Cahill 1

Grace Cahill
Seth Epstein and Kris Whorton
History 1120 and English 1150
22 November 2016
The Power of Maternal Love
A mothers love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it
dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path (Christie). The role of
a mother in their childrens lives is instrumental. In times of crisis, such as slavery, the impact of
a mothers love can readily be seen due to the need for nurturing and protection in such chaos.
Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin, Harriet Jacobss Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl, and Toni Morrisons Beloved all illustrate how having children drove the mother figures,
Eliza, Linda, and Sethe, to desire freedom from the bondages of slavery for themselves and their
children. The acknowledgeable presence of each characters maternal drive to protect their
children exemplifies how mothers will go to great lengths to protect their children from people,
places, and situations that seem to be or are dangerous, as well as attempt to provide their
children with a better life than the one they had.
Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin depicts the power of a mothers duty to keep her
children safe through the story of the Harris familys journey to freedom. As the narrator explains
during the first few chapters:
[F]or a year or two Eliza saw her husband frequently, and there was nothing to interrupt
their happiness, except the loss of two infant children, to whom she was passionately
attachedAfter the birth of little Harry, however, she had gradually become tranquillized

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and settled; and every bleeding tie and throbbing nerve, once more entwined with that
little life, seem to become sound and healthful. (Stowe 17)
Eliza became dependent on having her family and especially having her child, Harry. This
dependency developed from her ability to be near her husband and the loss of two of her children
before having Harry. Since he is the only one of her children to survive, Harry is her whole life
and she would do anything to prevent him from being taken away from her. However, when
Eliza discovers that Mr. Shelby has sold her only son she is furious. She exclaims they have
sold you! but your mother will save you yet! (Stowe 43). This outburst reveals how Eliza is
determined to protect her son and not stop until she has succeeded.
Moreover, Elizas overwhelming love for her child is exemplified in the narrators
description of the risks that Eliza takes to save Harry. The narrator states that with a confused
and stunning sense of risk [Eliza] was running, in leaving the only home she had ever known,
and cutting loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered. Then there was
the parting from every familiar objectBut stronger than all was maternal love (Stowe 57).
Elizas strength and determination in her actions came from an instinctual desire to shield her
child from the horrible life she lived as a slave. She did not care about what would happen to
herself if she were to be caught or what she was leaving behind and refused to even accept defeat
as being an option because she was determined, as Harrys mother, to watch over him.
Furthermore, Elizas all-encompassing love and extreme desire to watch over Harry can be seen
when she fell into a heavy slumber, with the child, who seemed no less weary, soundly sleeping
on her arm; for the mother resisted, with nervous anxiety, the kindest attempts to take him from
her; and, even in sleep, her arm encircled him with an unrelaxing clasp, as if she could not even
then be beguiled of her vigilant hold (Stowe 95). Even when Eliza was sleeping, she refused to

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let Harry be taken from her, illustrating how attentive and cautious she was in protecting her
children. Elizas refusal to let Harry leave her side parallels how she refuses to leave his because
of her maternal love that is ever present in their journey to freedom.
Linda Brents story of her and her childrens eventual escape to freedom in Harriet Jacobss
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates how being a mother can lead one to take
drastic actions to protect her children. While Linda initially had her children to keep herself safe
from Dr. Flints sexual advances, after having them she became invested in keeping them safe at
any cost. She describes her primary motivation for protecting her children as I would ten
thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be
the most pampered among the slaves of America (Jacobs 38). Lindas dreadful experience as a
slave led her to sacrifice everything to be able to save her children so they would not have to live
a life like she had. She also explains how . . . the mother of slaves is very watchful. She knows
there is no security for her children. After they have entered their teens she lives in daily
expectation of trouble (Jacobs 66). Lindas awareness of her role as a mother leads to the drastic
actions she took to keep her children out of slavery. Similarly, her determination is visible when
she states I was resolved that I would foil my master and save my children, or I would perish in
the attemptI had a womens pride, and a mothers love for my children; and I resolved that out
of the darkness of this hour a brighter dawn should rise for them (Jacobs 96-97). Linda found
strength in her mission from her maternal love to save her children from a life of slavery and to
be able to give them a life that she was never privileged to.
Lindas self-sacrificing plan to save her children from living in slavery is specified
throughout the middle of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. She describes her plan to conceal
[herself] at the house of a friend, and remain there a few weeks till the search was over. [Her]

