The strong sense of regret lies in the fact that he did not know who his father was and that he was separated from his mother as an infant. What makes the situation worse is that there is the common speculation that his father is a white man, and that his master is his father. He knows that his mother was a black woman named Harriet Bailey from whom he was separated because it was the common custom in that part of Maryland that the children were thus separated from their mothers, hindering the natural bond between the mother and the child. He had seen his mother only four or five times when she met him after walking twelve miles from Mr Stewart’s place where she worked as the field hand.

She had to be back in the field before the sunrise if she had to escape the penalty of whipping from the slave master. This left the mother and child very little time and scope for communication. The sad outcome of this is that when he lost her when he was around seven, he didn’t feel the usual emotions of sorrow. The sudden death of the mother put an end to whatever chance the author had of knowing who his father was. Thus, we see that a slave child is an emotionally deprived child.