Twelve Years A Slave: Narrative Of Solomon Northup's 12 Years A Slave

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However, later on in the film Northup’s views seemed to have changed after witnessing the murder of the slave who encouraged a revolt. An exchange between Solomon and another slave, Eliza, a heartbroken mother who was separated from her children, illustrated the character development in Solomon as he says “I survive; I will not fall into despair. I will offer up my talents to Master Ford. I will keep myself hearty until freedom is opportune” (40:37- 40:47). Solomon appeared to have surrendered temporarily to his fate, but in fact, he has come to realize he is incapable of gaining his freedom on his own. Another of his attempts includes trusting a man named Armsby with a letter that he wrote to his family. Northup asked him to send …show more content…

The first person narrative of Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup emphasizes the importance of literature written by black men in changing the ideology of the nineteenth-century population. This ideology was that slaves are like animals; they work, eat, and sleep only. Their ability to read and write was proof of their well-deserved equality; “literacy equals intelligence equals personhood” (4). The act of writing, especially biographies like Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup gives its author identity, which rejects racism and terror that are the base of Slavery.
Doherty explains that the main reason behind the slave narrative is to eliminate the system of slavery and the ideology behind that system. If a biography would be successful, it becomes valuable testimony of history for “their victim's-eye view of the institution of slavery and self-revelation, rhetorical power, and blend of heart-rending melodrama and pulse-pounding action” (4). Only a few films are about slavery, its day-to-day workings, and the management of the human possession, and the contact between the master and the slave

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