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hope was that the doctor would get discouraged, and, for fear of losing [her] value and also of
subsequently finding [her] children among the missing, he would consent to sell [them]
(Jacobs 103). She later explains how [she] lived in that little dismal hole, almost deprived of
light and air, and with no space to move [her] limbs, for nearly seven years (Jacobs 163). Both
the description of her initial plan as well as her description of her living space for roughly seven
years exemplifies the dedication and commitment she had as a mother to keeping her children
safe. It also reveals how her plan was successful because she was able to shield her children from
a life of slavery, while also being able to evade capture. Her overwhelming longing to see her
children as free citizens was guided by her never-ending love for her children. Furthermore, she
reveals [she] was in dread that by some accident, or some contrivance, slavery would succeed
in snatching [her] children from [her]. This thought drove [her] nearly frantic, and [she became]
determined to steer for the North Star at all hazards (Jacobs 165). She was invested in
protecting her children and didnt care whether she was in pain as long as her children were safe.
Lindas maternal instinct to safeguard her children, even after her escape, emphasizes how a
mothers love can overcome anything. The triumph of her escape is overshadowed by her love
for her children. Upon arriving in New York, [her] first waking thoughts were occupied with
the note [she] was to send to Mrs. Hobbs, the lady with who Ellen lived (Jacobs 182), detailing
how, even after she was able to save herself and be able to enjoy her freedom, her first thoughts
are about her children and if they are safe or not. Linda eventually succeeds in securing both her
freedom as well as her childrens after Dr. Flint dies and her new owner sells her to a friend in
the north. She describes this in her statement that her story ends with freedom; not in the usual
way, with marriage. [She] and [her] children are now free! [They] are as free from the power of
slave holders as are the white people of the north; and through that, according to [her] ideas, is

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not saying a great deal, it is a vast improvement in [her] condition (Jacobs 219). The selfless
sacrifices Linda made to rescue her children emphasize how mothers will do anything and
everything to protect their children.
Toni Morrisons novel Beloved highlights how Sethes actions are driven by a desire to save
her children from a life at Sweet Home with Schoolteacher. Sethes explanation of how the
[baby she] was carrying when [she] run away is all [she] got left. Boys gone too. Both of them
walked off just before Baby Suggs died reveals how much Sethe loved her daughter, Denver,
because Denver is the only member of her family she has left (Morrison 11). Since Denver is the
only one of Sethes children that stayed with her, she also wanted to protect her by keeping her
from the past that was still waiting for her (Morrison 51). She wanted to shield Denver from
the mistakes she had made while trying to rescue her children from a life of slavery with
Schoolteacher at Sweet Home. Earlier in her life, however, when Sethe was trying to escape, all
[she] knew was [she] had to get [her] milk to [her] baby girl (Morrison 19). This motivation
to get to her children to be able to get them what they needed, kept her sane through the dangers
of her escape. Furthermore, upon arriving at Baby Suggss house, 124, Sethe exclaims they
took my milk! (Morrison 20). This exclamation along with the aforementioned goal of getting
her milk to her children, demonstrates how Sethe was outraged, not because she was assaulted,
but because they stole the milk that she was going to use to feed her children. By sensing her
outrage, one can assume that she valued the safety and well-being of her children.
Sethe also demonstrates how her love for her children empowered her to rescue them from a
life of slavery at Sweet Home in her justification and ultimate attempt at forgiveness from her
children for her actions. Sethes motive for killing Beloved and attempting to kill her other
children is that [she] had to be safe and [Sethe] put her where she would be (Morrison

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236). She justifies killing Beloved because she thought that she was safeguarding her from a life
of slavery. Her attempts to kill her sons, and most likely herself, was stopped when
Schoolteacher opened the door to the shed and saw what had just transpired. In retrospect, she
did put Beloved in a safer place and succeeded in rescuing her other children from the
bondages of slavery with Schoolteacher. However, she did this at the cost of one of her children
and then eventually two more of them. Years later, when Beloved came back and began to get
closer to Sethe, [she] pleaded for forgiveness, counting, listing again and again her reasons: that
Beloved was more important, meant more to her than her own life. That she would trade places
any day. Give up her life, every minute and hour of it, to take back just one of Beloveds tears
(Morrison 284). This quote portrays how, even after close to two decades, Sethe is still just as
dedicated to protecting her children and giving them all that she can. It also suggests that Sethes
unquestioning love for her children drove her into making the decisions she made in attempting
to save her children. Similarly, her desire to defend her family against the cruel practices that
Schoolteacher applied and to make the family whole again can also be seen in her relentless
efforts to try to gain Beloveds forgiveness for what she did when Beloved was little.
The importance and effect of a mothers love and desire to protect her children can readily be
seen in Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin, Harriet Jacobss Incidents in the Life Girl,
and Toni Morrisons Beloved. All three of the works maternal figures remark, I had womens
pride and a mothers love for my childrenoutside this place, there is no security for children
but your mother will save you yet (Jacobs 96-97, Morrison 192, Jacobs 66, Stowe 43). Eliza,
Linda, and Sethes yearning and ultimate action of rescuing their children from the bondages of
slavery and allowing them to enjoy a blissful life of freedom, displays how mothers will go to

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great lengths in order to allow their children to live a life better than what they were able to, as
well as to protect them from people, places, and situations they deem dangerous.

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Works Cited
Christie, Agatha. Mothers Day Poems and Quotes. Real Simple,
http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/mothers-day/mothers-daypoems-quotes/mother-love-child, Accessed 21 Nov. 2016.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Barnes and Noble Classics, 2005.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage Books, 2004.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Toms Cabin. Barnes and Noble Classics, 2003.