Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl · Chapter
XVIII: Months of Peril explained
Linda endures months of hiding, moving between secret spaces to evade Dr.
What happens
Linda endures months of hiding, moving between secret spaces to evade Dr. Flint. She is hidden by Betty under a floorboard and later by a kind benefactress in a locked room. Her children are jailed to force her surrender, and she struggles with the agony of separation and the risk of discovery.
Themes in this chapter
Resistance and Escape
Linda's cunning and the aid of allies like Betty and the benefactress exemplify the constant struggle to resist recapture.
Motherhood and Family Separation
Linda's torment over her children's imprisonment and her brother's plea highlight the brutal family separations inflicted by slavery.
Characters to notice
- Linda Brent
Hides in fear, receives messages, and endures the anguish of her children's imprisonment.
- Betty
Brave and resourceful, she hides Linda under a floorboard and later helps her move to a safer location.
- Dr. Flint
Continues his relentless pursuit, searching houses and jailing Linda's relatives to force her return.
- Mrs. Flint
Expresses cruelty and contempt, threatening to kill or spoil Ellen and vowing to sell Linda to a sugar plantation.
- Grandmother
Anxiously receives Dr. Flint's threats and works with others to protect Linda.
Key passages
“The good-for-nothing hussy! When she is caught, she shall stay in jail, in irons, for one six months, and then be sold to a sugar plantation.”
Mrs. Flint vows that Linda will be imprisoned in chains and sold to a brutal sugar plantation if captured.
Reveals the vindictive cruelty of the Flints and the extreme punishments awaiting fugitive slaves.
“Who can blame slaves for being cunning? They are constantly compelled to resort to it. It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants.”
Linda defends the use of deception by slaves as a necessary tool for survival against their oppressors.
Highlights the theme of resistance and the moral justification for cunning in the face of tyranny.