Stealing (Back) a Childhood:
Harriet Jacobs, Anne Frank, and Coming of Age in Captivity
Saundra Liggins
Abstract
From a modern perspective, childhood is a period of great
transformation in an individual. Intellectual, physical, emotional,
and psychological changes are experienced, seemingly on a daily or
weekly basis. These transformations are challenging for a younger
person under the best of circumstances. But when one undergoes
these changes during a period of larger societal trauma or suffering,
the experience of childhood becomes even more complicated. While
one might think that extended periods of oppression would strip a
young person of the typical juvenile experiences, more often than
not, young people are able to maintain their sense of childhood under
the harshest of circumstances. This resiliency of childhood is
demonstrated in two autobiographies, Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl: Written by Herself and The Diary of Anne Frank.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, is the
autobiography of Harriet Jacobs, written under the pseudonym Linda
Brent, a slave in North Carolina. The Diary of Anne Frank (1950) is
a record of Frank’s life during the German occupation of Amsterdam
in the 1940s. While the depictions of their respective childhoods are
unique to the challenges of the particular era in which each girl lived,
they are similar in their representation of ordinary childhood and
adolescent concerns. In their narratives, the authors undermine the
idea that any semblance of a normal childhood was impossible
during the Holocaust and slavery. Anne still thinks about such
standard childhood topics as sex and puberty; Harriet still thinks
about falling in love. Despite their similarities as global human
atrocities and injustices, slavery and the Holocaust were, obviously,
two very different historical moments, each with their own specific
qualities and characteristics. Anne Frank’s and Harriet Jacobs’
autobiographies, however, connect these two moments as periods
that were not able to defeat the childhood spirit.
Key Words: Harriet, Jacobs, Anne, Frank, slavery, Holocaust,
childhood
Stealing (Back) a Childhood
*****
When one thinks of two of the most horrific moments in world
history, the two events that most immediately come to mind are the
Holocaust and American slavery. The experiences of children during
these periods do not immediately come to mind, however. While the
young Anne Frank has perhaps become the face of the Holocaust,
children are not often spoken of when considering slavery in the
United States. Harriet Jacobs’ slave narrative, of course, while seen
as one of the most important literary and historical records of this
time period, is most often examined in terms of Jacobs’ critiques of
slavery and nineteenth century patriarchal ideology. Her
autobiography is celebrated for its representation of the (adult)
female experience during slavery, not for its commentary on the
notion of childhood during this period. But Anne Frank, and Harriet
Jacobs before her, offers insight into what it means to be a child
when nearly all of the experiences that one would associate with
being a child have been stripped away.
Harriet Jacobs was 48 years old when her autobiography,
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself was
published in 1861, under the pseudonym Linda Brent. That she was
adult when she wrote her narrative gives her an advantage that the
13-year-old Anne Frank didn’t have when she was writing in her
diary while hiding in the annex in Amsterdam. Jacobs could bring
decades of experience, and the perspective that that brings, to the
recollection of her life. At the same time, Jacobs’ age also perhaps
puts her at a disadvantage. There is an immediacy and spontaneity to
Frank’s telling of her experiences that Jacobs does not have.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and The Diary of Anne Frank
begin in similar ways. ‘I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six
years of happy childhood had passed away,’1 Jacobs writes. ‘On
Friday, 12th June, I woke up at six o’clock and no wonder; it was my
birthday,’2 enters Frank, in the first submission of her diary. Each
author begins her chronicle with an acknowledgement of her birth –
Frank’s literal birth, as she commemorates her arrival into the world,
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and Brent’s more symbolic birth, the moment signifying Brent’s
entrance into a world different from what she had known before.
The opening passage of each of these texts also sets one of the
themes for the narratives. Harriet Jacobs wishes to illustrate the
contrast between women – free and enslaved, white and black,
Northern and Southern – in her autobiography. To that end, from the
very first page, she highlights how the institution has altered and
shaped her life. ‘…..[T]hough we were all slaves,’ Jacobs writes, in
describing the first five years of her life, ‘I was so fondly shielded
that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise.’3 In the beginning
of her autobiography, Frank describes how she had to ‘control [her]
curiosity’4 and not get out of bed so early, waiting instead until nearly
seven a.m. The childlike impatience that Frank exhibits on her
birthday is emblematic of the adolescent personality that would
further develop during her time in hiding.
