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. Life on the plantation, as told by Northup, meant being beaten by their masters for the slightest cause. The slave owners would look for any reason to beat their slaves, even going as far as to make up a cause to harm them. An example that Northup described was the stabbing of Old Abram by Mr. Epps (Northup 194). Due to the fact that Old Abram was suffering from Alzheimer’s and was starting to forget things, Mr. Epps got …show more content…
From the first time that he was beaten in prison during his captivity (Northup 25), he would try to be obedient and use quick wits to outsmart his masters. Northup credits his wits and constant obedience as being the cause of being spared from more beatings than he possibly could have had. Though Solomon Northup tried to save himself and the other slaves from beating when he could, sometimes it was unavoidable. One example is with Patsey (Northup 195-200). Patsey was flogged senselessly due to the fact that she went to borrow soap from another plantation to use for her washing. Much to Northup’s resentment, Mr. Epps ordered him to drive stakes down, lay Patsey on them and whip her. As Northup described, “Unpleasant as it was, I was compelled to obey him.” (Northup 196). It is impossible to imagine how hard it must have been for him to be forced to betray a friend like that. Another example of violence in Northup’s life was when he was being whipped due to stating in secret that he wished to be bought by a man that was a tanner (Northup 192-193). The mere fact that he wished to leave the cotton field in search for a more pleasant job like tanning caused Mr. Epps to fly into a rage and whip
Physical abuse by plantation owners towards both their servants and slaves was common. One account by Thomas Gates in a General Court of Colonial Virginia document about Elizabeth Abbot, an indentured servant, stated that “she had been sore beaten and her body full of sores and holes very dangerously raunckled and putrified both above her wast and uppon her hips and thighs” (General Court of Colonial Virginia). In fact, such abuse towards servants and slaves was so common that the state of Virginia had to make laws for such cases. Unfortunately, colonial governments did not consider corporal punishment illegal. Thus adding to the brutality endured by persons in captivity and servitude during the colonial era. “Moderate corporal punishment inflicted
For example, Northup introduces the reader to a slave named Eliza Berry, who was forced to become her master’s lover, as well as to live with him on the condition that she and her children would be emancipated (25). This exemplifies how white men would use their status to sexually harass their female slaves, while avoiding the consequences because no one would believe them, and they were threatened with being whipped if they uttered a word. In addition, Northup introduces another female slave named Patsey, and he states, “Her back bore the scars of a thousand stripes; not because she was backward in her work, nor because she was of an unmindful and rebellious spirit, but because it had fallen to her lot to be the slave of a licentious master…” (116). Overall, this quote corroborates how severe their masters would penalize them both physically and mentally, as well as how unfair they were to
1. The insight that each of these sources offers into slave life in the antebellum South is how slaves lived, worked, and were treated by their masters. The narratives talk about their nature of work, culture, and family in their passages. For example, in Solomon Northup 's passage he describes how he worked in the cotton field. Northup said that "An ordinary day 's work is considered two hundred pounds. A slave who is accustomed to picking, is punished, if he or she brings less quantity than that," (214). Northup explains how much cotton slaves had to bring from the cotton field and if a slave brought less or more weight than their previous weight ins then the slave is whipped because they were either slacking or have no been working to their
One of the amazing things about the story is the level of description and imagery that Douglass uses to describe the suffering around him. The excerpt spans a mere three days, but most of the text focuses on his abuse and battle with Mr. Covey. Douglass skips over the common parts of his life to further his case against slavery. By doing this, the Northerners rea...
In The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, emotional violence takes an aggressive toll not only on Douglass, but also his master Mr. Covey, his family, and fellow slaves. During his time with Covey, Douglass was affected deeply by the strain of slavery, especially in spirit and ways of hope. Mr. Covey was infamous for his reputation as a ‘‘nigger-breaker” and induced fear into slaves, emotionally scarring them (Douglass 53).
The narrative of Douglass quotes "Mr. Covey gave me a very severe whipping, cutting my back causing blood to run, and raising ridges on my flesh as large as my little finger". This quote also shows how horrible the men were abused and beaten too. Although, they had more of a chance to fight back against their masters, which is proven in this quote "This gave me assurance, and I held him uneasy, causing the blood to run where I touched him with the ends of my fingers". The quote explains how Douglass finally fought back against his master, after being beaten several times by him. The mental abuse is shown in the quote from Douglass's narrative that states" Mr.Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit.". This shows that the masters would mentally break the men, so they would behave and listen to them better. Most masters would drain all the spirit out of the men to make the threat of the slaves fighting back very rare. Those were the horrible struggles the men had to deal with in
The ignorance and physical abuse of the slave is the essential means by which this practice survives for too long. Douglass gives us proof of this in his experiences he endured in overcoming these obstacles and makes us aware of the power that knowledge holds, of both freedom and slavery. Bibliography Lauter, Paul. The. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Ed. III.
