Today we see our world to be a utopian environment because we live in what is referred as a first world country. However, there is more to this rosy depiction. Our world is made up of historical elements of the past and present, which still continuously lies deep within our soul. Humanity was significantly impacted by the segregation and alienation of different races and as a consequence of such discrimination and racism, slavery developed. Since this time, humanity has transitioned and many have since shared personal experiences of their feeling of being divorced from freedom. Solomon Northup’s ’12 Years A Slave’ teaches and shares firsthand knowledge through experience from his very own encounters of being subjected to slavery. What …show more content…
When the mind and body endures times when inflicted with excruciating pain, the mind is able to recall in so much detail the pain it once felt both physically and emotionally. Northrup is representative of this, as he publishes an exceptionally vivid and detailed storyline of his slave life. He recreated his life’s emotional journey by visually recounting significant painful life events including the punishment he was sentenced by his master. This is demonstrated in the graphic and violent scene, he shared of being whipped to bleeding point. ’12 Years A Slave’ touched me emotionally as I felt so many emotions. I found myself feeling more pain and sympathized with every page turned. I was horrified to learn how his or her master could mistreat someone. Their caretaker. I was left questioning how and more importantly, why masters would abuse their own position of authority. Why did so many masters have this same attitude leaving so many slaves sharing similar painful and terrifying …show more content…
By learning this, I wondered why there was such a great friction between these two different races. This brings me to the question. Who is the victim? Who is wrong? Furthermore, I learned how strong the human spirit is through seeing and reading Northup’s life story. ’12 Years A Slave’ will provide you knowledge and a new perspective on humanity itself. It made me think about how immensely different races were disadvantaged or was it because of how humanity’s psyche was developed which lead them to separating races into classes. In addition, it will provide true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave. This autobiography of Solomon Northup is a graphic piece of literature where his phenomenal journey testifies the true strength of the human spirit despite the obstacles faced. Northup’s ’12 Years A Slave’ exemplifies a piece of literature where you are able to gain knowledge and have a new perspective on the mistreatment of slaves in American History. It is an exhilarating, inspiring and unforgettable story as it is testament of someone who has retained his humanity from degradation. This incredible story is told with talent, which disheartens and invigorates the imagination, stirs the soul and will change your mind. This is why I truly recommend ’12 Years A Slave’ to those who are interested about history and to open up your mind and re-shape your first thoughts on
At first glance, the book “my bondage and my freedom by Frederick Douglass appeared to be extremely dull and frustrating to read. After rereading the book for a second time and paying closer attention to the little details I have realized this is one of the most impressive autobiographies I have read recently. This book possesses one of the most touching stories that I have ever read, and what astonishes me the most about the whole subject is that it's a true story of Douglass' life. “ Douglass does a masterful job of using his own experience to expose the injustice of slavery to the world. As the protagonist he is able to keep the reader interested in himself, and tell the true story of his life. As a narrator he is able to link those experiences to the wider experiences of the nation and all society, exposing the corrupting nature of slavery to the entire nation.”[1] Although this book contributes a great amount of information on the subject of slavery and it is an extremely valuable book, its strengths are overpowered by its flaws. The book is loaded with unnecessary details, flowery metaphors and intense introductory information but this is what makes “My Bondage and My Freedom” unique.
Franklin, J., Moss, A. Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. Seventh edition, McGraw Hill, Inc.: 1994.
In Solomon Northup’s memoir, Twelve Years A Slave, he depicts the lives of African Americans living in the North as extremely painful and unjust. Additionally, they faced many hardships everyday of their lives. For one, they were stripped of their identities, loved ones, and most importantly their freedom. To illustrate this, Northup says, “He denied that I was free, and with an emphatic oath, declared that I came from Georgia” (20). This quote discusses the point in which Northup was kidnapped, and how he was ultimately robbed of his freedom, as well as his identity. Furthermore, not only were his captors cruel and repulsive, so was the way in which they treated African Americans. For instance, Northup states, “…Freeman, out of patience, tore Emily from her mother by main force, the two clinging to each other with all their might” (50). In this example, a mother is being parted from her child despite her cries and supplications, the slave owner
The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.
