The film, 12 years a Slave was about Solomon Northup's life as the slave in the south. The film portrays the lives of Northup and other slaves in the Red River region of Louisiana. Solomon Northup was a free man from Saratoga, New York. He was a free man and a father of two children. During 1841, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery by Brown and Hamilton. These men offered Northup jobs in the circus, however, ended up selling him into slavery. As a slave in the south, Northup discovered the cruel reality of slavery, the sexual relationships between masters and slaves, the violence and the dehumanization of slavery. Though he was treated badly by his master Mr. Edwin Epps, he still fight for survival and freedom for himself.
In the beginning
A slave, Betty Abernathy’s, account of plantation life, “We lived up in Perry County. The white folk had a nice big house an’ they was a number of poor little cabins fo’ us folks. Our’s was a one room, built of logs, an’ had a puncheon floor. ‘Ole ‘Massa’ had a number of slaves but we didden have no school, ‘ner church an’ mighty little merry-makin’. Mos’ly we went barefooted the yeah ‘round.”
12 Years A Slave Journal Entries Prompt 1: Setting In 12 Years A Slave Solomon Northup or “Platt” as portrayed in the book is a free black man that lived in New York. Solomon was married to Anne Northup and had three kids: Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. Northup worked as a multifaceted laborer and also played violin, being very skillful and talented at it. He was offered to play at a circus being able to make good money.
War makes people do the unspeakable; these horrid acts include dehumanizing enemies, torturing fellow citizens, isolating people, and much more. Most of the people who experienced this were POWs (Prisoners of War). What these POWs endured was invisibility which means in a literal sense that they were isolated or “cut off” from each other and/or society, and in a figurative sense they lost their dignity. A story of one of these POWs is of Louie Zamperini. Louie enlisted in the war on the Western Front, and he got captured during battle.
The primary source of the New Orleans slave market in the reading is from Solomon Northup’s book about the time he spent in Louisiana after being kidnapped into slavery. Dehumanized is facilitated by status power like slaveholders, social connection. According to the history of slavery in Louisiana, every slave had information including name of individual, name of master, gender, race, age, family relationships including spouse and children. Moreover, selling information such as name of seller is an important piece for slaves. Circumstance in Louisiana is a whole different story in New York where Solomon Northup used to live and slavery had been abolished since 1829.
The event utilizes irony because Northup is initially kidnapped and sold to slavery due to his blind trust in the actions and motives of white men, and twelve years later he is freed by that same trust. The use of situational irony intrigues the audience, and develops the imagination and interest of readers. Irony creates parallels to real life, where the outcome often diverges from expectations. While Northup uses situational irony to invert expectations, Douglas sought to expose the hypocrisy of Christian slaveholders through irony. Through God, one of Douglass’ slaveholders found “religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty…[he would] tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification of the
Epps used Northup both as an artisan slave and as a field hand, occasionally leasing him out to sugar planters and processors. Throughout this time, Northup was often a “driver” in charge of other slaves. Epps, who was proud of his expertise with a lash, had a sadistic streak. Northup attempted to escape several times during that period but was unsuccessful. It was not until an abolitionist
After, Northup tries to tell the owner 's of the slave pen that he was a free man, the man furiously whipped him to try to convince him that he was a slave . Soon, Northup was sent to the South and sold to a plantation owner William Ford. Northup impressed his new owner by his smartness
The writer does not hide his contempt for those slaveholders characterized as “blood-seeking wretches.” (Twelve Years a Slave 125) Such slaveholders as Tibeats and Edwin Epps, another ruthless plantation owner, who buys Solomon from Mr. Williams, fall exactly into such a category. Nonetheless, soon Northup admits that his life on Epp’s plantation proves to be even worse than working with Tibeats. The writer notes that Epps never spares his whip to extract obedience from the “niggers.” Moreover, “being fond of the bottle” and various violent amusements, Epps repeatedly makes his slaves dance for him in the middle of the night or lashes them around his yard with his whip “just for the pleasure of hearing them screech and scream.”
I had not then learned the measure of "man 's inhumanity to man," nor to what limitless extent of wickedness he will go for the love of gain. ”(Northup, 21) His values and morals reflect how he treats his slaves and his overall
“The institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust, and barbarous one.” As Solomon Northup stated in twelve years as a slave the idea of slavery is an injustice as its very existence strips humans of their inherent rights. The two famous narratives, Twelve year a slave by Solomon Northup and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass both demonstrate through their experiences as slaves just how damaging slavery is. Slavery in America started in the 1600s and it was a method of legally enslaving human beings mainly those of color to do hard labor. Most slaves, during these times, were born into slavery like Douglass.
Many people during slavery were unaware of the brutality and cruelty of it. Douglass brings some dehumanizing instances into the spotlight in his narrative. “I have known him to tie her up early in
At the beginning of the book, Douglass was a slave in both body and mind. He was born into slavery on Colonel Lloyd's plantation, but as a child, he never experienced the worst kinds of suffering. He witnessed his Aunt Hester be beaten so he knows what hardships a slave goes through, but he is too young to experience these hardships himself. Instead, he suffers without really knowing it. The real growth of his character began in the second stage of his life, when seven-year-old Douglass was sent to work for a new set of masters in Baltimore.
Solomon Northup was born a free man. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery. Northup had his freedom taken away from him. Douglass has never experienced freedom. Many African Americans have experienced slavery and or racism.
The purpose of “Why, You Reckon?” by Langston Hughes is to accurately display, through the times of that century and human emotion, that despite money, power, and the color of your skin there can still be an unhappiness of the soul. There is evidence in the beginning of the short story of two men’s unhappiness in life the symbol of them being uncontent was their hunger. “Man, ain’t you hongry.... Well, sir, I’m tellin’ you, I was so tired and hongry and cold that night.” (253- 254).
In regards to the abolitionist movement, Solomon Northup’s slave narrative was particularly important because it revealed the inhumane treatment, such as the brutal beatings done by masters and overseers, the sexual use of slave women and the merciless separation of families, and in his personal case the abuse of the Fugitive Slave