My first introduction to Douglass’s world of slavery was when he walked me through the scene of his Aunt’s whipping. In this scene his Aunt Hester is getting whipped for sneaking out in the middle of night. I did not want to think that a human being could treat another in such a worthless way but after reading I was convinced that one did. Douglass tells of how the man striped this his Aunt of her clothing, which alone is so humiliating, and whipped her of skin and dignity. In Frederick Douglass’s words, “He then told her to cross her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led her to a stool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the purpose. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to he hook” (Douglass 259). Douglass remembered the hook put into the beam in the ceiling for the mere purpose of whipping his people. He remembered the cries of his Aunt for mercy. “ I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it. I never shall forget it whilst I remember anything”(258). I wondered if I were this man, would I of wanted to remember such a disturbing episode? Douglass’s long termed memory can be considered as both a gift and a curse; for to remember such acts must be disturbing and yet to remember also never lets one forget. Douglass had witnessed some unthinkable acts of cruelty, during his life span but managed...
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:
There has been a stigma that only slaves were brutally punished for misbehaving or attempting to escape, but behind closed doors women suffered the same amount of pain or if not worse than slaves from their masters. Douglass witnessed a number of incidents and describes the abuse as, “Master would keep this lacerated young woman tied up for four hours at a time… he would tie her up and hit her for breakfast, leave her, return for dinner and whip her again” (44). Another time he witnessed his Aunt Hester abused from what he believes to be his father, “… he took her into the kitchen and stripped her down, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked… he commences to lay on the heavy cow swing” (16). Douglass included this event in is narrative because to paint the picture for readers that men had complete control of their slaves and women at home. Whatever the man thought was best to handle certain situations from slaves disobeying orders or thinking women had no rights of their own, the men during the 1800’s would use abuse to assert their dominance and authority.
While he was in Baltimore Fredrick Douglass observed the multiple beating of two young girls across the street. Douglass says "The girls seldom passed her without her saying, 'Move faster, you black gip!' at the same time giving them a blow with the cowskin over the head and shoulders, often drawing the blood" (49). But women were not the only ones who received beatings. The men were also physically abused.
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.
Also, Douglass describes after each description of savagery that the overseer or master suffered no repercussions for their actions in order to exaggerate the fact that they are getting away with murder, assault, battery, and rape. Douglass effectively has debunked the romantic aspect of the mythology of slavery by forcing Americans to peek behind the curtain hiding one of America’s greatest
Frederick Douglass, the author of the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, said “I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder” (Douglass, p.71). Modern people can fairly and easily understand the negative effects of slavery upon slave. People have the idea of slaves that they are not allow to learn which makes them unable to read and write and also they don’t have enough time to take a rest and recover their injuries. However, the negative effects upon slaveholder are less obvious to modern people. People usually think about the positive effects of slavery upon slaveholder, such as getting inexpensive labor. In the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass also shows modern readers some brutalizing impact upon the owner of the slaves. He talks about Thomas Auld and Edward Covey who are his masters and also talks about Sophia Auld who is his mistress. We will talk about those three characters in the book which will help us to find out if there were the negative influences upon the owner of the slaves or not. Also, we will talk about the power that the slaveholders got from controlling their slaves and the fear that the slaveholders maybe had to understand how they were changed.
He described his kind treatment of his mistress after suffering a brutal beating from white men. He explains the emotions and actions of his mistress, as she, "...again melted into pity. My puffed out eye and blood-covered face moved her to tears. She took the chair by me, washed the blood from my face, and, with the mothers tenderness, bound up my head, covering the wounded eye with a lean piece of fresh beef" (Pg. 122). His description of the beating is used to show readers the gross mistreatment he had to forgo due to the color of his skin. The beating wasn 't doled out by his master, but instead by other white men who had no regards to his life. Douglass includes this excerpt to not only bring attention to the abuse of slave owners, but also the abuse slaves had to endure by white men. By bringing attention to the abuse he had to suffer, Douglass highlights to the readers the injustice of slavery, and how it changed the moralities of those not even holding a slave. Douglass includes this description to intend to show readers why there needed to be an end to slavery- to save the moralities of those who had not yet been plagued by the institution of