Who Is The Narrative Of 12 Years A Slave?

Slavery is a controversial topic that has been taught to us from a very young age in history classes. Though we have learned about slavery, we have never been put into the reality of the lives that these slaves have endured. 12 Years a Slave opens the door for readers to see what life was like for a person of color back in the days when slavery was running rampant. Solomon Northup was a free man in the state of New York who was drugged and sold into captivity. 12 Years a Slave gives important insight into what life was like for free black men, the struggles of free black men being kidnapped and sold into slavery, as well as what these slaves had to endure as field slaves in this era.
The narrative of 12 years a slave begins with us considering
Bounty Hunters were often paid by slave-owners to find free black men and bring them into captivity. In 12 Years a SlaveSolomon writes a very powerful passage which depicts the moment that Solomon Northup’s life as a free man was stolen from him. Solomon writes, “In the course of an hour or more after my return from the kitchen, I was conscious of some one entering my room. There seemed to be several—a mingling of various voices, - but how many, or who they were I cannot tell. Whether Brown and Hamilton were among them, is a mere matter of conjecture... My impression is there were then three persons with me, but it is altogether indefinite and vague, and like the memory of a painful dream. Going towards the light, which I imagined proceeded from a physician’s office, and which seemed to recede as I advanced, is the last glimmering recollection I can now recall. From that moment I was insensible. How long I remained in that condition—whether only that night, or many days and nights—I do not know; but when consciousness returned I found myself alone, in utter darkness, and in chains” (Northup 13). Solomon was very trusting of Brown and Hamilton,however many circumstances leading up to this passage seem to point out that Solomon’s trust was being taken advantage of. Brown and Hamilton seemed to have a lot of money, which the reader can assume was from the pay they received to capture free men and bring them into captivity. These men seemed to be experts at bounty hunting, and could smooth-talk their way into earning respect of innocent free black men to imprison them and turn a large profit.In Solomon’s case, these “bounty hunters received a commission from the planters, and were not always particular about whether they had captured the correct individual or not” (Burton 128). Brown and Hamilton did not care at all that he was really a freeman. The money they made by doing