How Does Solomon Northup Effective?

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In the 2013 film “12 Years a Slave”, Chiwetel Ejiofor portrayed Solomon Northup. Northup was a free man and violinist who was offered a job as a traveling musician. The job however turned out to be a front for a slave pen. Northup ends up being wrongfully enslaved for twelve years. In the beginning of the film Northup awakened in chains after a night out with the individuals who offered him the job. When he awakened, he found that he was enslaved. Two slave traders then proceeded to tell Northup that he was “a runaway nigger from Georgia”, whipped him and named him Platt. The emotions and mentality that Northup experienced going from being a free man to know suddenly being someone’s slave was unreal. To go from being with your family to being …show more content…

Ford is not as brutal as other plantation owners. Due to Northup and a white worker’s altercation he sells Northup to another plantation owner named Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) but before he does he tells him “you are an exceptional nigger Platt, but I fear no good will come of it”. The use of the phrase “exceptional” suggests that Ford recognizes that Northrop is different, but he does not want his ability to read and write get him killed. Epps treats his slaves horribly and of lowest quality. During this time Northup met one of Epps concubine’s names Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o). Patsey requested that he end her life. She stated “end my life, take my body to the margin of the swamp, take me by the throat hold me low in the water until I am still without life”. The use of the phrase “end my life” and the fact that Patsey thought that that was an act of kindness, spoke to the thoughts of many slaves that felt there was no hope for freedom. Northup then used his saved-up money from playing the violin to send a letter by white field hand Armsby (Garrett Dillahunt) to his family to inform them of his enslavement. Armsby betrays him by telling Epps. Northup barely escapes punishment. Then he meets fellow Canadian construction worker Samuel Bass (Brad Pitt). Bass scolds Epps’ treatment of his

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