Slavery, under which Harriet Jacobs lived from childhood until
her freedom was purchased in 1852, when she was 39 years old,
provides Harriet with many moments where she is confronted with
the institution’s horrors. After Linda’s mistress dies when Linda is
12, she becomes the property of the daughter of her former mistress’s
sister and her husband, Dr. Flint. After only being in the family for
two weeks, Linda gets one of her first glimpses of the true horrors of
slavery. One night she hears the sounds of a slave being whipped.
‘Never before, in my life,’ Jacobs writes, ‘had I heard hundreds of
blows fall, in succession, on a human being. His piteous groans, and
his “O, pray don’t massa,” rang in my ears for months afterwards.’
Physical proof solidifies the auditory horror when she ‘went into the
work house next morning, and saw the cowhide still wet with blood,
and the boards all covered with gore.’5
The terror of slavery that Linda/Harriet is personally subjected to,
while not of the physical kind, is still damaging. At the age of 14,
Dr. Flint begins whispering in her ear ‘stinging, scorching words;
words that scathed ear and brain like fire.’6 In the midst of this
constant harassment, Linda is able to find some solace: ‘If there was
one pure, sunny spot for me, I believed it to be in [her brother]
Stealing (Back) a Childhood
Benjamin’s heart, and in another’s, whom I loved with all the ardor
[sic] of a girl’s first love.’7
Dr. Flint’s verbal assault on Linda continues for over a year, as
Jacobs describes in the aptly titled chapter “The Trials of Girlhood.”
Dr. Flint persists in his attempt to ‘corrupt the pure principles’8 that
Linda had had instilled in her by her grandmother. He even threatens
Linda’s life, if she ever tells anyone what he was doing. This is
perhaps when Linda is at her most powerless. Her race, age, and
gender prevent her from having any recourse against Dr. Flint’s
abuse. ‘But where could I turn for protection?’ she writes. ‘No
matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her
mistress. In either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her
from insult, from violence, or even from death.’9 That Linda is able
to find within this turmoil what she calls a ‘pure, sunny spot’10
besides her immediate family is a testament to her resiliency, the
robustness and strength of the human heart and spirit.
Harriet begins the seventh chapter of her autobiography by
asking a profound and heart-breaking question: ‘Why does the slave
every love? Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around
objects which may at any moment be wrenched away by the hand of
violence?’ She answers that question further in the paragraph: ‘Youth
will be youth. I loved, and I indulged the hope that the dark clouds
around me would turn out a bright lining.’ 11 Temporarily, Linda’s
‘bright lining’ is a free coloured carpenter. After developing a
relationship with Linda, he proposes to her. Linda rejects his
proposal, however, as she is a slave, and marriage between a slave
and another person – free or slave – was not endorsed legally. The
carpenter, whom Jacobs does not name, even offers to purchase
Linda, but she realizes that Dr. Flint would never agree to this
arrangement either. In fact, when Dr. Flint discovers that Linda had
been proposed to, he first hits her, and then forbids her from even
saying his name again, or ‘I will cowhide you both; and if I catch
him lurking about my premises, I will shoot him as soon as I would a
dog.’12 Seeing the impossibility of her and the carpenter’s situation,
Linda encourages him to not return to North Carolina, after he has
visited Savannah, Georgia. What had once been a ‘love-dream [that]
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5
had been [her] support through many trials’ became the diminishing
of her ‘lamp of hope.’ As Jacobs concludes her chapter, she writes,
‘The dream of my girlhood was over.’13 Almost a century later, Anne
Frank would find her own ‘lamp of hope’ during her two years of
hiding behind an Amsterdam warehouse.
Anne Frank’s diary reflects the diversion of so many
adolescents around the world, regardless of their living condition at
the time. That she receives her diary on her thirteenth birthday
signifies, too, her parents’ conscious or unconscious recognition that
Anne was entering a significant period in her life, the beginning of
her teenage years, a period where self-expression and introspection
would be needed and fostered. In the first entry, Anne describes the
diary as ‘possibly the nicest of all’14 of her birthday presents. She
names her journal ‘Kitty,’ because of the role of friend that the diary
would play in Anne’s life. Anne’s acute awareness of her solitary
existence – even though she has two parents, a sister, and friends –
even before her family hides themselves in the warehouse, reflects a
feeling not uncommon for many people her age. Anne begins to
write in her diary because she has no one with whom she can ‘talk of
anything outside the common round.’15 At the time that she receives
the diary, of course, Anne has no idea that the function of her writing
would extend far beyond serving as a creative outlet for a young
girl’s expressions of her hopes and dreams.
