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First Mistress
Dr. Flint’s wife and Linda’s mistress before her escape. Mrs. Flint is a harsh and pointlessly cruel mistress; she refuses to give even leftover food to her slaves, and she makes Linda go barefoot in the snow because the noise of her shoes bothers her. Linda points out the ironic contrast between her weakness when it comes to household work and her strength in inflicting violence on people who are powerless against her. Mrs. Flint is particularly aggressive towards Linda because of her husband’s obvious sexual interest in her, and inflicts psychological and physical violence on her despite Linda’s obvious lack of responsibility for the situation. Meanwhile, Mrs. Flint’s inability to earn respect from her husband or convince him to sell Linda reveals her own powerlessness in her marriage, a position that Linda argues would be ameliorated if slavery did not exist. As the narrative progresses, Mrs. Flint emerges as deeply unhappy with her lack of control in her own marriage, but channels her despair into extreme vindictiveness towards the people that are powerless against her.
Mrs. Flint Quotes in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Flint or refer to Mrs. Flint. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
I spent the day gathering flowers and weaving them into festoons, while the dead body of my father was lying within a mile of me. What cared my owners for that? He was merely a piece of property. Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings. This was blasphemous doctrine for a slave to teach…
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Chapter 6
Quotes
She felt that her marriage vows were desecrated, her dignity insulted; but she had no compassion for the poor victim of her husband’s perfidy. She pitied herself as a martyr; but she was incapable of feeling for the condition of shame and misery in which her unfortunate, helpless slave was placed.
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Mrs. Flint Quotes in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Flint or refer to Mrs. Flint. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
I spent the day gathering flowers and weaving them into festoons, while the dead body of my father was lying within a mile of me. What cared my owners for that? He was merely a piece of property. Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human beings. This was blasphemous doctrine for a slave to teach…
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
She felt that her marriage vows were desecrated, her dignity insulted; but she had no compassion for the poor victim of her husband’s perfidy. She pitied herself as a martyr; but she was incapable of feeling for the condition of shame and misery in which her unfortunate, helpless slave was placed.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
