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Solomon Northup Slavery

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Slavery was cruel and the most common phenomena that occurred during the 19th century and throughout time. Many of those who were slaves kept note of their life in memoirs of the suffering they endured and are referred to as Slave Narratives. Slave narratives are those who documented their life as a slave and one movie in particular “12 Years a Slave” narrates the life of Solomon Northup. Solomon Northup wasn’t always a slave throughout his life and was in actuality a well-spoken African American man until one day he was kidnapped and sold into slavery, just like many other Africans were. Northup was a slave for twelve years and endured the brutality and dehumanization that came with the slave system. After having been kidnapped, he was beaten as he tried to explain he was a …show more content…

One of them in particular, John Tibeats, treats Solomon horribly as he can be described as a bitter and angry man. He attempts to beat Solomon one day and Solomon does not tolerate this and fights back by beating him. Tibeats then leaves and swears Solomon will pay and makes good on his word as he comes back and has assistance in hanging Solomon by a tree. After this occurred, it was impossible for him to stay with Ford and was sold to Edwin Epps. Epps treated the slaves he owned worse than Ford and especially Solomon and a woman named Patsey whom Northup tried to help. Epps would beat, rape, and abuse his slaves as well as lynching them and would lease them to other owners. Specifically Patsey, who Epps abused and raped throughout the entire time she was his slave. Due to Epps leasing his slaves, Solomon was able to come into contact with someone who would be of help towards his freedom. Early on when he was held captive, he had written a letter to be sent to his family and a slave sympathizer had encouraged he

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722 Words | 3 Pages

The Life of Solomon Northrup Solomon Northrup was born to two free African Americans who had never experienced the life of a slave. In 1841, his life turned upside down when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Washington City. Solomon was a fiddle player who went to Washington for a job offer that ended up being just a scam. It seems like he was a trusted and fearless man. For twelve years, he was exposed to the horrors of being treated as a slave.

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1262 Words | 6 Pages

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

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687 Words | 3 Pages

The era of the slave plantation only proves any Black male, or female, free or not, can become a slave. The story of Solomon Northrup tells a tale of his experiences of being a slave, the penalties, and the position of authority during

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1095 Words | 5 Pages

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.”

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782 Words | 4 Pages

Whether or not a slave narrative is able to persuade its readers of the inhumanities of slavery, the complexities within slave narratives and the discussions they create should not be overlooked. There is power within the act of writing one’s personal journeys and hardships throughout life, and that power gives former enslaved people the opportunity to express their own thoughts while making changes for future generations. Solomon Northup’s 12 Years A Slave gives a heart-wrenching depiction of what slavery was like in America. If the cruel images of the realities of slavery do not affect readers emotionally, then there is at least hope that the logical arguments raised throughout the novel can persuade those who are unwilling to see slavery

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934 Words | 4 Pages

He once saw his master whip a woman while her children where begging him to stop (11). If slaves disobeyed their masters rules, they would be punished. This happened to his aunt Hester, she went out one evening when her master requested her presence. When she was found, she was stripped of her clothes and tied to a hook. The master started to whip her until “red blood came dripping to the floor” (6).

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660 Words | 3 Pages

The first instance seen in the film of emotional turmoil and hopelessness felt by Solomon can be attributed to his kidnap and therefore forced rejection of his former life. He was in obvious distress the moment he realized that he had been tricked by people that he had trusted and that he may never see his wife and children again. This was a grim reality for many of the freedmen unjustly placed into slavery due to the fugitive slave law, regardless of the fact that they were free individuals. In this moment Solomon, like many others, realized that he would be forced to suffer the harsh conditions that many other African Americans of the time were facing due to involuntary servitude, but that was the worst of his fears, he feared the unknown of what would become of his family and what they may believe caused his disappearance.

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990 Words | 4 Pages

Enslavement was no light punishment as it was common for slaves to be deprived of common necessities and simple natural human rights. Oftentimes, slaves were beaten and abused for not completing a task correctly, not obeying the master, planning to revolt, or just for any reason that the master wanted to (sometimes there was no reason). This can be seen when Douglass is woken up to his Aunt being beaten. In the memoir, Douglass said that, “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream and whip her to make her hush” (Douglass 4).

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729 Words | 3 Pages

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

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737 Words | 3 Pages

Two and a half million African Americans are enslaved, and Solomon Northup was one of them. Solomon Northup is the main character of the book, Stolen Into Slavery by Judith and Dennis Fradin. Solomon Northup was a freed man, who got kidnapped and sold into slavery when he was 32 years old. Lured then trapped in Washington D.C by the money and the promise of one day becoming a famous violinist all around the world. He had a wife, and three young kids, but after years of being away for many years, his kids cannot recognize him in a crowd.

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1228 Words | 5 Pages

Slaves were forced to work long dangerous hours on plantations, mostly in the hot sun. In Stolen Into Slavery, Epps was a slave master. And Patsey was a slave, owned by Epps. Epps wanted to have sex with Patsey. But Patsey refused to do so, and was later on whipped.

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1958 Words | 8 Pages

Eventually, Solomon is freed after withstanding beatings, smallpox, and an attempted hanging. Northup provides a detailed first hand account of his daily life as a slave, and sheds light on how poorly he and other African Americans were treated. His story describes how slaves were recaptured, treated, fed, and their relationship with their master. This book provides credible evidence to how slaves like Solomon Northup viewed America and how they developed in American culture. Contrary to many white Americans, Northup saw America as hell in confinement, rather than an amazing place of opportunity and freedom.

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669 Words | 3 Pages

In World War II, many soldiers on both sides of the confrontation were taken captive. These incarcerated warriors were known as POWs, or prisoners of war, and were seldom ever treated with even an inkling of humanity. The Japanese were known to have been notoriously ruthless, and one in particular, Corporal Mutsuhiro Watanabe, was ordered to the islands where former United States Olympian turned U.S bombardier Louis Zamperini was being held captive. Mutsuhiro was ordered to break Zamperini in order to make him more useful as a tool of propaganda. Yet, it is necessary to ask why such a well-known American would be a high value POW, what propaganda really is, and what value it held and still holds in war today if we are to understand what effect

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1248 Words | 5 Pages

The fact that Solomon’s text is closely based on his real-life maltreatments perhaps has an even more lasting effect on its readers as they endure the written abuse of Patsy. In Patsy’s case, she wasn’t whipped to almost death for plain entertainment, she was whipped because of her forced sexual relations with her master that irritated her master’s mistress. This intense scene not only exhibits the power and abuse that a master has over his “property,” but it also shows a lack of compassion from both male and female slave owners. This demonstrates that the master’s wife, who does not have the rights of the men in her country and whose status is certainly below her husband, finds pleasure and no remorse in taking her frustrations out on Patsy. She views Patsy as competition and since Patsy is her husband’s property, she is allowed to decide what to do with Patsy.

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1947 Words | 8 Pages

He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a

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