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Comparing The Narrative Of Solomon Northup 12 Years A Slave

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The times of slavery had only brought sadness and despair for all African-Americans in the United States during the times of the Civil War. People were treated as property, denied a proper education, and overall treated as expendable and inconsequential pieces of trash. The one thing that was done so that we could understand the pain that these slaves had gone through was the slaves explaining their experiences through writing to be studied throughout history. However, there are very distinct differences between the writings in how they are made and written. Two examples of slave narratives that I had found strikingly similar was an interview with a Mr. James Monroe Abbot who was a documented slave born in 1854 and an excerpt from the narrative of Solomon Northup called “12 Years A Slave”. These both had shared a large resemblance by how much pain both had felt physically whether it be through traditional working in the fields as a slave on a plantation, or through means of torture and constant cruelty. “Dat night mah feet cracked open un’, when I had to take de fires I left a trick o’ blood across de flo.” “Burch commenced beating me. Blow after blow was inflicted upon my naked body. When his unrelenting arm grew tired, he stopped and asked if I still insisted I was a free man. I did insist upon it, and then …show more content…

“She cud cut down a big tree an chop off a rail length an use a wedge an maul, an make railes as good as anybody” “When again tired, he would repeat the same question, and receiving the same answer, continue his cruel labour. All this time, the incarnate devil was uttering most fiendish oaths”. These quotes truly show the indignation of the African-Americans towards slavery and all the death and despair that in stood

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