Slavery's Poisonous Grasp

in continuation to my previous post:

"Slavery is terrible for men, but it is far more terrible for women.”
Again. I am just sickened by the violence that Mr. flint puts Linda through. When she finds out that she is once again pregnant with another baby from him, there was a sudden ache in my chest. Perhaps it was the fear of what would happen net, how the master would react, or the fact that I felt that she was really trapped. I have never reacted to such a book this way, especially in this class. That void that I felt at that moment only grew larger when I continued reading, when Dr. Flint takes the scissors and cuts off her stands of hair, the only part of herself where she has pride, where she takes the time to make it look nice. It is through this act of snipping what she holds more precious to all that the violence is brought to a whole other level for me personally. As she says, having mothered two of his children has robbed her of her purity, her happiness, and the little respect she had prior. Again, through this birth of yet another child, she is robbed from getting away from the master and his family. What’s even more disgusting is that he dares to blame her for this, again, it seemed somewhat common at these time for men to blame women as being temptresses, but it is clear in this situation that Linda is the one who is a survivor of constant rape, sexual assault, and emotions, as well as physical distress. The next part of this passage weighed me down completely when she finds out that she has just given birth to a girl. Her immediate reaction is to regret that this baby didn’t turn out being a boy, he would have options, perhaps even become a freeman. Yet all hope is lost after the birth. She knows that her daughter will most likely face the same abuse and lack of respect that she has had to face all of her life.
This moment really was difficult for me, it’s one of the rare times that I have felt so angry and saddened, and felt that Linda was trapped with Mr. flint, and was stripped from her respect, her femininity, her identity, and ultimately, her freedom—