Incidents in the Life of a Slave

       The theories that we studied in class actually come to life in these narratives. Although, there is much that can be discussed about Harriot Jacob’s narrative, one point is clear – Harriot has agency. Even in the most severely restricted circumstances, she makes that last attempt to overcome her slave owner. Indeed she clearly mentions that “I knew what I did, and I did it with deliberate calculation.”  However, as with Chadara Death, it is the reception of that agentive act which is interesting. Where as in Chandara’s death, the State criminalized these women, in this case it is community itself that ostracizes Jacob’s attempt at liberation through the rhetoric of morality. Harriot’s case also calls attention to the fact that even in the most clearly binary relation between master and slave, power cannot merely rely on brute force. An entire discourse needs to created that perpetuates the system of slavery. 

I also found the two opposing characters of Benjamin and the grandmother quite important. Both were working towards gaining freedom from slavery. However, the grandmother realized what Benjamin simply didn’t – that to be able to engage with power, one has to speak its language. The grandmother abhorred slavery as much as Benjamin, however he attempted to speak in a language that the dominant power holder could simply not recognize. Therefore, even though she too argues that "he that is willing to be a slave, let him be a slave”, nonetheless she recognized that the only way to freedom is through buying one’s freedom. By refusing to speak in terms of the dominant modes of power, and refusing to buy his freedom, Benjamin very clearly set himself apart.

The last point comes to the layers of subalternity. In the case of the wife of the  slave owner for instance, she too seems as restricted, and indeed as silent as Harriot the slave as well