SLAVERY AND INJUSTICE IN AMERICA AS PORTRAYED IN SOLOMON NORTHUP’S TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE
A THESIS
BY:
GREACIA FEBRIANIS SINAGA REG.NO.110705059
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Approved by the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan as thesis of The SarjanaSastra Examination.
Head, Secretary,
Accepted by the Board of Examiners in partial Fulfillment of requirement for the degree of SarjanaSastra from the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatra Utara, Medan.
The examination is held in Department of English Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatra Utara on Tuesday June16, 2015.
Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatra Utara
Dr. H. SyahronLubis, MA NIP.19511013 197603 1 001
Board of Examiners
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I, GREACIA FEBRIANIS SINAGA, DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR OR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.
Signed :
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
NAME : GREACIA FEBRIANIS SINAGA
TITLE OF THESIS : SLAVERY AND INJUSTICE IN AMERICA AS PORTRAYED IN SOLOMON NORTHUP’S TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE
QUALIFICATION : S-1/SARJANA SASTRA
DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH
I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER THE LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to say thank to my God Almighty, Jesus Christ for His mercy, grace, love and blessing so that I can through all of my process in making a thesis from beginning to the end. He gives me strength, provides me the best ways and things that smoothen in making a thesis. This is like a miracle. I do thank to my Savior, Jesus Christ who never leaves me alone and stands by me.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Martha Pardede, M.S. and my co-supervisor, Drs. SiamirMarulafau, M.Hum. for help, support, guide, and give me inspirations, suggestions to accomplish this thesis.
I also would like to say thank you to the Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies, University of Sumatera Utara, Dr. SyahronLubis, M.A., the Head of Department of English, Dr. H. MuhizarMuchtar, M.S., and the secretary of Department of English RahmadsyahRangkuti M.A., Ph.D. and all of the lecturers in Department of English who have teach me from the beginning up to the end of my study.
My deepest gratitude is addressed to my beloved parents, WahidinSinaga and SurawatiPasaribu, my sisters and brothers, KakSanti, Bang Jeffry, Bang Roxy, Kak Eva, and Kak Lydia for their cares, loves, advices, materials, encouragements and supports through prayers so that I could accomplish my thesis at the time, in a good result.
Indri, all of my friends in English Department 2011 who have supported and helped me directly and indirectly in making this thesis from beginning to the end. I am so sorry that I can not write down all of your names here, but, seriously, you guys are so meaningful to me. Thank you so much, guys.
I also would like to thank to my seniors especially Kak Petra, KakRomina, KakDhini, Kak Laura, KakTari for giving me information, inspirations, supports and help in making this thesis.
The last but not the least, I would like to say thank you to Tiberias Choir Medan, KakFransisco (KakPiko), Bang Bismark, KakDebo, David, and all of my church friends that I can not mention you one by one for your sincere supports, encouragement, and prayers so that I can accomplish this thesis very well. Thank you very much, guys. God bless you.
The Writer,
GreaciaFebrianisSinaga
ABSTRAK
Skripsiiniberjudul “SLAVERY AND INJUSTICE IN AMERICA AS PORTRAYED IN SOLOMON NORTHUP’S TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE” yangmenganalisistentangperbudakandanketidakadilan yang dialamioleh orang kulithitam yang terjadi di Amerikapadaabad ke-19. Dalam novel tersebut, Solomon menceritakankisahnyatahidupnyasebagai orang kulithitam yang bebas yang diculik di
Washington DC, dandijualkedalamperbudakanselamaduabelastahun.Melaluipengalamannyasebagaibudak,
diamenunjukkanbetapamengerikanperbudakanitudanketidakadilan yang diterima orang
kulithitamsebagaibudak di Amerika.Olehsebabitu, skripsiinibertujuanuntukmenunjukkanbetapaburuknyaperbudakanbagimanusiakarenahali
tumelanggarhakasasimanusiadanharusdihapuskan di dunia.Metode yang digunakandalampenulisanskripsiiniadalahkualitatifdeskriptif, danteori yang digunakanadalahsosiologisastradanpendekatanhistoris.
