Solomon Northup Thesis

How does a man continue on when he has been taken from his family, his home, his livelihood, to then, be sold into slavery? How does one cope with such a fate? In 1841 Solomon Northup was a middle class free man with a wife and children living in upstate New York and, at this time, working as a violinist at taverns and inns in order to support his family. While away from home, traveling state to state on, what he thinks will be, a short musical trip for profit, Northup is abducted by the two men that had encouraged him to join the excursion and then sold to a slave trader in the District of Columbia. While awaiting purchase in Louisiana, many of the other slaves that Northup had come in contact with were in similar predicaments as him, once

free, but now enslaved. Conversely however, upon arriving in Louisiana, Northup was surrounded by slaves that were second and third generation slaves, with him being the only one to ever have tasted freedom. As he observed the people around him with the understanding that freedom is not likely, Northup would often recall his family, his friends and his freedom to not lose hope of regaining the life he once had. As a slave, Northup would often submit himself to hard labor in order to fulfill, to the best of his ability, his masters’ demands, as well as obtaining work as a violinists which not only earned a profit and soothed his spirits. Whether aware of it or not, all of these things contributed to Northup’s strong will and hope for freedom, which he would later obtain.
From the time of his detention in Washington until his transfer by Master Ford to Master Tibeats, Northup was a fellow slave with mother of two, Eliza Berry. Berry was kept in the same dreadful pen as Northup, along with her two children before their transportation to Louisiana. Northup, of course, already separated from his family, whom, as far as he could tell, are still enjoying their
Knapp 2
freedom in New York, though certainly mourning his absence. However, Berry was separated from her son first, then, upon her own sale to Master Ford, separated from her daughter as a result of Freeman, the slave trader’s, cruelty. Berry’s family, conversely to Northup’s, were forced to live, just as herself, property, treated the same or worse than livestock. Northup’s hopes were to escape back to his home and the freedom his family enjoyed, while Berry understood the eminent reality that she would never again see her husband or children. “She had sunk beneath the weight of an excessive grief.”(Northup 71), a grief that Northup would not allow himself to fall victim to. She continued her life of servitude in great sorrow, having given up on all hope of life itself, Berry eventually perished in her mourning.
Later, while a slave upon Master Epps’ plantation, Northup came in contact with a hard working, young slave woman named Patsey who regularly suffered mistreatment and abuse at the hand of Master and Mistress Epps.

At the start of her ownership by Master Epps, Patsey was a twenty-three year old with a “...pleasant temper… rejoicing in the mere sense of existence. Yet Patsey wept oftener, and suffered more, than any of her companions.”(Northup 134). She was the subject of much turmoil between Master and Mistress Epps’. Master Epps desired Patsey and would often sexually abuse her which inducing Mistress Epps’ jealousy and hatred toward the poor slave woman. This resulted in Patsey’s regular experience of verbal and physical abuse, as well as murder attempts by Mistress Epps. Master Epps was not willing to do anything which would keep Patsey from picking cotton because of her “lightning hands”, as described by Northup, when in the cotton field(Northup 134). At the early arrival of Patsey and Northup at the Epps’ plantation, they were of similar cheerful temperaments, both willing to work hard for their master. However, while Northup was becaming the head slave on the plantation, in charge of the gin house, he was regularly forced to whip Patsey, at the command of the Epps. Northup struggled with the injustice committed as he was forced to flog the innocent woman, while he continued to receive better treatment. He despised conditions that he, as a slave, encountered, but in

many respect did not have any way of separating himself from the cruel world around him; that
Knapp 3
is until he .
Every year Master Epps would allow his slaves just three days off around Christmas day with which the slaves may use the time off however they please.

Often, many of them used the time to gather at whichever of the three meeting places for the annual Christmas celebration. Describing the pleasure derived from the event, Northup exclaims: “...even Uncle Abram ceases to glorify Andrew Jackson, and Patsey forgets her many sorrow, amid the general hilarity of the holidays.”(Northup 152). It was Northup’s responsibility, always, at the event to sound off on his violin. It was in playing his instrument that he found comfort. Speaking of his violin, Northup describes it as his “companion,” calling it, “the friend of my bosom--triumphing loudly when I was joyful, and uttering its soft, melodious consolations when I was sad.” His instrument, the feel of the strings pressing against his callused fingers, the smell of the wood seeping into his nostralls with every breath, and the sweet sound resonating in his ears, reminded him of his home, and his family, and the freedoms he once enjoyed before being, so violently, thrust into the violent and oppressive life of a slave. Had it not been for this one simple luxury afforded to him, Northup may not have continued in the hopes of seeing his family again, or tasting the freedoms of his home state of New

York.
At the opening of 12 Years a Slave Northup states: “Having all my life breathed the free air of the North,... I was too ignorant, perhaps too independent to conceive how any one could be content to live in the abject condition of a slave.”(Northup 8). Essentially making the point that he already considered slavery inhumane, however, being of the mindset that slaves had some say in their own freedom. Once he was enslaved, experiencing it for himself and witnessing the tragedy that it caused his companions, paired with the near impossibility of achieving freedom, Northup experienced first hand the lingering sense of hopelessness that would be found in the heart of a slave. Like many others bound by enslavement, Northup found solace in the music of his instrument, the violin. It gave him a sense of accomplishment and purpose when he was able to earn income by playing his violin. The
Knapp 4
violin kept him company on lonely evenings on the plantation, while also being a sweet sound to his fellow slaves in the Bayou Boeuf plantation. Northup was one of very few slaves that sought his freedom, not just for his own liberty, but also in order that he may return home to his wife and family whom he loved so dearly, and had the blessing of his violin to uplift his spirits as he awaited the regaining of his past freedoms.