What Is Solomon's Slave Identity Of Being Platt?

660 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Solomons life as a slave

Shortly after being captured, Solomon Northrup experienced harsh indoctrination. In this indoctrination, the slavers attempted to beat his new identity into him. Even with this pressure from the slavers, other slaves urged Solomon to just give in. On the southern water passage, the slave named Clemens told Solomon, “If you want to survive, tell no one you can read and write, or who you are. Unless you want to die.” To this, Solomon responded, “I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” As the movie developed, did Solomon Northrup live up to his statement? This paper argues that Solomon kept living throughout his journey because he never fully accepted his slave identity of being Platt. The argument revolves around Solomon’s agency throughout his journey. In this argument, Solomon’s identity slowly fades as his new identity, Platt, fills in. …show more content…

Many times, Solomon would not keep his head down as Clemens suggested. Perhaps Solomon believed the further the slavers took him from the North, the less likely he would be able to redeem his freedom. This would explain why Solomon resisted so much in this phase of his captivity. Even though the slavers beat him, Solomon still denied to be anything other than a free man. For example, after getting off the boat, Solomon refused to stand up when the slaver calls him by “Platt.” Thus, in the travelling phase, Solomon reluctantly held onto his old identity. In doing so, Solomon still lived by rejecting the slavers attempt to kill off his old

Show More
Related

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    One example that Frederick mentioned in the subject of resistance of the slaves against the masters is when he was under the charge of Mr. Gore. A slave by the name of Demby was getting whipped for a mistake he made. After Demby received but a few stripes he ran and jumped into a creek to the depth of his shoulders and refused to come out. This took great bravery considering Mr. Gore had a famous reputation for being nasty to slaves. Demby was given to the count of three to get out of the creek or he was to be shot, knowing the consequences Demby still refused to get out. He was then shot in the face by Mr. Gore with a musket. Demby truly resisted his master at the greatest cost he could have paid, his life.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Flying Motif in Song of Solomon

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    Solomon, a slave, had been a leader when he worked in the cotton fields in the South. One day he decided to fly back to Africa with his youngest son, Jake, leaving behind his wife Ryna and their twenty other children.

    Read More

  • The Watch and Livvie

    355 Words  | 1 Pages

    Solomon's silver watch contained multifaceted significance with regard to his character and it's effect on Livvie--it represented prestige and wealth, control and obsession, and a life of dark retreat. For Solomon the watch represented the prestige and wealth that were rarely attained by colored people. "For he was a colored man that owned his land and had it written down in the courthouse." (P. 85) Yet the watch also had another dimensionCit meant control over his life and his possessions, including Livvie.

    Read More

  • Solomon Northup's Relationship with His Slave Master

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    We see from this passage that Solomon is a loving devoted husband and father. He understands the relationship between a father and his children. Solomon appears through this writings to have been a good father.

    Read More

  • April Morning

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    Solomon Chandler is also a very influential character in Adam’s development after his ordeal at the common. Solomon’s calm attitude and words of wisdom helped Adam cope with the pain from his father’s death. Solomon tells Adam to let out his emotions because that is normal. He also explains to Adam why he should have a deep sense of respect for his fears, which are the Redcoat soldiers, and the only way to overcome them is to face them. During the whole period of time when Adam and Solomon are walking through the countryside, Solomon acts as a shoulder for Adam to cry on. Solomon is also a temporary “replacement” for Adam’s father in that he acts as a father figure towards Adam.

    Read More

  • The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: The Formation of Identity

    2136 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave details the progression of a slave to a man, and thus, the formation of his identity. The narrative functions as a persuasive essay, written in the hopes that it would successfully lead to “hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of [his] brethren in bonds” (Douglass 331). As an institution, slavery endeavored to reduce the men, women, and children “in bonds” to a state less than human. The slave identity, according to the institution of slavery, was not to be that of a rational, self forming, equal human being, but rather, a human animal whose purpose is to work and obey the whims of their “master.” For these reasons, Douglass articulates a distinction between the terms ‘man’ and ‘slaves’ under the institution of slavery. In his narrative, Douglass describes the situations and conditions that portray the differences between the two terms. Douglass also depicts the progression he makes from internalizing the slaveholder viewpoints about what his identity should be to creating an identity of his own making. Thus, Douglass’ narrative depicts not simply a search for freedom, but also a search for himself through the abandonment of the slave/animal identity forced upon him by the institution of slavery.

