"Incidents in the life of a slave Girl"

Incidents in a Life of a Slave girl” relates to ethos and pathos because of the pain she feels throughout the whole story. The story was written by a slave named Linda but the author is Harriet Jacobs. This means that blacks weren’t allowed to be heard during this period of time. Linda had to go through a lot as child and she had to go through even more as she got older.

This story appeals to be ethos to me because Linda has to deal with the death of her mother, father and her mother’s mistress. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have that many people die in my life. This is very emotional because I feel that she shared a special bond with each one of them. Losing a mother is never easy for anyone, no matter how tough you are. So I know that Linda had to feel some type of sadness knowing that she would never see her mother again. Losing a father isn’t easy either I don’t know much about their relationship but I know that it isn’t easy. I think the death of her mother’s mistress had the biggest affect on her, considering she was the one who taught her how to read. The lady was like a mother to her. After all this Linda is sent to live with a new master and mistress.

When the mistress dies Linda is sent to live with Dr. Flint. This man was very cruel in my option. He is the kind of person that when he wants something done, he expects for it to be done now. He also seems like the type of person who wants everything to be done his way (my way or no way). If his food wasn’t cooked the way it ought to be he would stuff it down her throat and make her eat it. That’s just trifling in my option. Anyone who could do something like has no respect for others what so ever. These people were cold and heart-less. They would lock Linda up for days at a time while her baby was left alone. He also tries to have sexual intercourse with her numerous of times. She finally gives into him and his mistress gets jealous. The mistress is really petty, she would punish Linda for the things that the master would do.

Linda lived through the hardest times living with Dr. Flint. She survived through the beatings, the rape, the mistreating, and the disrespect that she didn’t deserve.