Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl · Chapters

Chapters explained

Chapter companions for Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent.

Read with companions Book page

Each chapter has a companion in the reader — open a free preview to see notes beside the text.

Chapter 1
Epigraph
The epigraph contrasts a Southern woman's indictment of Northern ignorance about slavery's true degradation with a biblical call for complacent women to awaken and listen.
Chapter 2
Preface by the Author
Linda Brent addresses the reader directly, asserting the truth of her narrative and explaining her motivations for writing. She acknowledges her lack of literary skill but emphasizes her desire to awaken Northern women to the horrors of slavery endured by millions of enslaved women in the South.
Chapter 3
Introduction by the Editor
L. Maria Child introduces the autobiography of Linda Brent, attesting to her character and veracity. Child explains her editorial role, notes that Linda was taught to read by a kind mistress, and justifies publishing the narrative to expose the sexual exploitation inherent in slavery and to rouse Northern women to moral action against the institution.
Chapter 4
Seven Years Concealed
Linda Brent describes her seven years of hiding in a tiny garret above her grandmother's house, enduring extreme physical and emotional suffering to escape Dr. Flint's persecution. She reflects on the toll of confinement, the fear of discovery, and the small comforts she finds in watching her children from afar.
Chapter 5
Childhood
Linda Brent recounts her early childhood, born into slavery but shielded from its horrors until age six. She describes her father's skilled trade, her grandmother's resourcefulness and resilience, and the death of her mother. After her kind mistress dies, Linda learns she has been bequeathed as property to a young child, shattering her hopes of freedom.

Free preview

42 more chapter companions sit beside the text in BetterReads — open a free preview to unlock the rest.

42 more companions → free preview

Epigraph

Preface by the Author

Introduction by the Editor

Seven Years Concealed

Childhood