Up to God's free church I hope to go.
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the life of a slave girl.
These lines are taken from a song slaves used to sing. So powerful are these lines, yet simple. .
As you read Harriet Jacobs narrative, the subject of religion has a very broad underlying. The images .
she conveys are one of a sacrilegious nature in comparison to the white southerners, as opposed to reli-.
gious in respect to the slaves. Which is ironic, when supposedly the slaves are the heathen. Examples .
are given throughout the book as evidence of this strong view held by Harriet Jacobs. You have to .
look no further than the characters of Dr. and Mrs. Flint and Rev. Mr. Pike and their hypocritical .
behavior.
There comes a point in the book when Dr. Flint joins the Episcopal church. One would assume .
this would have a beneficial affect on his character, but this made him more harsh. Harriet Jacobs .
describes that she endured the most persecutions after his communion. It seems the doctors main rea-.
sons for joining the church were because of his position in society and to stop the gossip in town about .
him. It was known around town, that Dr. Flint was pursuing Harriet. During a conversation he tells .
Harriet it would be good for her to join the church, her response was, that there are enough sinners in .
church already. Dr. Flint epitomizes all that is evil with slavery and the south at that time.
.
Mrs. Flint, like most southern women, had no energy to take care of her own home; but had the .
nerves to watch her slaves take a whipping. Like her husband, she was a member of the church and .
was a woman of pure evil. The character of Mrs. Flint is a very unhappy one. If dinner was not .
served at the exact time, she would spit in the remains, to prevent the cook and her children from eat.
ing. Another example of Mrs. Flint's christian words; when she was told Harriet's child Benny was bit .
by a dog, she replied by saying how glad she was and wished it would have killed him.
