The characters in “12 years a slave” contain the dynamics of race, class, and gender identities in the United States at the time. The protagonist, Solomon Northup is unique amongst the slaves he encounters while in bondage. Not only is Northup a free African American, he is of moderately affluent status. The son of a freed slave, Solomon is the product of the diaspora of free blacks seeking to escape the horrors of slavery and the severe racism of the south through resettling in free northern states and Canada. Solomon was educated, exceptionally well spoken, and skillfully intelligent, quite unlike most slaves he comes into contact with, many of whom are forced by their masters to remain illiterate. This difference in education can be partially …show more content…
attributed to Solomon’s status as a free man, but should also be understood through the larger North-South divide in the United States at this time. In the Northern states, both free men of color and slaves “had greater access to formal schooling and were more likely to have basic reading and writing skills than Southern blacks” (Sambol-Tosci, 2004). Such division is best exemplified in the scene where Solomon is being transported on the steam ship; he is accompanied by free men and slaves from the north, of which many appear equally educated and all together culturally different than the plantation slaves he soon encounters. After Solomon and other captives realize they lack the man power necessary to take over the ship by force, one of the freemen chastises the slaves on board for their submissiveness, which in his opinion is due to their being born into bondage (The Internet Movie Script Database). The character of Solomon also stands to break negative stereotypes of African American men of this time. Northup is a free well educated African American at a time when the stereotypical man of color was in bondage. Solomon is intelligent, hardworking, and most importantly altogether miserable in his state of bondage. This challenges the “Sambo” stereotype of African American men that was widely held at the time. Fundamental to the ‘Sambo” caricature is the notion of the “happy slave”, one who is vacuous, lazy, and docile, perfectly content to serve his master (Green, 1998). Solomon possesses none of the “Sambo” traits, and in a sense represents the antithesis of that racist image. He is contemplative, hardworking, adaptable, only submitting to his master when his life depends on it, in order to one day reunited with his family and former life. The character of Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) also encapsulates race, class, and gender.
Born into slavery, Patsey places less hope in acquiring her freedom than enslaved freeman Solomon. She instead focuses on making the best out of her tragic situation. As a slave, Patsey is of the lowest order in southern society. She lives a destitute existence, finding solace in furnishing dolls out of straw and in visiting the neighboring plantation owners slave mistress. Patsey labours tirelessly in the cotton fields of Edwin Epps’s plantation in the hopes that her efforts will grant some leniency from her sadistic master. Her efforts however go largely unrewarded. Patsey’s exceptional skills in the cotton fields act only to attract her master vile fancy. She becomes the victim of unprovoked beatings and rape by Epps, making an already miserable existence almost entirely unbearable for her (The Internet Movie Script Database). Throughout the film, Patsey challenges negative stereotypes regarding gender and race. Her ability to collect hundreds of pounds more cotton than the average slave contradicts the notion of field work being a primarily male dominated endeavor, a common stereotype still held today. The stereotype most critically challenged by the portal of Patsey is that of the “Jezebelle” image. Traditionally the “Jezebelle” caricature was one of “a light-skinned, slender Mulatto girl with long straight hair and small features”, who “more closely resembled the European ideal for beauty than any pre-existing images… Jezebelle served to absolve white males of responsibility in the sexual abuse and rape of African-American women” (Green, 1998). Patsey does not possess any of the characteristics of the traditional “Jezebelle” caricature; she has an exceedingly dark skin pigmentation and short afro-textured hair. The film’s depiction of Patsey acted to debunk the stereotypical “Jezebelle” image, without neglecting to include the sexually abusive relationship between slave owners
and female slaves, which was widespread at the time, and record by Solomon in his memoir.
In Solomon Northup’s memoir, Twelve Years A Slave, he depicts the lives of African Americans living in the North as extremely painful and unjust. Additionally, they faced many hardships everyday of their lives. For one, they were stripped of their identities, loved ones, and most importantly their freedom. To illustrate this, Northup says, “He denied that I was free, and with an emphatic oath, declared that I came from Georgia” (20). This quote discusses the point in which Northup was kidnapped, and how he was ultimately robbed of his freedom, as well as his identity. Furthermore, not only were his captors cruel and repulsive, so was the way in which they treated African Americans. For instance, Northup states, “…Freeman, out of patience, tore Emily from her mother by main force, the two clinging to each other with all their might” (50). In this example, a mother is being parted from her child despite her cries and supplications, the slave owner
The first mythology that the slave woman faced was that of Jezebel. Jezebel was in every way the counter image of the mid-nineteenth-century ideal of the Victorian lady. (White, 29) She was defined as one that explored the sexual exploitation of the African American women. The Jezebel image was seen the way it was because it was assumed African woman were naturally promiscuous, and d...
In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...
