Human have their own morals, and the actions they take are usually closely associated and influenced by their beliefs. The education he or she received impact the decisions people make and the morals they live up to. In the movie 12 years a slave, based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, explores about how human develops and forms moral beliefs, and the role religion plays in a person’s behaviour. The movie presents brutal scenes that reveals the dark history of the past, and brings forth a commonly asked question in philosophy, what is correct? There are many questions to be answered and humans have always struggled with philosophical questions. In today’s society, a question could be asked is whether justice is served in the judicial system.
The movie presents Solomon Northup as an individual accepted by the society and white men in his neighbourhood. Just as everything seems peaceful and happy, the director delivers a shocking scene towards the viewer, that Solomon was kidnapped by two white men. Northup was then told that he is no one but a runaway “nigger” from Georgia. His bravery act of protesting against the wrong acts did not bring him any good. Instead, brought him a good beaten. Further into the movie, a black man that was also kidnapped onto the same boat was killed in
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In the movie 12 years a slave, white men have used scriptures from the Bible as an excuse to treat black slaves as animals. Edwin Epps, Solomon’s sadistic owner, who quotes Luke 12:47: “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” During the period of time where Christianity was the dominant religion in the society, such passage provides justification to Epps’ cruel actions and brutal treatments of the
What is freedom? This question is easy enough to answer today. To many, the concept of freedom we have now is a quality of life free from the constraints of a person or a government. In America today, the thought of living a life in which one was “owned” by another person, seems incomprehensible. Until 1865 however, freedom was a concept that many African Americans only dreamed of. Throughout early American Literature freedom and the desire to be free has been written and spoken about by many. Insight into how an African-American slave views freedom and what sparks their desire to receive it can be found in any of the “Slave Narratives” of early American literature, from Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustav Vassa, the African published in 1789, to Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself which was published in 1845. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry and letters and Martin R. Delany’s speech Political Destiny of the Colored Race in the American Continent also contain examples of the African-American slaves’ concepts of freedom; all the similarities and differences among them.
Twelve years a slave is the title of a book and a movie which was an adaptation of the life of Solomon Northup. Solomon Northup was born in New York a free man. He had a wife and three children, he unlike most other children was educated.”Besides giving us an education surpassing that ordinarily bestowed to the children in our condition” he said page 25, he had a farm and worked as a violinist. He was drugged, abducted and sold into slavery in 1841 while on a visit to Washington, sold at auction and shipped to work in cotton plantations in Louisiana. He was given a new identity and his slave name was “Platt.” he never accepted being
The majority of the information in this novel has to do with Solomon’s own experiences. As a slave, Northup was cut off from sources of other news of the nation. The ...
Slavery was a practice throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and through slavery, African-American slaves helped build the economic foundation of which America stands upon today, but this development only occurred with the sacrifice of the blood, sweat, and tears from the slaves that had been pushed into exhaustion by the slave masters. A narrative noting a lifetime of this history was the book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a prominent African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was captured and enslaved as a child in his home town of Essaka in what is now known as south eastern Nigeria, later he was shipped to the West Indies, he then moved to England, and eventually purchased his freedom (Equiano). Olaudah Equiano, with many other millions of slaves, faced many hardships and was treated with inconceivable injustices by white slave masters and because of the severity of these cruel and barbarous occurrences, history will never forget these events.
Fredrick Douglass’ autobiography is in a broad sense an overview of slavery and all that comes with it along with the life of Fredrick Douglass himself. To be more specific though, it is the story of a slave losing his innocence, and losing his ignorance so to speak as well. A man learning the ways of the world through education- a painful but prosperous journey that ultimately led to his escape of slavery and a life of freedom.
The black slaves in general held to a different form Christianity that was unbeknownst to traditional orthodox Christianity. As discussed in lecture on February 4, 2014, black slaves held to an interpretation of Christianity that placed emphasis on the Old Testament, and all of its hero’s and accomplishments. The slaves also reinterpreted Jesus Christ, figuring Him into the Old Testament context of an Old Testament King like King David, who achieved many victories upon this earth (Lecture 2/4/14). Due to the perversion of Christian teachings from slave master and their erroneous catechisms, the slaves reacted strongly against the New Testament and its teachings. In turn, the slaves would cling to the Old Testament, particularly due to the role that the Jews suffered in the midst of their captivity to the Egyptians in ancient times. (Covered in the Bible under the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus) The reality of God coming to the aid of His chosen people the Jews was a theme that encouraged and comforted the slaves, and they gladly adopted this similar idea of being God’s “chosen people.” Also, the slaves held to Old ...
Slavery is immoral. Why? Because we hold this truth to be self-evident: that all men are created equal? Because life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are unalienable rights endowed by our Creator? (“Declaration of Independence.” 1776.) Well, not all men are created equal. At least according to our Founding Fathers, African tribes, 18th century Europeans, the ancient Romans and Greeks, and … the Bible. As a matter of fact, slavery has not been immoral from humanity’s (also to be interpreted as America’s) standpoint but for only 150 years. Why then can we so firmly and undeniably declare that slavery is immoral? The answer lies in the writings of great political visionaries like Solon, Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Marx, and Lincoln. Individually they all have differing opinions about slavery. Taken together, however, their works reveal a timeline that shows how slavery has evolved from an accepted to a depraved custom. Slavery’s immorality is not limned in a constitution. Slavery is immoral because time has proven it to be immoral.
