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Solomon Northup's Portrayal Of Slavery In Twelve Years A Slave

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Solomon Northup's Portrayal Of Slavery In Twelve Years A Slave
Twelve Years a Slave
“I don’t want to survive, I want to live” Solomon Northup, main character of Twelve Years a Slave, perhaps spoke of what all slaves felt. The Missouri Compromise followed by the Compromise of 1850 created a divided nation of some free black people and some slaves. Unfortunately, the free weren’t necessarily safe. Southerners were constantly trying to get more slaves and strongly believed all blacks should be slaves. Most times, it was not good enough to present the paperwork that stated freedom. Twelve Years a Slave depicts the cruel nature and unfair society of slavery. Northup’s portrayal of the inhuman treatment coincides with most other accounts of this sour time in U.S. history. Twelve Years a Slave stays faithful to a real story in undeniably portraying the worst excesses of slavery. Twelve Years a Slave portrays the brutality of the life slaves lived. The New York Times says this film is different than all other movies about slavery because it is “one that finally makes it …show more content…
Harriet Jacobs stated in “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” her feelings towards her master “I turned from him with disgust and hatred. But he was my master. I was compelled to live under the same roof with him” (Jacobs, Canvas). Jacobs was constantly fearing for her safety when around her master. He was persistently watching her and meeting her at every corner, wanting her to agree to have sex with him. The other slaves knew but wouldn’t dare to say anything. Not only was her life hard enough as a slave and having to be terrified of her master but the mistress also wanted her dead. The mistresses were aware of these transactions; they saw how their husbands looked at the slave girls. Harriet tells us she was hated by the mistress due to anger and jealousy. Harriett Jacob and Patsey have parallel
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