A recurring theme in, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is Harriet Jacobs's reflections on what slavery meant to her as well as all women in bondage. Continuously, Jacobs expresses her deep hatred of slavery, and all of its implications. She dreads such an institution so much that she sometimes regards death as a better alternative than a life in bondage. For Harriet, slavery was different than many African Americans. She did not spend her life harvesting cotton on a large plantation. She was not flogged and beaten regularly like many slaves. She was not actively kept from illiteracy. Actually, Harriet always was treated relatively well. She performed most of her work inside and was rarely ever punished, at the request of her licentious master. Furthermore, she was taught to read and sew, and to perform other tasks associated with a ?ladies? work. Outwardly, it appeared that Harriet had it pretty good, in light of what many slaves had succumbed to. However, Ironically Harriet believes these fortunes were actually her curse. The fact that she was well kept and light skinned as well as being attractive lead to her victimization as a sexual object. Consequently, Harriet became a prospective concubine for Dr. Norcom. She points out that life under slavery was as bad as any slave could hope for. Harriet talks about her life as slave by saying, ?You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of chattel, entirely subject to the will of another.? (Jacobs p. 55).
emphasizes the concept that colored women had been oppressed and time after time did not receive any sort of reconciliation. White explains how it is quite difficult to find specific facts on what colored women withstood at the time but when you look actively enough, you will surely find it. White clarifies the two major archetypes that colored women were forced to identify with. The first being Jezebel, the highly inappropriate and submissive character, was created from the white man’s distorted view on colored women’s clothing choice which women chose in order to comfortably work in the most efficient way. Many of the women worked in the outdoor heat which led to them rolling up their tops and bottoms in order to avoid overheating which would lead to the slowing down of their work. The second archetype, that of Mammy, was created to comfort white women in a way. The slave owners wanted to be reassured that the slaves were equipped and efficient. White indicates that the Mammy slaves were not liked for long as they were contracting the notion that white women were of any use in their own
This novel was a very long and strenuous read. Solomon included many details about the process of planting and harvesting cotton or the appearance of a man from head to foot, for example. This painted an extremely accurate picture in the reader’s head, however it made the story boring and slow. There were also a lot of old-fashioned words that I had to look up before I understood sentences. Although the novel was slow and old-fashioned, I would recommend this book to students who wished to learn more about this time period because it certainly helps certain aspects easier to comprehend. Twelve Years a Slave gave me a different perspective to slavery, and a different way of viewing it.
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:
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
The topic of slavery in the United States has always been controversial, as many people living in the South were supportive of it and many people living in the North were against it. Even though it was abolished by the Civil War before the start of the 20th century, there are still different views on the subject today. Written in 1853, the book Twelve Years a Slave is a first person account of what it was like for Solomon Northup to be taken captive from his free life in the North and sold to a plantation as a slave in the South, and his struggle to regain his freedom. Through writing about themes of namelessness, inhumanity, suffering, distrust, defiance, and the desire for freedom, Northup was able to expose the experiences and realities of slavery.
In Solomon Northup’s narrative, 12 years a slave, he shares a story of the horrors of his past that was a lifelong reality to many African Americans throughout American history. Northup, being a free man of Saratoga, New York, was stripped of his freedom and sold ‘down the river’ to the Bayou Boeuf of Louisiana and was bound to slavery for twelve years. Along with recounting the gruesome hardships and labor that he had to endure, Northup also gives detailed accounts of the lives of fellow slaves that he comes across, primarily, women. Northup’s narrative allows readers to see that the hardships that slave women experienced by far surpassed anything that a slave man could endure. Stripped of their families, beaten relentlessly and forever victims
“Line of Color, Sex, and Service: Sexual Coercion in the Early Republic” is a publication that discusses two women, Rachel Davis and Harriet Jacobs. This story explains the lives of both Rachel and Harriet and their relationship between their masters. Rachel, a young white girl around the age of fourteen was an indentured servant who belonged to William and Becky Cress. Harriet, on the other hand, was born an enslaved African American and became the slave of James and Mary Norcom. This publication gives various accounts of their masters mistreating them and how it was dealt with.
Fourteen thousand. That is the estimated number of Sudanese men, women and children that have been abducted and forced into slavery between 1986 and 2002. (Agnes Scott College, http://prww.agnesscott.edu/alumnae/p_maineventsarticle.asp?id=260) Mende Nazer is one of those 14,000. The thing that sets her apart is that she escaped and had the courage to tell her story to the world. Slave: My True Story, the Memoir of Mende Nazer, depicts how courage and the will to live can triumph over oppression and enslavement by showing the world that slavery did not end in 1865, but is still a worldwide problem.
Northup, Solomon, Sue L. Eakin, and Joseph Logsdon. Twelve years a slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. Print.
This narrative depicted the image of a dream or more of a nightmare that one could not wake up from. Solomon Northup, a former victim of false enslavement, presents a very detailed and vivid picture with his autobiography to portray his experience in slavery and injustice. Although there were many who speculated Northup’s book, Twelve Years a Slave, and believed that it was exaggerated, or made up, Northup presented a well organized, specific, and descriptive insight of how horrid and injustice the once a common practice, slavery, was towards him and others in history. As if the public records and trial that arouse from this
I've recently watched an Oscar award best film called "12 Years a Slave" that really inspired me a lot. This story is about a free African American in New York, Solomon, who was a very talented violinist. During the time in the movie, it was the period of time when United States was divided into two sides, North and South. North, slaves were banned and African and more rights. South, however, African Americans had no rights and had slaves all over farms, plantations, ranches etc. for they needed so much working force to do the field and house work.