Examples Of Juxtaposition In 12 Years A Slave

12 Years of Description and Juxtaposition

Solomon Northup, the author and narrator of 12 Years A Slave uses illustrative language to portray his mentality during the 12 years he spent in slavery, and how he views what is happening at the moment. Northup rarely describes his current emotions to the reader. The reflection of how Northup sees the natural world helps us glimpse into his emotions in the moment, this descriptiveness of nature also aids to portray the scene to the reader, making one feel as if they are in the moment.

Northup, who is a heavily descriptive man, tells us in chapter 4 what he sees and how it relates to him mentally and emotionally at that moment: “It was a very pleasant morning… The birds were singing in the trees.

He goes into much detail about everything that is happening next to and around him but in small snippets of this excessive description, we gain a better understanding of Northup as a person. During the period this takes place Native Americans are being pushed out of their rightfully owned land and into small places with poor land and conditions, many are still suffering to this day because of this. Northup writes, “Indian Creek, in its whole length, flows through a magnificent forest…[Natives] were a rude but harmless people, and enjoyed their wild mode of life… They worshiped the Great Spirit, loved whisky, and were happy.”(66) Northup is not as critical of the Natives as many are back then and sees them truly as people. His description of their lives sets the stage for how he sees them compared to many others' opinions of the Natives. Northup relates to the Native Americans as he is trapped under the control of white men in power, this emotional connection seems to be insignificant at first but if one truly looks deeper into the interrelation of the enslaved people and the Natives, they are incredibly closely

This accusation by Epps, one of the many men in charge of the enslaved peoples causes her to be sentenced to a brutal beating. Patsey a victim of the brutal cycle caused by slavery, is forced into venereal acts by her Master against her will. While this beating would have been impactful if it was given by a man of power, Epps orders Northup to beat Patsey himself, Northup and Patsey are close and this is very taxing on both of their mental wellbeings. “Epps ground his teeth, and stamped upon the ground, screaming at me, like a mad fiend, to strike harder.”(186) The descriptive vocabulary that Northup uses in this sentence is incredibly simple but conveys to the reader just how grueling and horrific the scene is. Later on, in this passage we get a much larger glimpse than we have seen before into the true emotions and feelings of Northup, Northup states “My heart revolted at the inhumane scene… The painful cries and shrieks of the tourtured Patsey, mingling with the loud and angry curses of Epps… She was terribly lacerated–I may say, without exaggeration, literally flayed.”(186) This portrayal of Northup’s emotions shows just how much this affected him mentally. He uses words such as “revolted” or more simple ones like “loud” this use of language has a larger impact on people as this is not just a story, the simple language, although written