If a slave is unwilling to go with his new master, he is whipped, or locked up in jail, until he consents to go, and promises not to run away during the year.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
Hot weather brings out snakes and slaveholders, and I like one class of the venomous creatures as little as I do the other.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Harriet Ann Jacobs draws a parallel between the danger of snakes and the moral corruption of slaveholders, expressing her disdain for both.
In this quote, Harriet Ann Jacobs uses the metaphor of hot weather bringing out snakes to illustrate how oppressive and immoral behaviors, like those of slaveholders, tend to surface in harsh conditions. She expresses a strong aversion to both, highlighting the toxic and harmful nature of slavery and its practitioners, as well as the deceit and danger represented by snakes.
Themes
SlaveryOppressionMoralityDangerHypocrisy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might quote this to highlight the dangers of inhumane practices.
More from Harriet Ann Jacobs
All quotes βThe war of my life had begun; and though one of God's most powerless creatures, I resolved never to be conquered.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
But I now entered on my fifteenth year - a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
I would rather drudge out my life on a cotton plantation, till the grave opened to give me rest, than to live with an unprincipled master and a jealous mistress.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
Southern women often marry a man knowing that he is the father of many little slaves. They do not trouble themselves about it.
Harriet Ann JacobsRead
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