Even before the Frank family went into hiding, their life had
been altered by the increasing influence of anti-Jewish policies.
Restrictions were placed on Jews’ movements, wardrobe, educational
opportunities, and recreation activities. As Anne writes in her third
journal entry, ‘…life went on in spite of it all….Our freedom was
strictly limited. Yet things were still bearable.’16 One of the ways in
which life went on was in the male-female socialization that happens
among most adolescents at this time. When describing an outing
with her friends to an ice cream parlour, Anne casually mentions the
presence of male friends. ‘I expect that you will be rather surprised at
the fact that I should talk of boy friends at my age,’ Anne writes.
‘Alas, one simply can’t seem to avoid it at our school.’17 The
Stealing (Back) a Childhood
resignation with which Anne writes of the prevalence of
conversations among her classmates about boy friends is humorously
juxtaposed with Anne’s matter-of-fact observation that
As soon as a boy asks if he may cycle home with me
and we get into conversation, nine out of ten times I
can be sure that he will fall head over heels in love
immediately and simply won’t allow me out of his
sight. After a while it cools down of course, especially
as I take little notice of his ardent looks and pedal
blithely on.
If it gets so far that they begin about “asking Father”
I swerve slightly on my bicycle, my satchel falls, the
young man is bound to get off and hand it to me, by
which time I have introduced a new topic of
conversation.18
After the Frank family goes into hiding, Anne’s interactions with
boys are, naturally, very limited, but no less exasperating and
complex to her.
The diary entries for Anne’s time in the attic offer an intimate
glimpse into how nine people – Anne; her sister Margot; her parents
Otto and Edith; the dentist, Mr Dussel; Mr and Mrs Van Daan, Otto
Frank’s business partner and his wife; and Peter Van Daan – manage
their individual and communal lives in such a small space. All
extraneous noise such as coughing has to be kept to a minimum, to
protect them from detection. Quarrels erupt between the individuals,
seemingly on a daily basis. Birthdays and Hanukah are celebrated.
Academic subjects are studied. Sleeping and personal hygiene habits
are noted by Anne as well. (In perhaps a concession to most young
girl’s vanity, Anne uses cotton pads soaked in hydrogen peroxide to
bleach the hair above her upper lip.19) Like most young people,
regardless of circumstance perhaps, Anne indulges in her fantasies as
well, as she ‘devote[s] many Sundays to sorting and looking over
[her] large collection of film stars, which is quite respectable by
now.’20 Two years after getting her diary, Anne is still reflecting on
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her desire to have true friends, writing, ‘I don’t want followers, but
friends, admirers who fall not for a flattering smile but for what one
does and for one’s character.’21 Like most, if not all, adolescents,
Anne wishes to break away from the influence of her parents, a task
made even more difficult by the close quarters that they all reside in.
‘I still love Daddy just as much and Margot loves Daddy and
Mummy, but when you are as old as we are, you do want to decide
just a few things for yourself, you want to be independent
sometimes.’22
That Anne manages, in spite of the terrible
circumstances that have so altered her life, to keep a routine that
would be familiar to so many girls her age who are in much better
circumstances, affirms the universal and timeless need for achieving
normality in trying circumstances. A need perhaps more sharply felt
in children than in adults.
Perhaps the most normal aspect of childhood represented in
the autobiography – and one of the elements that ties Anne Frank’s
20th-century childhood experience to Harriet Jacobs’ 19th-century one
– is Anne Frank’s developing relationship with Peter Van Daan, the
16-year-old son of Otto Frank’s business partner. When Peter first
arrives with his parents to go into hiding, Anne is not impressed with
him. Anne describes him as ‘a rather soft, shy, gawky youth,’ and
notes that she ‘can’t expect much from his company.’23 After
knowing him for a week, Anne’s opinion has not changed much: ‘I
still don’t like Peter any better, he is so boring; he flops lazily on his
bed half the time, does a bit of carpentry and then goes back for
another snooze. What a fool!’24
After a few months, however, Peter and Anne settle into a
friendly relationship. She likes his sense of humour, and they share
an interest in dressing up in costume.25 Over the remaining year and
a half of Anne’s diary, her and Peter’s relationship develops even
further, as Anne seeks out someone with whom she can confide in.
