Linda Brent's Quest for Freedom Essay

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While still not free, Linda secures a degree of autonomy even in her master's house, which in turn manifests the confidence to make plans to flee that house for good.

Unfortunately, the clutches of slavery go far beyond the boundaries of a house, a state, or even an entire country. Though Linda succeeds in her escape to the North, she is still legally the property of Mr. Flint and his family, as she will remain until she either buys her freedom or it is bought for her. As Linda continues to put space between herself and her oppressors, however, she finds it increasingly difficult to stomach the thought of paying for own freedom -- a thing she believes she has a right to. Even when her dear friend, Mrs. Bruce, offers to purchase her freedom for her, Linda graciously refuses, saying:

The more my mind was enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property, and to pay money to those who had so grievously oppressed me seemed like taking from my sufferings the glory of triumph. (Brent 299)

Instead, Linda makes plans to flee with her daughter to California, willing to "go to the ends of the earth, rather than pay any man or woman for her freedom" (Brent 297). Nonetheless, when Mrs. Bruce disregards Linda's refusal and purchases her freedom and the freedom of her two children from Mr.

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Dodge, Linda felt as if a "load had been lifted," and she could finally walk the streets without having the veil herself (Brent 301).

It is interesting that though Linda ends her narrative "with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage," there is still a part of her that longs for the domestic simplicity of a home of her own, as marriage could provide. "The dream of my life is not yet realized. I do not sit with my children in a home of my own. I still long for a hearth-stone of my own, however humble" (Brent 302). Thus we see once again how the life story of a slave differs from that of a free woman. While a free woman marries and is provided with a home prior to bearing children, the slave woman often bears children and never attains a home. By ending her narrative here, Brent seems to suggest it is this feeling of homelessness -- in addition to the denial of virtue -- that truly differentiates the free from the enslaved, and even the once enslaved.

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