Twelve Years a Slave Study Guide
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup is a memoir he tried to write as precisely as possible. This book contains no morals like in “Uncle Toms Cabin” and no epiphany. The goal of Northup was to describe the institute of slavery in all its ugliness.
Born a free black person and being a skilled carpenter and musician, Solomon was once offered a short-term job in the travelling circus. He agreed, not telling his wife, who was absent at work. But the circus workers never intended to hire Solomon: they drugged him and kidnapped, selling him into slavery for the long twelve years.
Northup describes his attempts to prove himself as a free man and him being beaten and broken. He doesn’t hide anything about the personalities of his new owners and the atrocities they committed, feeling entitled to do with their slaves whatever they please.
His skills usually got him the better position than the rest of the slaves, but this position was often connected with the need to compromise with his conscience. He was forced to look after the rest of the slaves and punish them for misbehaving, or to be punished himself for refusing to do it.
The ending of the book is dedicated to Northup’s process of escaping the slavery. He was incredibly lucky to find a compassionate person who believed him and sent a message to his wife. Finally, the process of rescue was initiated and Northup, as a citizen of his state, was returned home.
He concludes his memoir with the statement, reminding us that this is no exaggeration and he doesn’t condemn anyone in his book, letting the readers form their own opinion about the slavery and the life of enslaved people. Solomon was lucky to be rescued but countless people unnamed, kidnapped like him or born into slavery, stayed in the unbearable conditions he lived in for twelve years.
Author: Erica Morris
New Essays
“The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery. He never doubted the moral right of one man holding another in subjection. Looking through the same medium with his fathers before him, he saw things in the...
Twelve Years A Slave Solomon Northup 22 Chapters Chapter 1. Solomon describes his life as a free man, in a free state in which he were born and free for thirty years, married with children, telling the time he spends with his family and making a living through his many trades, including farming...
12 years a slave What were the major events in Northup's life? 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...
?William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B. " Du Bois At the turn of the twentieth century, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, the most outspoken civil rights activist in America, committed himself to a style of political leadership which emphasized that, in order for African Americans to survive the...