Motherhood as a “Hidden Transcript”: The Agency of Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Abstract

One of the earliest slave narratives written by a female author, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) unfolds the tragic account of Linda Brent, who eventually uses her motherhood as a form of resistance and gains freedom. Adopting the fictional name Linda, the author Harriet Jacobs escapes from the sentimental trope of slave narratives in her display of the agency of the protagonist that is primarily manifested through Linda’s chosen, not forced, motherhood. Drawing on James C. Scott’s idea of “hidden transcripts” which stands for the subtle, masked nature of resistance used by the oppressed, this paper argues that motherhood can be read as a “hidden transcript” that Linda uses exhaustively not only to defeat her master but also to keep her dream alive. Gendering the concept of “hidden transcripts,” this paper, thus, explores the “infrapolitics” of Linda’s strategic motherhood in its power to undermine a patriarchal and racist society.