Incidents 4

In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs chapters 33 through 38, individuals use a great amount of effort to help Dr. Flint in his efforts to get Brent back.  Brent writes a letter to both Dr. Flint and his daughter asking for the ability to buy her own freedom.  Dr. Flint writes back telling her that she has to return. When Brent gets a letter from Dr. Flint’s son, Jacobs writes, “I knew, by the style that it was not written by a mere person of his age, the hand of Dr. Flint” (Jacobs 177).  I find it interesting that even after 7 years of not seeing Brent that Dr. Flint would go through all the trouble of faking a letter from his son.  His faking the letter shows his determination to get Brent back. 

Dr. Flint is not the only one to go through a lot of trouble to try to get Brent to return.  Mr. Thorne, an aquantince of Dr. Flint, writes, “I have seen your slave, Linda, and conversed with her. She can be taken very easily, if you manage prudently” (184).   Slave owners helped other slave owners locate fugitive slaves.  With this vast network of slave owners helping each other, it was very difficult for slaves to escape and also to live as fugitives without worrying about being sent back.   Mr. Thorne’s letter probably encouraged Dr. Flint’s determination to start looking for her again.