the abuse of her master, Jacobs fell in love with a freeborn Negro. She knew, however, that Flint would never approve, and his wife would not support a marriage between the two lovers. Jacobs was concerned for the man she loved, writing, “above all things, I was desirous to spare my lover the insults that had cut so deeply into my own soul” (484). Jacobs obviously feared for her lover’s safety but also for her own. She did not go to Dr. Flint but instead pleaded her case with a friend of Flint’s. This lady in turn made the request to Flint, but she could not influence him to consent to Jacobs’s marriage. Flint called Jacobs into his study and in the conversation that followed tempers flared and emotion took control. “He sprang upon me like a tiger, and gave me a stunning blow. It was the first time he had ever struck me; and fear did not enable me to control my anger. When I had recovered a little from the effects, I exclaimed, ‘you have struck me for answering you honestly. How I despise you’” (486)! Flint then threatened Jacobs with both death and imprisonment, but Jacobs responded, “as for jail, there would be more peace for me there than there is here” (486). This conversation revealed how awful her life had been since Flint had started harassing his young slave. Jacobs would rather die or go to jail than be around him.
Throughout this story, the relationship between Flint and Jacobs was a complex series of conflicts. Flint was intent on having Jacobs submit to his will, and Jacobs was concerned only with resisting Flint at all costs. When Flint realized that Jacobs would not submit, he refused to sell her and free her from her horrific situation. Now that we have explored the contact zone between Jacobs and Dr. Flint, let us probe her correlation with the audience.
The contact zone is, as described by Mary Louise Pratt, “the space in which peoples geographically and historically separated come into contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality, and intractable conflict. A “contact” perspective emphasizes how subjects are constituted in and by their relations to each other (582).
For Harriet Jacobs, one of the most interesting contact zones that exist as a result of her essay is between her and her audience. In writing of her experiences with her master Mr. Sands, she is making a plea to the pro-abolitionists and government figures of the mid 1800s. These people constitute her audience and the contact zone created by her writings. The audience she is trying to reach disregards the slave’s voice because she is a slave, and supposedly uneducated and illiterate.
To the individual reader, however, the contact zone is one where Jacobs is relating to the reader emotionally damaging experiences during her first twenty years of life. Hot only is the context of her writings simple in its nature, but it is also easy to grasp and understand. She writes for a small group of individuals, not for thousands, so that she connects with the reader’s emotions and moves them to pity for her condition, and the millions of slaves who received similar treatment from their masters. In my opinion, Jacobs intended for her writings to be read by the President, or someone in similar position of power.
The relationships and conflicts between Harriet Jacobs with Mr. Flint, Mr. Sands and the audience cross the invisible boundaries of the contact zone. Behind each zone she posses hope of justice. Hope that she will be free from Mr. Flint. Hope that she will be free to marry Mr. Sands. Hope that people reading her story will hear of injustice. Despite her oppression she held on to the whimsical feather of freedom.