Analysis Of The Book ' 12 Years A Slave ' By Solomon Northup

The North and South had very different views towards social standings. The Northern people didn't really own slaves. The North was home of the majority of the abolitionists. Many Northers thought it was wrong to hold a human against their will to work for them.The Southern residents believed that owning African Americans was morally sane. In the south people bought, sold, and used slaves

Solomon Northup, in his autobiography 12 Years A Slave, uses religious language to depict the horrendous nature of institutional slavery and slaveholders. In specific, the primary use of religious language in Northup’s autobiography is to express his and many other slaves’ sufferings and subjugation, to present the biblical justification adopted by slaveholders to mistreat their slaves, and to convey the significance of religion to him and the African American slaves; therefore, religious language is not a tool utilised to dramatise or supplement substance in his story. It is the true voice of Northup that arises from his faith and belief in Christianity as well as other African American slaves.

Solomon Northup was born free, in Minerva, New York in 1808. Northup became known in his community as an exceptional fiddle player. When two men approached Northup and offered him good wages to go to Washington DC, to play in a travelling music show, he quickly accepted. Solomon Northup was drugged, kidnapped, captured, and sold into slavery. He served for many masters; some were violent and cruel while others treated him humanely. Solomon Northup experienced shear torture, cruelty, and the loss of his dignity, throughout his many years as a slave. After many years, he came in contact with an abolitionist, who sent letters to Northup’s family to notify them of his life and status. He was soon rescued from Louisiana and freed as a slave.

Solomon Northup was a free African American man from Minerva, New York. In the novel Twelve Years a Salve, Northup composed a narrative about his life as a free man, and also his life as a slave. In the year of 1814 Northup was kidnapped and taken deep South, to the rugged life of slavery. After 12 years of being thrown into the slavery against his will, he rightfully regained his freedom in January of 1853 all because he came in contact with an abolitionist from Canada, who sent letters to his family about his situation.

In Western culture we are born with the right of autonomy. It is believed that this right can never be taken away from us. We are born into this privilege of liberty and are given opportunities to grow and make our own choices without being oppressed or discouraged for them. We are free, or so we think we are. In the book Slave My True Story by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis (2003), Mende a 12 year old girl, is stripped of her happiness, childhood and most of all, her freedom.

Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.

1.) The 1st major event In Northup 's life was when 2 strangers came up to him, Brown and Hamilton, who said that they have heard about Northup 's violin skills and want him to join a circus with them. He agrees and doesn 't tell his wife where he is going because he figures he will be home before she is. The two men seem very nice and watch out for what is best for Northup. They tell him that they are going to be traveling into a slave country and he should get his free papers. He thinks that is very kind and gets the papers and they go on their way. One night after having a few drinks, Northup starts feeling very thirsty. He drinks a lot of water but the thirst comes right

After reading Solomon Northup's Twelve Years A Slave, I was overwhelmed with his experience. He was born a free man in New York in 1808. In 1841 he was tricked, captured, and sold into slavery in Washington, D.C. Throughout his book, Solomon goes into details describing his life as a slave, which validates our critique of slavery. As abolitionists, it is our duty to do something about slavery. Although, as abolitionists, we have a history of disagreements among us, it time to put a stop to our arguments and start fighting for something we all believe in - to abolish slavery. While the growing cotton economy has made slavery more attractive than ever before to most southern people, slavery has to be abolished based on these reasons:

In the book 12 Years A Slave written from a primary source by Solomon Northup based on a true story describes the triumphant journey Solomon Northup goes through as he never lost hope of regaining his freedom and resisted the dehumanization of enslavement in many ways. Solomon was born a free black man in New York in 1808 while his father, Mintus was born a slave and gained his freedom as their master passed away also inheriting their masters last name "Northup". Growing Solomon worked on a farm with his dad and soon after his dad died in 1829 he soon married a women named Anne Hampton in which they soon moved to Saratoga Springs, New York and had three children of their own. They were living like any other free person was and soon Solomon was working in many industries and Anne established herself as a cook and in the 1830 's Solomon had a reputation of being a well played violinist. In 1841 Solomon had became unemployed and was looking for an occupation, he ran into Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton in who then offers him a job in a circus playing the violin. As they arrive in Washington D.C. which is slave territory, he begins to become sick and passes out which was planned by Merrill and Abram to poison and kidnap him in the slave territory and sell him in which he soon wakes up in chains in a slave pen. Solomon 's first master was James H. Burch who he was sold by the two men who had