ABSTRACT
This thesis entitled “SLAVERY AND INJUSTICE IN AMERICA AS PORTRAYED IN SOLOMON NORTHUP’S TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE” which analyzes about slavery and injustice which is experienced by black people that is happened in America in the 19th century. In the novel, Solomon tells about his true life story as a black freeman who is kidnapped and sold into slavery for twelve years. Through his experience as a slave, he shows that how awful slavery and injustice are which are received by black people as slaves in America. Therefore, this thesis is aimed to show how bad slavery towards human because it breaks human rights and should be abolished from the world. The method that is applied in making this thesis is qualitative descriptive and the theories that are used are literary sociology and historical approach.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION………..v
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION………..vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.………..vii
ABSTRAK………...ix
ABSTRACT……….x
TABLE OF CONTENTS………..xi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION……….1
1.1 Background of the Study ………..1
1.2 Problems of the Study ………..6
1.3 Objective of the Study ………..6
1.4 Scope of the Study ………..7
1.5 Significance of the Study ………..7
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE………..9
2.2 Historical Approach ……….11
2.3 Social Issue ……….12
2.4 Slavery ……….13
2.5 Injustice ……….15
2.6 Slavery in America ………16
2.7 Treatments of Slaves in America ………19
CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH………....22
3.1 Data and Source Data ………23
3.2 Data Collecting Procedure ………23
3.3 Data Selecting Procedure ………23
3.4 Data Analyzing Procedure ………24
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS……….25
4.1 Slavery in America and its Characteristics ………26
4.1.1 The Disintegrated Family ………28
4.1.2 The Fulfillment of Basic Needs ………29
4.1.3 Labor ………36
4.1.5 Treatments of Slaves by Master in America ………41
4.2 Injustice ………49
4.2.1 The White People Double Standard of Value ………50
4.3 Slave’s Respond to Slavery and Injustice………..53
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION………..56
5.1 Conclusions .………..56
5.2 Suggestions ………...57
REFERENCES ………...58
APPENDICES: APPENDIX 1. Author’s Biography
ABSTRAK
Skripsiiniberjudul “SLAVERY AND INJUSTICE IN AMERICA AS PORTRAYED IN SOLOMON NORTHUP’S TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE” yangmenganalisistentangperbudakandanketidakadilan yang dialamioleh orang kulithitam yang terjadi di Amerikapadaabad ke-19. Dalam novel tersebut, Solomon menceritakankisahnyatahidupnyasebagai orang kulithitam yang bebas yang diculik di
Washington DC, dandijualkedalamperbudakanselamaduabelastahun.Melaluipengalamannyasebagaibudak,
diamenunjukkanbetapamengerikanperbudakanitudanketidakadilan yang diterima orang
kulithitamsebagaibudak di Amerika.Olehsebabitu, skripsiinibertujuanuntukmenunjukkanbetapaburuknyaperbudakanbagimanusiakarenahali
tumelanggarhakasasimanusiadanharusdihapuskan di dunia.Metode yang digunakandalampenulisanskripsiiniadalahkualitatifdeskriptif, danteori yang digunakanadalahsosiologisastradanpendekatanhistoris.
ABSTRACT
This thesis entitled “SLAVERY AND INJUSTICE IN AMERICA AS PORTRAYED IN SOLOMON NORTHUP’S TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE” which analyzes about slavery and injustice which is experienced by black people that is happened in America in the 19th century. In the novel, Solomon tells about his true life story as a black freeman who is kidnapped and sold into slavery for twelve years. Through his experience as a slave, he shows that how awful slavery and injustice are which are received by black people as slaves in America. Therefore, this thesis is aimed to show how bad slavery towards human because it breaks human rights and should be abolished from the world. The method that is applied in making this thesis is qualitative descriptive and the theories that are used are literary sociology and historical approach.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
2
9:40 am).
Humans are special creatures that are gifted a free will. They are created to have their own thoughts, freedom, and rights in making a better living. They have same position. But, as the time goes, people develop and cause several differences: some people get higher position and power while the others do not. People are divided into 2 types based on their position and power: high and low, strong and weak. It is a good thing when higher and stronger people protect or support the lower and weak people. On the contrary, it will be bad when the high and strong people suppress the weak one. They control the low and weak people by taking their rights and make them as their underling or slave to fulfill their needs effortlessly. Slavery can be in many forms: helper, maid, and so on that are treated so badly by their boss. The examples above show that how bad slavery towards human rights is. It causes injustice towards people. It cannot be denied that until todayhumansare stilltradedandused asslavesinmanycountries aroundthe world: hiddenslaveryinfactories,on farms, athomeandother placesinthe citiesof the richestand poorest countries inthe world.
Slavery happenedsincemany centuries ago in many countries: Palestine, and the
3
West coast of Africa where the main ports of slave trader existed.The conditions on the slave ships were terrible. The slaves were often "packed" tightly in the ship's hold where they were chained up and unable to move. Many slaves died during the trip due to disease and starvation (retrieved
servants that worked in tobacco, sugar, rice and cotton fields.
