12 Years Slavery

Twelve Years a Slave narrates the life of Solomon Northup, wrongfully accused slave born in New York and his twelve years of slave service under different masters. Continuously throughout the narrative, Northup provides vivid examples of the various aspects of his life under a master’s rule. Some of these aspects include his working and living conditions, shared religious values of slaves along with the values the white masters tried to force them into, the slave trade, and some methods of resistance. Overall the living conditions of slavers are insufficient and rugged apart from a select few who were rewarded with the luxury of living in the big house. Throughout the novel Northup describes many harsh living conditions such as that of William’s
It was common for slaves to resent their masters’ religion due to their owners preaching that they should be proud to be slaves because slavery is derived in the bible as well as compliance to the whites will. Although the whites took many precautions to insure that their slaves didn’t practice their own religion, it happened anyways. Some enslaved Africans would sneak away at night to have their own cervices where they stated that no man who owned a slave is a true Christian, and that there is honor in suffering and that in the end God would reward them. Enslaved African’s also saw a lack of regard for life in the white people of the south because of the way they treated and raised their children. Slaves were not allowed to read and write in order to keep them from knowing what was going on in the world around them but a few white’s taught slaves how to read so that they could read the bible, this totaled approximately 2% of slave population. Northup describes well how his upbringing began his view of religion in the context of his father’s that stated “He endeavored to imbue our minds with sentiments of morality, and to teach us to place our trust and confidence in Him who regards the humblest as well as the highest of his creatures” (Northup 3). This was prior to Northup’s encampment but his religious views held strong
Both races had strong religious views that were occasionally influenced by slave masters. The work that was completed was often long and tedious, and if they didn’t reach a certain quota, then they were punished greatly. The slave trade was a horrific scene for everyone involved but became such an economic necessary that it got to the point where more slaves were being exported than they were imported. The secular views of the races both reflected and contrasted each other by way of how they viewed one another; these became the fundamental ways of viewing oneself and the direct opposite of oneself. All in all the terrible events that were described are almost to brutal to imagine that it is what America’s foundation was built off of, these events are too malicious to imagine but Northup acknowledged it well by stating, “a man with a particle of mercy in his soul would not have beaten even a dog so cruelly” (Northup 22). And that is the saddest truth about southern slavery, there were a multitude of men with no remorse or respect for life, for they had such a God Complex to think they could beat and take lives as they