In his true-life narrative "Twelve Years a Slave," Solomon Northup is a free man who is deceived into a situation that brings about his capture and ultimate misfortune to become a slave in the south. Solomon is a husband and father. Northup writes:

Prior to the publication of any slave narrative, African Americans had been represented by early historians’ interpretations of their race, culture, and situation along with contemporary authors’ fictionalized depictions. Their persona was often “characterized as infantile, incompetent, and...incapable of achievement” (Hunter-Willis 11) while the actions of slaveholders were justified with the arguments that slavery would maintain a cheap labor force and a guarantee that their suffering did not differ to the toils of the rest of the “struggling world” (Hunter-Willis 12). The emergence of the slave narratives created a new voice that discredited all former allegations of inferiority and produced a new perception of resilience and ingenuity.

Solomon Northup was born a freeman in New York in 1808 (3). His father, who had been a slave until his owner death had granted him his freedom in his, wills (5). In 1829, Northup married Anne Hampton and worked as a laborer in Hartford (6). However, Solomon was captured after being tricked by slave traders to work

There are several personal slavery narratives that account of all the horrors of slavery. An example is Solomon Northup’s autobiography, 12 Years a Slave, which provides a personal account of slavery, all the violent and gory aspects that enslavement holds, and the terrible acts of people who dishonored the attributes of a true American. Northup describes in vivid detail the dreadful actions committed against him. Published in 1853, the autobiography has lost momentum over the years, but was recently revived by Steve McQueen’s 2013 film adaptation.

Solomon Northup is a prime example of the cruel treatment black people received. He was deceived into thinking he was joining two fellow performers to work in Washington at a circus, but instead was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. He tries to plead his case and fight for his freedom but all he gets in return are blows to his back until he accepts his new role as a Georgia runaway slave. This is not only an example of how black people were physically abused, but also how they were psychologically abused. As soon as he is kidnapped, he is stripped away from everything he once was and everything he once knew. He is given a new name and identity and if he dared to proclaim otherwise, it would cost him his life. It is unfortunate that black men and women in the North were never actually safe, even if they were born free, they risked getting abducted and sold to slave owners in the South, just like Solomon was. Kidnapping was not the only cruel act in which black people were targeted, they were also humiliated and treated as less than a white person.

Before the Reconstruction which took place after the Civil War, many slaves began to acquire their freedom by many things, including escaping plantations, buying their freedom, or being granted freedom from their former owners. Once slaves entered the North, they were able to finally be seen as a free African American. The thing that scared African Americans the most, frequently happened, being sent back to the South into slavery. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup gives a recap of how his life, filled with joy and freedom one day, became a living nightmare the next. Northup, a self-taught, master violin player is fooled into traveling with “gentlemen” to share his talents for a small fortune. Leaving his family behind, he decides to go with the men and once he reaches New York City, the men convince Northup to travel to Washington D.C. Solomon soon began feeling sick and one day wakes up chained in a cell. Next thing he knows, he is being sold into slavery. He lives a life of a slave for twelve years until he is rescued by Henry B. Northup, who saves Solomon while he was working in the field. Once back in his own home, Solomon writes an autobiography of his experiences. After many decades, a historical movie retelling Solomon’s autobiography was released. Throughout the movie, many differences are present. For example, the wife of Solomon’s master was portrayed to be an evil woman in the movie, but in the book not so evil. Another example is while slaves did not fight back