In the early 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants who were mostly poorer Europeans. As the effect, slavery spread throughout the American colonies and imported slave demand increased until to the late 18th century. But, most of slaves were treated so badly. As Schneider (2007:78) said that almost always the slave traders and slave owners who received them treated them as savages to be subdued, workers whose power had to be harnessed, and sources of profit—not as human beings. The slaves had been stripped of their status, their names, their families and friends, and their customs and culture.
4
abolitionist feelings in the North (retrieved from 11:05 pm)
Slavery and injustice inspire many people in writing a literary work, especially for those who experience it, because it does not conform to the moral and human rights. Literary work is a good way to portray and criticize the society at the time it happens and also to convey the opinions that can open up the world’s eyes and change the world as Lenvin (1973:63) said that literature is not only the effects of social causes but also the cause of social effects. The literary work itself is divided into three kinds of genre: prose, poetry or drama.
Novel is one of many ways to share the ideas, opinion, or feeling through literary work. It is subgenre of prose. It is often used as a medium to portray a society. As Michel Zeraffa in Burns (1973:35) said that novel derives more closely from social phenomena than do those of other arts…; novels often seem bound up with particular moments in the history of society. That is why novel is often considered as a social documentation, and it contains and relates to the history of society in a certain time. Through novel, the authors share their ideas of what is happened in society and the issue that occur at the time. There are so many social issues that emerge in social life, such as poverty, violence, suicide, sexual abuse, human rights, racial discrimination, slavery and injustice. These issues are shown in Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
Twelve Years a Slave is a slavery narration which is based on true life story of
5
in 1841. This novel was first published in 1853. This novel shows his struggle in the cruel situation for black people in America at the time: slavery, injustice, racial discrimination, and so on more detail and accurate. He also shows that black slaves are treated so mean and have no rights to speak up for freedom. Through this novel, he wants to tell the reader that slavery steals human rights and freedom. This situation is very bad. That is why slavery should be removed from the world.
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup became an instant bestseller, and
exactly 160 years later,this novel was adaptedinto a filmin 2013andwas nominated foran Academy Award. According to pastispresent.org, Northup’s book not only supplied the film’s narrative, it also provided the filmmaker’s motivation and inspiration. The director have revealed in interviews that reading a copy of the physical book Twelve Years a Slave made them determined to make the movie (retrieved McQueen described how he was introduced to Northrup’s memoir by his wife as quoted from Fresh Air Interview, NPR, October 24, 2013:
“[My wife] found this book called 12 Years a Slave, and I read this book, and I was totally stunned. It was like a bolt coming out of the sky; at the same time I was pretty upset with myself that I didn’t know this book… I basically made it my passion to make this book into a film.”
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Tom under the hands of his tyrannical master. In response to the critics who had denounced Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a sentimental, overly exaggerated portrayal of slavery, Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1853 to prove that her novel was a truthful depiction of antebellum slavery. She wrote in A Key, “it is a singular coincidence, that Solomon Northup was carried to a plantation in the Red River county—that same region where the scene of Uncle Tom’s captivity was laid—and his account of this plantation, and the mode of life there, and some incidents which he describes, form a striking parallel to that history.” Frederick Douglass’ Paper described the book upon its release in 1853: “It is a strange
history, its truth is far stranger than fiction.” It is because the fact that most of Northup’s captivity took place in the same Red River region of Louisiana as
Stowe’s novel setting (retrieved from
2015 7:40 pm).
1.2Problem of the Study
There are 3 problems of the study based on the topic and background:
1. How is slavery portrayed in Twelve Years a Slave? 2. How is injustice portrayed in Twelve Years a Slave?
3. What do Solomon and his fellow respond to slavery and injustice?
1.3 Objective of the Study
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1. To portray the characteristic of slavery that people have been through in Twelve Years a Slave.
2. To portray the form injustice that black people have been through in Twelve Years a Slave.
3. To explain the response of Solomon and his fellow towards slavery and injustice.
1.4 Scope of the Study
In doing an analysis, it is necessary to limit the focus that is going to be analyzed in order that the study is not out of context. This study analyzes Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave and the writer focuses only on Solomon and his close fellow’s struggle in facing slavery in their master plantations: how they are treated and worked by their master, mistress overseer, driver, etc
This study also focuses on Solomon and his fellow’s struggle in facing oppression as the result of injustice: how they are treated unjust by their master, mistress, overseer, driver, etc while they do their work as a slave. In this case, it is limited to constitution and religion side which are analyzed.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The analysis of this thesis will give the significance to the readers generally and for the writer especially. The significances are:
1. To help the reader who are interested in analyzing literature, especially in novel.
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9 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Literary Sociology
Literary Sociology is derived from two kinds of knowledge that are related to each other: literature and sociology. Rene Wellek and Austin Warren in their book entitled Theory of Literature (1977) gives explanations about the definition of literature, and its relation to sociology. Wellek (1977:89) said that literature is a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation. It “imitates” “life”; and “life” is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary "imitation." In practice, literature can obviously take the place of many things—of travel or sojourn in foreign lands, of direct experience, vicarious life; and it can be used by the historian as a social document. Much the most common approach to the relations of literature and society is the study of works of literature as social documents, as assumed pictures of social reality. Used as a social document, literature can be made to yield the outlines of social history (Wellek 1977:98-99).
