Women’s Roles in Slavery

The three women in the story Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are very different. In the first place, Mrs. Flint and Linda have characteristics that differ a lot. Linda is committed to ensure that women who are slaves are not mistreated by men through sexual exploitation. She has the courage and strength to confront men and fight against such behaviors. On the other hand, Mrs. Flint lacks courage to warn her husband to prevent the slave girl in her house from being exploited by him. It appears that Mrs. Flint has accepted that men are allowed to exploit women; this is why she does nothing about the issue, and instead, blames the slave girl. It seems that Mrs. Flint lacks the love that is demonstrated by Linda throughout the story. In addition, Mrs. Flint does not see the bond between women. On the other hand, Linda recognizes that there is a bond that ties women together; this is why she is willing to help and fight for every woman who is exploited by a man.

Linda’s grandmother is also different from Mrs. Flint. She is loving and caring, which is the reason why she protected her granddaughter when they were together. Mrs. Flint, on the other hand, does not show any care or love to Linda. The grandmother is a lady who is ready to fight for the rights of other women at all costs. This can be seen by the fact that she took care of her granddaughter, which Mrs. Flint does not do. Mrs. Flint is a hypocrite who pretends to be a Christian but is jealous of the slave girl in her home.

There are also differences between Linda’s grandmother and Linda. Linda appears to be more ambitious and persistent in fight against slavery. This is a characteristic that is absent in her grandmother since she does nothing to protect her family from being enslaved. Linda’s grandmother is patient whereas Linda is not. The grandmother waits to see what will happen to her relatives who are enslaved while Linda moves on to fight for her right. She has no patience. Linda is more creative as compared to her grandmother, because she always comes with a way of dealing with the problems that she faces. However, her grandmother lacks the creativity; that is why she does not do much to deal with the problems faced by her family members.