* Mistress Epps hated Patsey because she was jealous of her husband’s forced sexual encounters with Patsey. * William Ford sold Solomon to pay a debt

Long, weary, unjustified submission. Yet he is never broken. Even in his worst days of sorrow lived under theĬruelties of Edwin Epps, he never gives up hope that one day he will be free. He never loses faith in his friends,Ĭonstantly assured that if he can only get word to the North then they will indeed come to his rescue. And theyĭo. In the end, Solomon Northup’s heartbreaking journey uplifts because in his testimony is evidence that faithĪnd hope can endure-and triumph. Solomon Northup is deceived, kidnapped, abused, removed from family, deprived of identity, and beaten into a Once common practice, and for sounding a constant warning of the awful consequences of chattel bondage.ġ2 Years a Slave is a testimony to the power of the human spirit and the enduring determination of hope. Slave is not the only one who suffers. By participating in slavery, the master is morally degraded and emotionallyĭesensitized. His religion is made hypocrisy. His family legacy is robbed of basic human graces like love, justice,Īnd integrity. In this respect, Northup’s 12 Years a Slave is notable for giving human faces to the evil that was Northup’s detailing the abuses he endured-and those he was forced to inflict-provides a warning to all In that nowexposed slave pen. Additionally, the accuracy of and factual detail in 12 Years a Slave have kept thisīook prominent as a reliable historical reference on slavery for more than 150 years since it first debuted.ġ2 Years a Slave serves as a timeless indictment of the practice of “chattel bondage,” or human slavery.

That took place after Northup had been freed, that slave trader couldn’t deny having kept Northup as his captive Slave pen is hidden, and describes the physical structure of the slave pen in detail. The result? During the trial Washington, D., he not only names that slaver, he names the slaver’s accomplice, identifies exactly where the Would defend it. For example, when Northup accuses a wicked slave trader of keeping him captive in Way. In doing so, he dares skeptics to refute his story, knowing that public records and common knowledge Speaks with authority on all subjects of his enslavement, naming names and pointing out landmarks along the The people, and the practices of the day are incorporated, sometimes in excessive detail, into Northup’s story. He United States in the antebellum (preCivil War) South. From start to finish, basic facts about the time, the places, The three most important aspects of 12 Years a Slave:ġ2 Years a Slave presents a startlingly accurate and verifiable account of the common slave experience in the Major symbols: Chains; the whip; the Bible; water; the swamp Place of women in society; religion and slavery; man’s inhumanity to man; slavery’s toll on servant and master Major Thematic Topics: Slavery as a moral cancer; freedom; injustice; the inherent dignity of all humanity; the Settings (secondary): Saratoga Springs, New York; Washington, D.; New Orleans, Louisiana Setting (primary): The Red River region of Louisiana Kidnapped and sold into slavery in the preCivil War South. Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave recounts the author’s life story as a free black man from the North who was

Edwin epps 12 years a slave