Anne is quick to tell Kitty, however, that ‘Whatever you do, don’t
think that I’m in love with Peter – not a bit of it! If the Van Daans
had had a daughter instead of a son, I should have tried to make
friends with her too.’26 Two months later, however, she is writing
Stealing (Back) a Childhood
something entirely different: ‘Kitty, I’m just like someone in love,
who can only talk about her darling. And Peter really is a darling.’
Her thoughts about Peter reflect the confusion and uncertainty of any
young person falling in love for the first time.
When shall I be able to tell him so?’ she asks.
‘Naturally, only if he thinks I’m a darling too….And
he likes his tranquillity, so I have no idea how much
he likes me. In any case, we are getting to know each
other a bit. I wish we dared to tell each other much
more already. Who knows, the time may come sooner
than I think! I get an understanding look from him
about twice a day. I wink back and we both feel
happy.
I certainly seem quite mad to be talking about
him being happy, and yet I feel pretty sure that he
thinks just the same.27
The high point of Anne’s relationship with Peter –
indeed, maybe the high point of every new relationship – is
the first kiss that they share. Anne gives the moment all of
the importance that every teenager thinks that the event
deserves, advising Kitty to “Remember yesterday’s date, for
it is a very important day in my life. Surely it is a great day
for every girl when she receives her first kiss?’28 The
circumstances leading up to the kiss are perhaps not the stuff
of the celebrity and movie magazines that Anne likes to read
so much, but the poignancy and excitement with which it is
described do make the scene appear as if out of the movies,
instead of in an attic. They were sitting next to each other on
the settee, with her head resting on his shoulder and Peter
stroking Anne’s cheek and arm, playing with the curls in her
hair. After they stood up, ‘he kissed me,’ Anne writes,
‘through my hair, half on my left cheek, half on my ear.’
Afterwards, Anne ‘tore downstairs without looking round.’
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This ‘pure, sunny spot,’ to use Jacobs’s phrase, caused Anne
to ‘simply [long] for today!’29
That this moment takes place a mere four months
before Anne’s last entry in her diary, before the hiding place
is discovered and the Franks and the Van Daans are sent to
Westerbork, the Dutch concentration camp, makes this
moment even more moving. That Anne had only a relatively
short time ‘to lie in his arms and to dream’ 30 enhances the
imperative that Anne, and all children, have to make the most
of every moment that they have.
One day, after Linda Brent had been reflecting on Dr
Flint’s mistreatment of her, her brother William says to her,
‘”O, Linda, isn’t this a bad world? Every body seems so cross
and unhappy.”’31 Linda reassures her brother that ‘those who
had pleasant homes, and kind friends, and who were not
afraid to love them, were happy. But we, who were slavechildren, without father or mother, could not expect to be
happy. We must be good; perhaps that would bring us
contentment.’32 Fortunately for Linda and Anne, each girl is
able to find real happiness, if momentary, not just through
being ‘good,’ but by not letting the harsh conditions in which
they grew up stifle their desire for a normal childhood,
especially in terms of finding their first love.
1 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 2009), 5.
2 Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank (London: Longman Imprint Books, 1988), 2.
3 Jacobs, Incidents in the Life, 5.
4 Frank, Diary of Anne Frank, 2.
5 Jacobs, Incidents in the Life, 15.
6 Ibid., 21.
7 Ibid., 23.
8 Ibid., 33-34.
9 Ibid., 34.
10 Ibid., 23.
11 Ibid., 46.
12 Ibid., 50.
13 Ibid., 48, 53.
14 Frank, Diary of Anne Frank, 2.
15 Ibid., 4.
16 Ibid., 5.
17 Ibid., 6.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., 62.
20 Ibid., 122.
21 Ibid., 142.
22 Ibid., 150.
23 Ibid., 21.
24 Ibid., 23.
25 Ibid., 33.
26 Ibid., 112.
27 Ibid., 139-140.
28 Ibid., 176.
29 Ibid., 177.
30 Ibid.
31 Jacobs, Incidents in the Life, 21.
32 Jacobs, Incidents in the Life, 22.
Bibliography
Frank, Anne. The Diary of Anne Frank. London: Longman Imprint Books, 1988.
Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.