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A review by jeremyanderberg
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
5.0
Slave narratives, as a genre, gripped Northern readers in the mid-1800s. Frederick Douglass's famed narrative is still the most famous — deservedly so — but Northup's tale is equally well-written and even more dramatic. (Northup had help with the writing, but still.)
In 1841, Solomon was living a relatively good life as a free black man in New York state. He was working partly as a musician, and was offered a traveling gig from a couple of white dudes. He readily accepted, and the short version of the story is that he was drugged and sold into slavery. Just like that. Of course he tried to plead his innocence, but it was an impossible case to make once you were in the hands of slaveholders. To rub salt into the already horrendous wound, he was in Washington, D.C., a town that was supposedly the bastion of freedom:
"The voices of patriotic representatives boasting of freedom and equality, and the rattling of the poor slave's chains, almost commingled. A slave pen within the very shadow of the Capitol!"
From there he ended up in the bayous of Louisiana, and labored for 12 years as a slave. He was not on a large plantation, but rather a smaller farm with a handful of undeserving prisoners. The real strength of the narrative is in its incredible portrayal of the daily life of a slave: what they ate (not much), how they slept (very little), the process of picking cotton (backbreaking) . . . and of course the daily threat and reality of whippings. At one heartbreaking point, Northup is even forced by his master to brandish the whip himself.
I've not even touched on the incredible story of his rescue and release, which was put into motion by the fortuitous meeting of an abolitionist carpenter who worked on Solomon's behalf at great personal risk.
To sum up, 12 Years a Slave is a great, if at times heartbreaking story. But you know that there's a happy ending! So it's a little better, I guess. Also, it's short and easy-reading. You have no excuse, so get to it.
In 1841, Solomon was living a relatively good life as a free black man in New York state. He was working partly as a musician, and was offered a traveling gig from a couple of white dudes. He readily accepted, and the short version of the story is that he was drugged and sold into slavery. Just like that. Of course he tried to plead his innocence, but it was an impossible case to make once you were in the hands of slaveholders. To rub salt into the already horrendous wound, he was in Washington, D.C., a town that was supposedly the bastion of freedom:
"The voices of patriotic representatives boasting of freedom and equality, and the rattling of the poor slave's chains, almost commingled. A slave pen within the very shadow of the Capitol!"
From there he ended up in the bayous of Louisiana, and labored for 12 years as a slave. He was not on a large plantation, but rather a smaller farm with a handful of undeserving prisoners. The real strength of the narrative is in its incredible portrayal of the daily life of a slave: what they ate (not much), how they slept (very little), the process of picking cotton (backbreaking) . . . and of course the daily threat and reality of whippings. At one heartbreaking point, Northup is even forced by his master to brandish the whip himself.
I've not even touched on the incredible story of his rescue and release, which was put into motion by the fortuitous meeting of an abolitionist carpenter who worked on Solomon's behalf at great personal risk.
To sum up, 12 Years a Slave is a great, if at times heartbreaking story. But you know that there's a happy ending! So it's a little better, I guess. Also, it's short and easy-reading. You have no excuse, so get to it.