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Imagine that it is the year 1841 in Saratoga, New York and blossoms of the dogwood tree are swirling around your face as the wind gently tousles your hair. All seems well in the world, and, to Solomon Northup, great opportunities are coming his way. Two men, by the names of Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton, had offered a dream job to Solomon. They had asked him to join them in a circus, playing the fiddle, an instrument Solomon had mastered. However, these men were not as honest as they seemed. Brown and Hamilton later drugged and kidnapped Solomon at a hotel one night during the tour. These men successfully forced Solomon into twelve years of slavery. There were some ups and downs to Solomon’s bondage. Northup met many friends along the years, including Eliza and Patsey. Eliza had been with Solomon since nearly the beginning of his trip, and they shared somewhat similar stories. Unfortunately, Eliza passed away due to grief over her children at Ford’s plantation. William Ford had the kindest heart of any of Solomon’s owners, however, due to the dangers of Mr. John Tibeats, Solomon was sold to Master Edwin Epps. At Epps’ plantation, Solomon met Patsey, “queen of the fields.” Epps was a mean spirited man, however there was some happiness to his plantation: it was the last one Solomon would work at in his twelve years of slavery. Mr. Bass, a Canadian carpenter, helped Solomon out of bondage by writing to Northup’s family in the North. After twelve years of hard labor, scarce food, sleepless nights, and fierce punishments, Solomon Northup was once again a free man. 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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...fic with location if GPS has been available. The evolution of technology as well as the evolution of opinions has made kidnappings easier to track and slavery altogether diminished. This novel was a very long and strenuous read. Solomon included many details about the process of planting and harvesting cotton or the appearance of a man from head to foot, for example. This painted an extremely accurate picture in the reader’s head, however it made the story boring and slow. There were also a lot of old-fashioned words that I had to look up before I understood sentences. Although the novel was slow and old-fashioned, I would recommend this book to students who wished to learn more about this time period because it certainly helps certain aspects easier to comprehend. Twelve Years a Slave gave me a different perspective to slavery, and a different way of viewing it.
The book 12 Years a Slave is an autobiography that chronicles the life of Solomon Northup. Northup was born free in the New York State but at the age of 33 is drugged, kidnapped and forced into slavery for 12 years. Northup was kidnapped during a time when the nation was split over slavery. In the North many African Americans were born free while in the South, African Americans were sold, kidnapped, or born into slavery. Northup was raised free but forced into slavery for 12 years were he suffered brutal beatings and torture at the hands of a cruel slave owner.
William Ford and Edwin Epps were both ‘slave owners’ in the 1900’s, with sharply contrasting views and philosophies on how slaves were to be treated. William was Solomon’s first slaver owner, who considered his slaves to be more like employees rather than his property. These are some examples that highlight this perspective; He brought Solomon a violin as a gift, to help pass time and bring enjoyment to others. He also tried to keep families together when buying and/or selling slaves, and saved Solomon’s life when one of his own employees tried to hang him. William was a sympathetic slave owner, who considered his slaves as human beings.
At the start of her ownership by Master Epps, Patsey was a twenty-three year old with a “...pleasant temper… rejoicing in the mere sense of existence. Yet Patsey wept oftener, and suffered more, than any of her companions.”(Northup 134). She was the subject of much turmoil between Master and Mistress Epps’. Master Epps desired Patsey and would often sexually abuse her which inducing Mistress Epps’ jealousy and hatred toward the poor slave woman. This resulted in Patsey’s regular experience of verbal and physical abuse, as well as murder attempts by Mistress Epps. Master Epps was not willing to do anything which would keep Patsey from picking cotton because of her “lightning hands”, as described by Northup, when in the cotton field(Northup 134). At the early arrival of Patsey and Northup at the Epps’ plantation, they were of similar cheerful temperaments, both willing to work hard for their master. However, while Northup was becaming the head slave on the plantation, in charge of the gin house, he was regularly forced to whip Patsey, at the command of the Epps. Northup struggled with the injustice committed as he was forced to flog the innocent woman, while he continued to receive better treatment. He despised conditions that he, as a slave, encountered, but in
In the beginning of the book, Solomon Northup describes his early life all the way to the point of his kidnapping. He talked about where he was born and where he came from. Northup also talked about his education, in particular, his talent for playing on the violin. When he was 21, he married a girl named Anne Hampton and conceived three children with her.
Chapters 3-5: Solomon meets James Burch, a well known slave dealer, and explains his situation as being a free man just be be brutally beat and whipped. This is the first time readers get an understanding of the cruelty of slavery. Solomon gets sold and moves down south with other slaves he has met, ending up with Theophilius Freeman, who changes Solomon’s name to Platt. On the way down to the South, Solomon gets help from a sailor, John Manning, who delivers a letter on behalf of Solomon to his family.
