12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

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Recommended: Slavery in America

Slavery takes its part in history by containing the darkest, most cruel centuries of our nation. Often times, people are exposed to simply the surface of a very complex time period. Slavery in the United States had very intricate facets to it. In the outstanding film 12 Years a Slave, the life of a slave captured through Solomon Northup's eyes. Although he was a free man, Northup was kidnapped and wrongly sold into slavery. Through his journey, I was able to identify different pieces of slavery such as the physical brutality/sexual harassment, the slave and master relationship, and slave rebellion.
I cannot begin to imagine the inhumane treatment slaves endured from their masters day in and day out. As Solomon (or his slave name, Platt) and other slaves conduct their tasks, they are constantly being challenged by their master. Whether they perform the job correctly or not, it becomes evident that some slave owners simply enjoy the feeling of power they gain when they are bellowing commands at dozens of people. What drove some of the white men was the power of violence. Numerous times throughout the film, Solomon along with other slaves were beat for senseless reasons. Even if a slave was completely in line with a slave owners demand, there was no guarantee whatsoever that they would not get beat. Alongside physical brutality, the case of sexual harassment was also presented. Solomon's slave master had complete control over his slaves, and many of them came to terms that subjectivity was their only way of surviving. There was a scene where the master was raping a slave named Patsy, and all she could do was lay there, lifeless. Often times, what sprouted from slave-master relationships such as this one, were animosity from the sp...

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...hipped. In the eyes of the slave master, a slave that responds in defense to themselves is a slave that is challenging them, and this is unacceptable. There have been a number of times that Solomon has stood up for his word against a white man, and each time he fought his way out of a beating. During Solomon's time living at his first slave master's residence, there was an instance where he actually took the whip from a white man he was in an argument with, and proceeded to beat him to the ground. This is an extreme form of slave rebellion. All in all, I believe that 12 Years a Slave was a striking film that exposed many of the important, underlying details of slavery. As we see with Solomon Northup, sometimes it is not enough to simply survive. Survival does not mean you are truly living freely, and Solomon shows that freedom is a liberty that is worth fighting for.

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