Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

The value of motherhood is one of Jacobs's most salient themes. Harriet may not have wanted children for fear of them being caught in slavery's clutches, but her devotion to her children is overwhelmingly fierce. Every thing she does is for their sake -her running away from Dr. Flint, her years of discomfort, pain and loneliness in the crawlspace, her treacherous escape to the north, her wage labor in New York. Although Harriet did not have the domestic life that was idealized during the Victorian era, she nonetheless exhibited the all-consuming and unequivocal love of a mother for her children that no doubt resonated with northern female readers. Motherhood in its uplifting, virtuous and loving ideal is also represented in Harriet's grandmother.