12 Years a Slave
The antagonist in this film was Master Edwin Epps. He is a cotton plantation owner, who owns many slaves. He is an unstable drunk, who is his worst when intoxicated. He is married to a woman named Mary, yet is infatuated with his best cotton picker Patsey. Many of his slaves called him a cruel and unjust man. His love for a Patsey leads him to become in a way, crazy. He doesn 't know how to control his feelings of love and hate for her, so he feels he does horrible things to her he will stop loving her. I guess his feelings of love for her is stronger than his feelings of hate for her.
The main conflict in this film is that Solomon Northrup is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He is tricked by two men named Hamilton and Brown, then shipped to Washington. Where he was bought by a man named William Ford, he worked on his log plantation for 2 years. He was later sold to Edwin Epps’ cotton plantation because he got into numerous altercations with an overseer named Tibeats on Mr. Ford’s plantation for 10 years. The problem was resolved when he befriended a Canadian laborer named Samuel Bass. He was abolitionist who was against Mr. Epps’ cruelty and wickedness towards his slaves. Solomon asks Bass to write him a letter and send it to Saratoga Springs. Bass risking his life sends the letter, and gets in contact with New York where state law held aid to free African Americans who were sold into slavery. Solomon Was later freed by the help of the his old friends,
It was a hard scene to watch, and was hard to watch Edwin repeatedly whoop a naked Patsey and see her crying and in a lot of pain. It was even harder to see Edwin’s face and to see how much strength he was putting into whipping Patsey. The website U.S. History Scene said that, “Patsey’s story represented the brutality of slavery experienced by bondswomen” (Lieblich 1). The film portrayed the “brutality of slavery” in a historically accurate way by showing the slave owners beating their slaves and treating them terribly. “At the hands of white men, Northup made clear, black women were sexually and physically exploited with impunity during slavery. The normalization of sexual exploitation of slave women reflected the racist perceptions and stigmatization of black women” (Lieblich, 1). This shows the realism of the film during the scene where Edwin rapes Patsey. It was not an easy scene to watch, but it depicted the historical accuracy of the times by showing the “sexual exploitation of slave women” especially black slave women (Lieblich,
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.
Northup sets out to convince readers that his account of slavery is the truth. The detailed accounts that Solomon took to recreate his slave experience proves to be effective. Solomons story takes the aspect of being a free man, to enslavement in the South. Northup uses great parallelism in his narrative, often
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.
Through the course of history, whenever people hear the word “slaves”, they imagine a long period of hate,torture, ignorance, and cruelty. The term slaves mostly refers to the group of people that today are know as Africans. During these harsh times some slaves kept the detailed memories of their daily suffering and later told them to help create their narratives. In the Classic Slave Narratives the hardships of four slaves who today we remember as Mary Prince, Frederick Douglass, Gustavus Vassa, and last but not least Harriet Jacobs, are descriptively told. Experiences varied based on where the slave was located or their gender. Slaves would be treated as objects, rather than human beings, they were someone’s possession. In The Classic Slave
Nevertheless, two years later, Ford’s financial difficulties had pushed Northup to Edwin Epps, an extremely cruel cotton and sugarcane plantation owner, where he endured and suffered the next 10 years of extreme physical and emotional abuses. Northup worn out by fulfilling his roles as a cotton picker, hauler and driver. In addition, his moral stance was greatly devalued when he was forced to punished his fellow slaves whenever they performed undesirable outcomes.
Solomon Northup wrote a memoir, in 1853 describing his experience as a slave for twelve years. Twelve Years a Slave has a dominant tone when describing his slavey. Northup’s diction and syntax is proof that he believes he is above slavery, although he was a black man in the early 17th century. Growing up as a free man, Northup viewed himself as above other slaves because he knew he didn’t belong in the bunch. He also thought of himself as above his masters despite the fact that he is owned by them. From the very beginning until the end, Northup continued to use this tone until he was freed and moved back to New York City.
Through Solomon Northup’s story, viewers learn that socioeconomic status is no exception from racial realities. Solomon Northup was an educated, refined free black in the 1840s. His only mistake was thinking that being born free meant he was safe from the demonstration of white supremacy in America. Especially during this time, it didn't matter that he was educated, musically talented, and a family man, a person of color was threatened in a white, capitalist society and through the heartbreaking story of Solomon Northup, 12 Years a Slave shows this sad time in American
My choice of the movie 12 Years a Slave is an outstanding depiction of the lives of slaves in the 1840’s. This film follows the gruesome life of Solomon Northup. A black man born free in Saratoga, New York. Who was fooled, poisoned, and abducted by men who sold him into slavery. The movie is based on the book called “Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, From a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River, in Louisiana.”
The Abolitionists shows a long journey of ending the slavery. How they fought for the freedom for slaves and how they scarify what they had in the way of the human being equality. This documentary helps people to think about the long process that some people toke and they put their life in danger everyday by speaking against slavery. They main point of this story is in these people: Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimke, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Brown. Angelina Grimke was from a famous family in South Carolina. Each member of her family had their own slave but Angelina broke slave owning from her family. She was thinking that slavery is sin and God will punish the person who has slave. In 1829 she moved to North and she
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
Whites have long argued that slavery was good for slaves because it civilized them and that slaves were content to be held in bondage. But such is not the case, at least not according to those who were actually held in bondage. The accounts of slavery are greatly known by emancipated or run away slaves. One recorded account of slavery is by Solomon B. Northup’s autobiography, Twelve Years a Slave which was published in 1853.
During a time of cruel punishment and harsh conditions of life as a slave in the 19th century South, there was a book that shed a light on the life of a slave unparalleled in past as well as in modern literature. That book was entitled Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Northup was born a freeman that was obtained from his father after being freed by the Northup family due to loyal service. Growing up in the free state of New York, Solomon was allowed an education that was rare because of the sad disposition of the majority of his race. Solomon gained much knowledge of industry and hard work from his father. As a free man of color, he enjoyed various jobs and hobbies from timber raft building to playing
In both 12 Years a Slave and The Gangs of New York, the main purpose for violence was to secure social divisions and promote a type of class system that places a certain group of people above all others. More specifically, to be so intimidating that others view them as an ongoing threat, leaving them at the top of the social hierarchy. For example, in 12 Years a Slave, the main point of the movie is documenting the powerlessness slaves felt in society during that time period. When Edwin Epps says “A man is free to do as he pleases with his property,” it shows how these slaves were not even thought of as human beings, let alone at the same social class. Also, in The Gangs of New York, the main plot of the film was a young man seeking to avenge the death of his father by killing the murderer. Also, the main idea throughout the movie was that anyone who didn’t put a violent front was considered to be the weaker man.
The movie «12 Years a slave» is based on the book «12 Years a Slave» by Soloman Northup. It's his life story of how he got lured in a trap and kidnapped in 1841. It's about how he was sold into slavery in the south, and what happened during those 12 years a slave .