Research Paper on:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and its Themes

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slavery in the United States. In her story we see many themes relating to slavery, all of them important and all of them incredibly powerful. We see themes of the  moral conflict between slavery and Christianity, racism and prejudice based on color, realities focusing on the bond of motherhood, the importance of family loyalty, and issues of abandonment. In the  following paper we examine these themes and conclude with a brief discussion about which theme appears to be the most significant. Slavery and Christianity Slavery always had  a very powerful connection with Christianity. In reality, it seems that just as many Christians claimed it was wrong as those who claimed it was right. Some Christians felt it  was their duty to watch over the slaves, for they were nothing more than simple creatures. For these individuals Jacobs work indicates an evilness: "He also boasted the name and  standing of a Christian, though Satan never had a truer follower" (77). Other, more enlightened Christians felt that slavery was essentially evil and that Africans were real people and deserved  freedom. In one brief look at Jacobs perspective of Christianity as it involves the moral conflict with slavery, she writes: "There is a great difference between Christianity and religion  at the south. If a man goes to the communion table, and pays money into the treasury of the church, no matter if it be the price of blood, he  is called religious. If a pastor has offspring by a woman not his wife, the church dismiss him, if she is a white woman; but if she is colored, it  does not hinder his continuing to be their good shepherd" (115). In this we see that there is a very serious conflict in much of the book that illustrates how