This book shows a vivid picture about a life of a free black man succumbed to slavery. Solomon Northup was born as a free man in New York this right was given by his father after working as
Solomon’s Northup narrative, 12 Years a Slave is considered to be one of the best slave accounts written in history today. According to the author Ira Berlin, “few accounts of slavery match Solomon Northup’s tale of abduction from freedom and forcible enslavement”. The novel can be seen by some readers as a direct response to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and was published in the year 1853; a time period where slavery was a subject many people avoided discussing. The novel ultimately details how Northup, who was born a free man, was kidnapped by two men who befriended him under false pretenses of employment and sold him into slavery. As a result of the previous, Northup persuades readers of the novel with a believable, heart-clenching account of his sufferings during his
In the book Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a common occurring theme is the role of violence. Almost every chapter tells about a horrible beating that a slave had to endure. The way Northup vividly described the whippings is chilling and paints a clear picture to the audience of the way slaves were treated.
There are a plethora of historical narratives that are available to readers in the twenty-first century, but none are quite like Solomon Northup’s narrative, 12 Years a Slave. Solomon gives readers a glance as to what life as a slave was like in the 1840s. Solomon was a free man who lived his life in New York. Tragically, he was tricked, drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Both the book and the movie, 12 Years a Slave, make you imagine and relive what Solomon experienced. His bondage and struggle portrayed can only make one cringe from all the inhuman things that Solomon saw and lived through. Although the movie and book provide experiences as these, it is the book that provides a deeper perspective and its untouched truth as to what
The book 12 Years a Slave follows the story of Solomon Northup, a free man that was sold into slavery in 1841. The work describes his inner most thoughts and feelings as he finds himself being beaten and forced to work. He is given a new name that robs him of his identity and pushes him to forget about his freedom in New York as well as the family that he left behind. The book discusses the depth of slavery and what went on in Solomon’s twelve years of entrapment. It also explores the lives of other slaves and how they were treated by their masters. Throughout the book, these characters demonstrate the ups and downs of slavery as well as the reality of being held captive. Overall, Solomon Northup's book depicts the diversity in tasks and treatment
“12 Years a Slave”, revealed the abuse that slaves were subject to, no longer allowing a blind eye cast towards the horrors of the past. Slaves were emotionally, physically, and psychologically abused every day; others forced to perform unreasonable and inhumane tasks. Many slave owners grew up in the business of owning slaves, for a certain slave owner known as Edwin Epps, the act of slavery or owning Negros as property came as natural as breathing. To Mr. Epps, the slaves he owned weren’t human beings, merely inanimate objects, like a garden rake for instance. Edwin Epps’ numbness on the issue revealed itself during a conversation with Mr. Bass, a hired hand from Canada, Epps stated, “If something rubs you wrong, I offer you the opportunity to speak on it.” Mr. Bass replied, “Well, you ask plainly, so I will tell you plainly. What amused me just then was your concern for my well-being in this heat when, frankly, the condition of your laborer’s…” Edwin interrupted, “The condition of my laborer’s?” Mr. Bass explained to him that the
12 Years a Slave, a film narrated by Soloman Northup, a free black during the 19th century, who was later kidnapped and placed into slavery. One day in 1841, in Saratoga New York, where he had lived, he was tricked and captured by two white men, Merill Brown and Abram Hamilton. He was tricked into thinking he was going to perform at a circus in Washington DC, and later was drugged. He was then sold into slavery in Louisiana. He didn’t know why this had happened since he was after all, supposed to be a free man. This film shows us Soloman’s life from being born as a free man, to being captured for twelve years, to being free again. Before being captured, Soloman lived a good life. In fact, he lived a lot better
The characters in “12 years a slave” contain the dynamics of race, class, and gender identities in the United States at the time. The protagonist, Solomon Northup is unique amongst the slaves he encounters while in bondage. Not only is Northup a free African American, he is of moderately affluent status. The son of a freed slave, Solomon is the product of the diaspora of free blacks seeking to escape the horrors of slavery and the severe racism of the south through resettling in free northern states and Canada. Solomon was educated, exceptionally well spoken, and skillfully intelligent, quite unlike most slaves he comes into contact with, many of whom are forced by their masters to remain illiterate. This difference in education can be partially
Solomon Northup, a freeman from Saratoga Springs, New York, champions in having one of the most inspiring stories of slave life from the mid-1800s. Despite his story, Northup has only recently gained major notoriety around the world for his memoir 12 Years a Slave, written in order to explain his story after he regained his freedom in 1853. Northup’s story begins in New York where he was kidnapped in 1841 and sent to Louisiana and forced into slavery. His memoir recounts his life as a slave and explores the horrors of life in the South. Perhaps one of the most heart-capturing aspects of his story is his never-ending courage to get back to his family. While some feel that family life among the slaves was a false reality, Northup expresses his
12 Years a Slave is an accurate adaptation of what slavery was like in the southern United States. The movie does not try to exaggerate the hardships the slaves went through, nor does it try to downplay their suffering. This paper will compare the movie to primary sources from that time period, as well as the book the movie is based off of. The movie 12 Years a Slaves is a true story about Solomon Northup, a free African American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Northup was introduced to two men named Hamilton and Brown.