Chapter 11: The New Tie to Life

Chapter 11:
The New Tie To Life

Summary: Continuing after the events in the previous chapter, Jacobs described her time being pregnant  and when she had her child. She wrote that after her child was born prematurely she became very ill. She was visited by Dr. Flint during this time and soon after her brother William was given the task of checking up on her. As months passed, her son (who too was in bad condition) started to improve in health and Jacobs found that she started to love him more and more. Near the closing of the chapter however, the baby became sick once again and died.

Importance: This chapter was importance because it now showed Jacobs in the situation a mother in slavery would have gone through. Being faced with the indecisiveness of wanting the baby to live or die so that it would not have to face the trials which came with slavery was shown also as an unfortunate but inevitable fate.

Connection to Theme: African American slaves were abused psychologically to the point that they feared the bringing of new life to the world when in such a condition. In this chapter Jacobs wrote that she had conflicting feelings about the life of her child. On one hand she, as a mother, wanted more than anything to spare her child a life of pain and agony by praying for his death, while on the other hand her motherly instincts could not bear the loss of her child and would do anything to bring him back. Such conflicting emotions came from years of psychological abuse.