. Slavery was ongoing for many years, which ruined many people’s lives. White people believed that African-Americans were inferior. The slaves were forced into labor, punished, and treated poorly. Slaves involvement took away the most important thing in human life, freedom. During this time there were many influential slaves. Solomon Northup, an African-American slave who was kidnapped and sold into slavery was one of them. He is one of the world’s most important historical figures. Northup is known world wide for the movie and book based on his biography, 12 years a slave. By publishing the unbearable aspects of his life in captivity as a slave, Northup brought to light the sadism of American slavery. He raised awareness in audiences, and brought national attention to the injustices.
Since Northup wrote this book himself, it was able to provide readers with the truth and the experiences of living as a slave in the South. The good experiences written about by Northup seemed to be few and far between in the story, but the moments were big. In the beginning of the story, he talked about being with his family and the experience of being a free black man in the North. Once his freedom and family were taken from him, the next good experience he spoke of was when he met friends, either on the boat rides or on the plantations. These friends, although he was once free and most of them were not, had many things in common with Northup, and they all had similar views on slavery. A third positive experience that Solomon wrote about was when the officials came to Ebbs’ plantation to take him back North to freedom, which Ebbs could not believe. Although Ebbs wasn’t happy about it, Solomon was excited to go back to the North and his family. Being reunited with his family after ...
Mythology is a invisible part in 12 Years a Slave, however it is extremely exist. There are an impression that African people or black people are created to be slaves for white people. In Europe and Meddle East hindered years ago, there are many black slaves were working for white people, and they do not have any type of rights to ask for. White people think that black human are unable to be allowed to seek for their entitlements, which are receivable to ask for them. Being a slave is not as an option or choice, according to C.S Lewis he claim “But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.” He has an option that no one can judge ether to be free person or not. Mythology has been represented in 12 Year a Slave that black people are not able to be slaves
Douglass continues to describe the severity of the manipulation of Christianity. Slave owners use generations of slavery and mental control to convert slaves to the belief God sanctions and supports slavery. They teach that, “ man may properly be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained by God” (Douglass 13). In order to justify their own wrongdoings, slaveowners convert the slaves themselves to Christianity, either by force or gentle coercion over generations. The slaves are therefore under the impression that slavery is a necessary evil. With no other source of information other than their slave owners, and no other supernatural explanation for the horrors they face other than the ones provided by Christianity, generations of slaves cannot escape from under the canopy of Christianity. Christianity molded so deeply to the ideals of slavery that it becomes a postmark of America and a shield of steel for American slave owners. Douglass exposes the blatant misuse of the religion. By using Christianity as a vessel of exploitation, they forever modify the connotations of Christianity to that of tyrannical rule and
Slavery, the “Peculiar Institution” of the South, caused suffering among an innumerable number of human beings. Some people could argue that the life of a domestic animal would be better than being a slave; at least animals are incapable of feeling emotions. Suffering countless atrocities, including sexual assault, beatings, and murders, these slaves endured much more than we would think is humanly possible today. Yet, white southern “Christians” committed these atrocities, believing their behaviors were neither wrong nor immoral. Looking back at these atrocities, those who call themselves Christians are appalled. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Harriet A. Jacobs describes the hypocrisy of Southern, Christian slave owners in order to show that slavery and Christianity are not congruent.
Slave-owners forced a perverse form of Christianity, one that condoned slavery, upon slaves. According to this false Christianity the enslavement of “black Africans is justified because they are the descendants of Ham, one of Noah's sons; in one Biblical story, Noah cursed Ham's descendants to be slaves” (Tolson 272). Slavery was further validated by the numerous examples of it within the bible. It was reasoned that these examples were confirmation that God condoned slavery. Douglass’s master...
Saying 12 Years a Slave is a realistic film is an understatement. According to the British film director Steve McQueen, some people did not want the film made. He stated, “Some people want to close their eyes on some subjects. They don’t want to look behind them.” (Aspden 5). Others feel there have been too many films been made about slavery already, such as Roots, Django Unchained, and Amistad. 12 Years a Slave is a true story that needs to be told. In this writer’s opinion, it depicts the abuse of slavery in the United States with more intensity than any other film previously made.
He begins with Master Ford, who was the first slave owner Northup lives with. From the moment Ford met Northup, he liked him as a slave and a person. Ford saw the skills that Northup obtained, however, Tibeats, who watched over the slaves at Master Ford’s plantation, did not particularly like the position that Platt had on the plantation. Tibeat’s did not like that Northup was a knowledgeable man and did not believe that a slave should be as intelligent as Northup. Tibeat’s dislike towards Platt led Ford to treat Platt in a cruel manner. On the plantation, Platt was doing the work he was supposed to do and Tibeats wanted to whip him for no legitimate reason. Platt would not allow himself to be mistreated just because Tibeat felt threatened by him. Because of his resistance to getting whipped, he beat up Master Tibeats in defense. The repercussion for his behavior was to be hung by a noose. In order to survive, he stood on the top of his toes for hours. Instead of letting go and allowing himself to die, Northup would not allow Tibeats to have the satisfaction of Northup dying. Therefore, he suffered for many hours on a noose. This scene not only shows Northup’s strength, but it perfectly illustrates the concept of the triumph of the human spirit.; however, this is where Northup’s horrific journey as a slave