Dehumanization in Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup

He emphasizes by stating, “fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous, joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions!” In other words, his fellow brothers suffered injustices that he will not forget nor does he wish to. In the hopes to make them have an image of his people pleading for mercy. Furthermore, he explains that he is to see this from an individual’s perspective being an ex-slave himself. To demonstrate, Douglass explains how slaves are overwork, are deprive of their liberty, work without any wages given to them, and “keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men’, to beat them to a pulse, to whiplash until their fresh is torn from their limp bodies, to pursuit them dogs, to renounce to their relatives, to “knock their teeth”, to be malnourished and to submit to their masters wishes. This was an example of what white people have done in the past to the slaves. In giving such gruesome images, Douglass hopes to open their attitude towards the treatment of the slaves.

Greed is the undertone upon which Douglass states that slavery “corrupted souls” and “turned good people into bad people.” The institution of slavery was based on the ultimate control and power over a human to whom he is stripped of all of his identity and becomes sub-human. Consequently, the institution forces slave holders had to buy into this concept in order to justify any and all cruelty toward slaves. Douglas states “Slave holders resort to all kinds of cruelty” and later describes various ways of torture and punishment “all are in requisition to keep the slave in his condition as a slave in the United States” (Douglass 272). Slave holders showed no mercy when reprimanding slaves. The brutality and cruelty of these punishments were more of a statement of power and control and often times the punishment was worse than the offense.

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

The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.

(3) When first reading these narratives one would often assume, by what history tells us, that slave owners were cruel, hated men who often beat slaves severely if they committed even the slightest infraction. While this depiction does stand true for some slave owners, I was surprised to find that most of the former slaves interviewed in the “Slave Narratives” often held their masters in high regards, referring to them as kind and good. Former slave Harriett Gresham even goes as far to say that her master, Mr. Bellinger was “exceptionally kind”. Many slaves in the narratives described their masters as good to his slaves and never whipping them unless it was absolutely necessary. However, when the former slaves spoke of the “paterollers”, white men who roamed the roads in search of runaway slaves often beating them and returning them to their owners, they were described as being very cruel to slaves showing no sympathy to any slave found running away from a

Solomon Northup was born in July of 1808, in Minerva, New York. Solomon was born free due to the death of his father’s, Mintus, owner. His father’s owner was named Captain Henry Northup, which is how Solomon and his father received their last name. While Northup was a child, he had acquired some education, but mainly worked on his family’s farm. In 1828, Solomon married Anne Hampton. In 1834, he and his wife moved to Saratoga Springs, New York. They later had three children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. While in upstate New York, Solomon Northup received the reputation of a talented fiddler.

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

Both his white owner and his white protector have caused Northup to suffer unnecessarily something that will have in the back of his mind. Tibeats, of course is cruel but Chapin is negligent in his part. In the heat of the day and the physical torment, Northup’s thoughts wander to the argument that southern blacks were happy in their servitude. None of the southern slaves fed and whipped by his owner Northup says in his agony, is more content than a free black man in the North. Northup also uses this chapter as an opportunity to shame the corrupted southern legal system that denied basic civil rights to its black citizens. If Tibeat would’ve killed Northup no slave would be able to testify against Tibeat. This injustice is another of the

Without dehumanizing the black slaves, society cannot to perpetuate the culture of violence necessary to keep a slave based economy intact. People were auctioned like objects and belonging. Just like in the text, dehumanization removes the individuality of the slaves, and they received treatment that are unacceptable for those included in one’s moral community. Moral exclusion reduces restraints against harming or exploiting. Dehumanization removes individuality; by doing so, it makes the violation of generally accepted norms of behavior regarding one's fellow man seem reasonable, or even

The film 12 Years a Slave, an adaptation of the 1853 autobiography by a slave named Solomon Northup, depicts his everyday life after his rights and freedoms are ripped away. Through the unpleasant slave auction scenes to the sickening slave punishments, 12 Years a Slave is a heartbreaking story that unfortunately conveys the harsh truth on the issues surrounding slavery. Consequently, during the film there are many themes and events that trigger different thoughts and reactions varying between viewers, and importantly a better understanding of Solomon Northup’s story and slavery itself.

Solomon still wanted to return home and to his free man status. There was not a slave who did not want their freedom. No matter how pleasant or nasty a master was, it is human nature to need freedom. In Twelve Years a Slave it does not appear that a master would feel the obligation to care for his slaves from birth to death. In the case of death, it would be from premature death, not death from old age. As a slave lost his ability

A mother wails at the separation of her children and herself, her screams are deafening, yet no one comes to aid the tragic scene. A woman’s basic human rights are taken away when she is sold as property and encounters sexual abuse. These acts were considered acceptable because they were being done to slaves, people who were treated less than human. Although Northup's struggles seem to be more prominent throughout the book 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, his female companions hardships are not to be ignored. The 1850’s were not only filled with inequality and barbarization between the unpigmented and the ebony, but also between the males and females. Throughout history, women have been depicted as feeble and submissive to their male counterparts. Females lack of burliness is made up with compassion, empathy and being solicitous. Many believe that these are the traits of weakness and make them an easy target for any type of abuse.

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

“12 Years a Slave” is a significant recount piece of an historical practice; Slavery. The book is written by the author, about his very own story as a black man from the North living his life freely, until he was kidnapped and sold into slavery during the time of pre Civil War South. Northup was married, played the violin, had a job and a stable income, living in New York with his family at the time when he was kidnapped. Northup was just living his life as a free black son of a freed slave and free woman of colour. He had a very strong passion for playing the violin, making him very open to the idea of playing out in the streets performing to the public. One day, two con men approached Northup with the chance to have a job involved with the

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