    Read More

  • Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

    1673 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since Northup wrote this book himself, it was able to provide readers with the truth and the experiences of living as a slave in the South. The good experiences written about by Northup seemed to be few and far between in the story, but the moments were big. In the beginning of the story, he talked about being with his family and the experience of being a free black man in the North. Once his freedom and family were taken from him, the next good experience he spoke of was when he met friends, either on the boat rides or on the plantations. These friends, although he was once free and most of them were not, had many things in common with Northup, and they all had similar views on slavery. A third positive experience that Solomon wrote about was when the officials came to Ebbs’ plantation to take him back North to freedom, which Ebbs could not believe. Although Ebbs wasn’t happy about it, Solomon was excited to go back to the North and his family. Being reunited with his family after ...

    Read More

  • The Character Development of Milkman

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Song of Solomon Toni Morrison tells a story of one black man's journey toward an understanding of his own identity and his African American roots.  This black man, Macon "Milkman" Dead III, transforms throughout the novel from a naïve, egocentric, young man to a self-assured adult with an understanding of the importance of morals and family values.  Milkman is born into the burdens of the materialistic values of his father and the weight of a racist society.  Over the course of his journey into his family's past he discovers his family's values and ancestry, rids himself of the weight of his father's expectations and society's limitations, and literally learns to fly.

    Read More

  • Flying African Milkman Analysis

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    discovering his flying ancestor, his quest itself parallels Solomon's own flight back to Africa; it, too, represents a return to the origins

    Read More

  • Essay on Milkman’s Search for Identity in Song of Solomon

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Song of Solomon tells the story of Dead's unwitting search for identity. Milkman appears to be destined for a life of self-alienation and isolation because of his commitment to the materialism and the linear conception of time that are part of the legacy he receives from his father, Macon Dead. However, during a trip to his ancestral home, “Milkman comes to understand his place in a cultural and familial community and to appreciate the value of conceiving of time as a cyclical process”(Smith 58).

    Read More

  • Solomon Northup's Autobiography, 12 Years A Slave

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    Solomon confronts slavery and leaves a legacy regarding the need to fight for freedom. Additionally, after Solomon escapes and begins to write his autobiography he states, “Those who read this book may form their own opinions…what is in the region of the Red River, is truly and faithfully delineated in these pages. There is no fiction, no exaggeration” (Northup 271). By simply publishing the chronicles of his life, Solomon attempts to bring awareness to the brutality of slavery. The autobiography

    Read More

  • Differences Between Macon J. And Pilate

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon tells the life story of Milkman and his family. The novel is well written and complex, while talking about several complex issues such as race, gender, and class. Although the novel makes reference to the several issues, the novel primarily focuses on what people’s desires are and their identities. Specifically through the difference between Macon Jr. and Pilate, Morrison illustrates that our most authentic desires come not from material items, but from our wish to connect with others.

    Read More

  • Religion in "Beloved"

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ba (112). Throughout the novel, Sethe is devoted to the search of her husband just like Solomon’s beloved wife. Although Sethe never reunites with her husband because he was killed by slaveholders, Morrison creates a replacement in the character Paul D, another former slave. Paul D satisfies the biblical beloved’s description of Sethe’s bridegroom: “I am my beloved’s and his desire is toward me” (7:10), thus fulfilling the promise of a requited love that is pictured in the union of Solomon and Sheba (120).

    Read More

  • The Closing of the American Book by Andrew Solomon

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ticle, Solomon has an unpleasant attitude of blaming others and complaining about the issue without proposing any real solutions. It also seems that he divides people into two categories: readers (good) and non-readers (bad), and he look down upon those who do not read. This will cause the readers to be emotionally uncomfortable and to reject his arguments and opinions because of the bias behind it.

    Read More

  • Differences Between African American Culture

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    The world that he once knew as a free man has suddenly changed. After having flashbacks, he then realizes that he’s been tricked by two slick British men and kidnapped. Moments later, Solomon faces off with a white southern slave trader. He declares his freedom to him and demands that he be released. The slave trader becomes enraged with Solomon, calls him a “runaway nigger,” and unleashes his anger out on him by beating him with a whip (IMDB).

    Read More

More about What Is Solomon's Slave Identity Of Being Platt?

Open Document