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Summary Of 12 Years A Slave By Northup

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In my opinion, Northup did a very good job when writing this narrative. The main reason that it seemed very authentic in my opinion was defiantly because he talked about the cruel people but made sure to still include the decent people as well. In all the history classes I have taken over my schooling career I have learned a lot about the harshness of slavery. I have learned about their lack of freedom and the brutality they encountered. I learned and was enlightened about all the terrible things that happened. Since this is what I was taught, I never once thought that there could be “good” slave owners. I associated every slave owner and sometimes even most white people who lived in the south during this time as terrible and cruel. As I had become narrow minded on this subject, it never crossed my mind that not everyone was as terrible as I thought. When Northup decided to write this narrative, I think it was very wise and smart of him to include sides, the suffering and the kindness. In the controversies that there are today, racial profiling, wars, even health care; there are …show more content…

When I was in high school, I remember having to read another slave novel, Within the Plantation Household: Black and White women of the Old South. When I compare that book to 12 Years a Slave, 12 Years a Slave would win hands down. The slave narrative I read in high school was very poorly written in my opinion. It was very dull. I can remember thinking how that book reminded me a lot of a history textbook, rather than a fluid story. Some of my peers really did enjoy that book due to the fact that it was written sort of in a textbook style, on the other hand I loathed due to that reason. Another reason I did not enjoy reading that book was the lack of detail and realism. Even though it was textbook-like, it was very boring which did not help me feel like it was

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My thoughts on the book are a bit cloudy, I'm not sure what to think, I don't like nor do I dislike it. It's just not my kind of book and it didn't really catch me as a reader, but I

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David N. Gellman is a professor of Early American History at DePauw University in Indiana and his written work focuses greatly on colonial America and emancipation in the United States. As an expert in Early American History, David N. Gellman gives us a strong background on the institution of slavery in New York in his book Emancipating New York and the road to the emancipation of African Americans in the state of the New York. David N. Gellman’s book Emancipating New York describes the process by which the state of New York abolished slavery with a combination of white opposition, black resistance and political changes. The abolition of slavery in New York was an effort of the above-mentioned sectors of society and government, all with differing views, interests and agendas.

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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.

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To some people it is not. Some teachers say that the book is challenging for students. Now, this novel may be difficult for students, but that is how students learn new information. If students weren’t to have read harder pieces of literature all throughout their schooling career, they would stay at the same level of reading for most of their life. The reason why students should read more challenging novels are because they learn new things, and they could also learn how to act in a certain situation based on the type of challenging story they read.

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The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, An American slave takes a look at how it really feels like to be a slave. There is only so much you can learn about slavery in the textbooks. Often times we know what slavery is, but never really understand how brutal it was for the slaves. Douglas shares his experiences to help us learn how slaves exactly were treated. Douglass emphasizes his writing in a unique style to capture the audience, while also reeling in their emotions to embrace the experience of being a slave, and uses an effective tone to illustrate what being a slave feels like.

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The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a very powerful and important piece of work when it comes to understanding the dehumanization and harsh treatment of the slaves in Pre-Civil War United States. Frederick Douglass uses crucial detail in his narrative to make the reader understand just how badly the slaves were truly treated and how profoundly unequal slaves were from everyone else during this time. Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies throughout his narrative in order to really shape how the readers are going to interpret the narrative, and to allow the reader to develop an understanding of his major theme of dehumanization. He uses detailed descriptions of brutal beatings, repeatedly mentions the contrast between the white citizens and black

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In the book, “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, it shows how people behaved towards slaves. This made it seem like African Americans weren’t even treated like human beings. I believe that slaves did not deserve to be handled brutally and that people should have been kinder to them. African Americans were turned into slaves because of their skin color. As a result, slaves were treated poorly and were whipped when they made mistake.

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Slavery has been one of the most heart-wrenching and eye-opening segments in American history. While everyone is aware that slavery is terrible, few people realize that slavery took various forms and that no two stories are the same. Slaves that served in bigger cities had less work that revolved around labor, a better basic lifestyle and finally, they were treated better than their plantation counterparts. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Frederick Douglass, Douglass uses his time in both posts to provide a valid and well-balanced comparison of the two very different but tragically similar lifestyles.

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After reading Douglass’ narrative in our textbook, I feel it is more effective to present the abolitionist argument in non-fiction. The reason I feel this way is because when Douglass was writing his narrative it was coming from his own experiences. He told readers about his life and what he had to go through day to day. He witnessed the black women slaves being whipped, the separation of the mother and child, and even the hard times of not having much clothing and food. He even mentions the songs that the slaves would sing that made him really angry.

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The narrative was an instant success and this was not because it was the first time a slave had described his experiences in the system but because of the questions he posed to Americans at that time. He speaks of how slavery not only demeans African Americans but also makes the white man a worse person in whole using one of his mistresses as a prime example writing “Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach.

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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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