For more than two hundred years, a certain group of people lived in misery; conditions so inhumane that the only simile that can compare to such, would be the image of a caged animal dying to live, yet whose live is perished by the awful chains that dragged him back into a dark world of torture and misfortune. Yes, I am referring to African Americans, whose beautiful heritage, one which is full of cultural beauty and extraordinary people, was stained by the privilege given to white men at one point in the history of the United States. Though slavery has been “abolished” for quite some years; or perhaps it is the ideal driven to us by our modern society and the lines that make up our constitution, there is a new kind of slavery. One which in
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
In his true-life narrative "Twelve Years a Slave," Solomon Northup is a free man who is deceived into a situation that brings about his capture and ultimate misfortune to become a slave in the south. Solomon is a husband and father. Northup writes:
The topic of slavery in the United States has always been controversial, as many people living in the South were supportive of it and many people living in the North were against it. Even though it was abolished by the Civil War before the start of the 20th century, there are still different views on the subject today. Written in 1853, the book Twelve Years a Slave is a first person account of what it was like for Solomon Northup to be taken captive from his free life in the North and sold to a plantation as a slave in the South, and his struggle to regain his freedom. Through writing about themes of namelessness, inhumanity, suffering, distrust, defiance, and the desire for freedom, Northup was able to expose the experiences and realities of slavery.
In Solomon Northup’s narrative, 12 years a slave, he shares a story of the horrors of his past that was a lifelong reality to many African Americans throughout American history. Northup, being a free man of Saratoga, New York, was stripped of his freedom and sold ‘down the river’ to the Bayou Boeuf of Louisiana and was bound to slavery for twelve years. Along with recounting the gruesome hardships and labor that he had to endure, Northup also gives detailed accounts of the lives of fellow slaves that he comes across, primarily, women. Northup’s narrative allows readers to see that the hardships that slave women experienced by far surpassed anything that a slave man could endure. Stripped of their families, beaten relentlessly and forever victims
War and political strife will always leave a mark, no matter who, what, or where it makes contact with. In the novel, “When the Emperor was Divine”, the family depicted were heavily affected by Executive Order 9066 and the prejudice of Japanese-Americans, and were sent to internment camps for the remainder of the war. When they were finally released from their dreadful camp, their lives had profoundly changed, and their situation became something that could not be reversed nor forgotten. In the pre-Civil War days of America, many African-Americans were victims of the legalization of slavery in the South. They were often abused and mistreated, and forced to work without pay. In the film “12 Years a Slave”, a free man, Solomon Northup, was kidnapped and sold into slavery. His life took a change for the worst as he
Northup, Solomon, Sue L. Eakin, and Joseph Logsdon. Twelve years a slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. Print.
Douglass's narrative is, on one surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders' disrespect for a slave’s family and for their education, as well as by the slaves' acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.
Overall I received a vivid insight of slavery and the hardship that comes with it. I can say I was not the only one who imagined everything Northup described because this was later turned into a movie, therefore producers and directors must have seen the imagery given. I was emotionally drawn to Northup’s experience and now have a better understanding of the works of slavery. To say anything about Northup’s account being false or exaggerated is inhumane because no one could share an experience such as this if it was not the
In 2013, McQueen1released his movie 12 Years a Slave, which was based on the life of a 19th-century slave Solomon Northup’s. Nonetheless, despite overwhelming response from the public, the movie has elicited trivial attention within academia and is not yet declared as a subject of critical scholarship. The movie presents accounts of common experience by slaves in the United States in the pre-Civil War era. It incorporates basic facts about peoples’ experience, the living conditions, and daily practices in an excessively detailed way. Northup’s details the abuse endured by the slaves ranging from beating, hanging and whipping. Notably, the core value of the movie 12 Years a Slave serves as a warning to all generations that slavery adversely affects all parties involved. While the slave suffers from physical, spiritual and
The film 12 Years a Slave and the slave narrative The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass are two stories about two different slave men. In both Solomon Northup’s story and Frederick Douglass’ story, music is also shown as a way of dehumanizing the characters through forced performance and the robbing of one’s passion, as well as humanizing them by the expression of emotion. Music is shown as a theme of struggle and growth, a form of expression, conveying different types of emotions and a way that connects the slaves.