Elizabeth Burns and Tom Burns in their book entitled Sociology of literature and drama: selected readings (1973) give the explanation of sociology of literature
and its relations to literary works such as novel. This is a compilation of several
experts’ journals who explainthe relationshipof literaturetosociologywhichmeansdealingwiththe society. Burns (1973:9) says,
10
sense of the ways in which we live our lives.” Lenvin in Burns (1973:31) says, “Literature is not only the effect of social causes but also the cause of social effects.” Burns (1973:10) said that sociology is a critical activity which its purpose is to achieve an understanding of social behavior and social institutions which is different from that current among the people through whose conduct the institutions exist.
Novel is one of many ways to share the ideas, opinion, or feeling through literary work. Taine in Burns (1973:66) said that the novel as ‘a kind of portable mirror which can be conveyed everywhere, and which is most convenient for reflecting all aspects of nature and life.’ This statement can be acceptable because it is true that novel can be taken anywhere and shared to everyone. It contains and also portrays all aspects of nature and life, such as society in a certain time as Reeve in Wellek (1977:223) says, “The Novel is a picture of real life and manners, and of the time which is written.”
Novel has a close relationship to society and also history. Novels often represent the era or period when they are written. Zeraffa in Burns (1973:35) said that novel derive more closely from social phenomena than do those of other arts…; novels often seem bound up with particular moments in the history of society. He also added that that the novel is directly concerned with the nature of our situation in history, and with the direction in which that situation is to move. The novel’s emergence as an art form affirms, essentially, that there was no society without history, nor history without society. The novel is the first art to represent man explicitly as defined historically and socially (Zeraffa in Burns 1973:38-39).
11
them in writing. Zeraffa in Burns (1977:45) said that the novel has for long had rules and laws which emerged from the history of society itself, since novelists wished to show that society was both cause and consequence of human nature.
Slave narrative is often used to portray the life and struggle of slaves: the reality of slave that they have been through. Rodriguez (2007:394) said that critics define slave narratives as first-person autobiographies written by slaves and ex-slaves that describe their lives in servitude and their efforts to become free. It is served as powerful weapons in the abolition struggle. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in Rodriguez (2007:394) says, “slaves narrative represents the attempts of blacks to write themselves into being”. Because of this, most slave narratives contain a central
scene in which the slave first encounters a “talking book” and ultimately becomes literate.
2.2 Historical Approach
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Generally, historical approach is more relevant in frameworkof traditionalliterary history, literary historywiththe implicationsof theauthors, literary works, andcertain periods, with the object ofindividualliterary works. There areseveralissuesthatbecomethe targetobject ofa historical approach:
1. Changes of language in the literary work as the result of the republication 2. Function and purpose of the literary work at the time it is published. 3. The position of author at the time of writing
4. Literary work as the representation of its era.
2.3 Social Issue
Social issue has various definitions because it is broader than just one aspect that is concerned. Social issue is an undesirable condition conducted by a group of people that affects the society. According to Wikipedia, social issue refers to an issue that influences and is opposed by a considerable number of individuals within a society. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control and local geographical environment. In some cases, a social issue is the source of a conflicting opinion on the grounds of what is perceives as a morally just
or
BagjaWaluya in his book Sosiologi: MenyelamiFenomenaSosial di Masyarakatgives explanations related to social, society, social phenomenon and
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said that there are four factors that cause social issue and lead todeficienciesin the human lifeorsocialgroup:
a. Economic factor, such as poverty and unemployment b. Biological factor, such as contagious disease
c. Psychological factor, such as mental disorder d. Cultural factor, such as juvenile delinquency
There are so many social issues that emerge in social life, such as poverty, violence, suicide, sexual abuse, human rights, racial discrimination, slavery and injustice. Social issues that can be found in this novel are slavery and injustice.
