This darkness had the effect of dehumanizing the slaves--mentally and physically. Further along in her narrative, many images of the retreat resemble the images she uses in describing slavery. Linda Brent in her small hole away from Dr. Flint was becoming crippled. She was losing the dexterity of her limbs since the stay was a long seven years. "I could sleep quite comfortably on one side; but the slope was so sudden that I could not turn o the other without hitting the room. The rats and mice ran over my bed" (438). At one point during her retreat, she became so sick that she "lost the power of speech" (444). Ironically, this depiction describes the circumstances of many slaves. As a slave she constantly was driven to obey her master, and it was only her voice that could save her. She had to refuse Dr. Flint on several occasions, and it seems, perhaps, where a lot of her power against him lay. Slavery also seems to reduce humans to creature-like. In the retreat, Linda says of herself, "It was impossible for me to move in an erect position, but I crawled about my den for exercise" (438). She uses words like "creature" to describe slaves. She also commonly refers to how they are treated, "They put him in a rough box, and buried him with less feeling than would have been manifested for a house dog" (380). Linda suffers from the effects of slavery her entire life, even after the escape. The effect of the retreat on her limbs leaves her partly crippled physically, and the effects of slavery on her soul leave her partly crippled mentally. The negativity of slavery does not cease when escape is successful; it marks a whole life. Parallels can be drawn between parent relations in slavery and family relations while she is in retreat too. Slavery deeply affected the relations between parent and child. Children are the unfortunate "property" of the slaveholders. Thus, a master has the ability to whip the child or sell the child whenever he or she may deem appropriate.