2.4 Slavery
Slavery is one of social issues that occurs in the society life.Slavery is the state of being a slave, a person who is legally owned by another person and forced to work for them. Slaves are the outsiders who are brought forcibly to serve their masters, or in a particular way are removed from their community membership, because they owe something or it is because of doing a criminal or as a prisoner of war.
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There are several ways to acquire slaves. First is war. It is the main source of supply, and wars are frequent and brutal in early civilizations. When a town falls to a hostile army, it is normal to take into slavery those inhabitants who will make useful workers and to kill the rest. Second way is the pirates who offer their captives for sale. Third way is a criminal who is sentenced to slavery. Fourth way is the people who can not pay their debt. It can bring the end of the liberty. Fifth way is the impoverished sell their own children. Sixth way is the children of slaves are
themselves slaves. (Retrieved from
)
Slavery happenedsincemany centuries ago in many countries: and the
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escape, they would be shot and thrown into the sea (retrieved from 9:40 am).
2.5 Injustice
Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The sense of injustice is a universal human feature, though the exact circumstances considered unjust can vary from culture to culture. While even acts of nature can sometimes arouse the sense of injustice, the sense is usually felt in relation to human action such as misuse, abuse, neglect, or malfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a
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Roy Lavon Brooks in his book When Sorry Isn’t Enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice (1999) gives a definition of
injustice-human injustice-based upon a synthesis of the instruments of international law:
A human injustice is the violation or suppression of human rights or fundamental freedoms recognized by international law, including but not limited genocide; slavery; extrajudicial killings; torture and other cruel or degrading treatment; arbitrary detention; rape; the denial of due process of law; forced refugee movements; the deprivation of a means of subsistence; the denial of universal suffrage; and discrimination, distinction, exclusion, or preference based on race, sex, descent, religion, or other identifying factor with the purpose or effect of impairing the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, social, economic, cultural, or any other field of public life. (Brooks, 1999: 7)
2.6 Slavery in America
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In all the English colonies, north and south, slavery got off to a slow start in the 17th century but increased rapidly in the 18th century, as the colonists recognized the need for a large labor force to develop the new continent. They looked first to the Indians and then to Africans, who were already laboring as slaves in vast numbers elsewhere in the New World.
Over time, slavery moved to south. It was because the South planters needed many hands to clear, drain, and cultivate the fertile lands along the coast. With the invention of the cotton gin and the boom in the international demand for southern cotton, planters turned to the Southwest for new, fertile land and to slavery to supply the workers for this labor-intensive crop.
In 18th century, the slavery spread throughout the American colonies because the African slaves were cheaper and more plentiful labor source than indentured servants who were mostly poorer Europeans. But, most of slaves were treated so badly by their master.
William Goodell in the book The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice: Its Distinctive Features Shown by Its Statutes, Judicial Decisions and
Illustrative Facts. It is a key antislavery work centering on legal discourse and
18
According to 2 Brevard’s Digest, 229 ; Prince’s Digest, 446 in South Carolina in Goodell (1853:23) says, “slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed and adjudged in law to be chattels personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever.”
Civil Code, Art.35 in Louisiana in Goodell (1853:23) says, “A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor. He can do anything, but what must
belong to his master.”
Civil Code, Art.173 in Goodell (1853:23) says, “The slave is entirely subject to the will of his master, who may correct and chastise him, though not with unusual
rigor, or so as to maim and mutilate him, or expose him to the danger of loss of life, or to cause his death.”
Statue of June 7, 1806; 1 Martin’s Digest, 612 in Goodell (1853:24) says, “Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall, as such, be subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate.”
The slave codes that have mentioned before show how bad slave status and position are towards society in America. Slave as considered as an subject, a real estate, not a human being. They are treated as a thing that can be possessed and sold
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of him can come from that quarter. “The slave” (says the law) “is entirely subject to the will of his master.” Nothing, therefore, can prevent the master from putting him to any use he pleases.
The Slave Code places slaves upon a level with other live cattle. It never attempts or pretends to protect the slaves. It is known that they are only as mere animals. Their rational and moral natures, not being recognized by the laws, can claim no legal protection. The slave has not equal protection, in some respects, with other animals.
Mr. Samuel Blackwell in Goodell (1983:80) visited many of the sugar plantations in Louisiana, and says:
That the planters generally declared to him that they were obliged so to overwork their slaves, during the sugar-making season, (from eight to ten week,) as to USE THEM in seven or eight years. For, said they, after the process is commenced, it must be pushed without cessation, night and day, and we cannot afford to keep a sufficient number of slaves to do the extra work at the time of sugar-making, as we could not profitably employ them the rest of the year.
2.7 Treatment of Slaves in America.
The treatment of slaves in America varied by time and place, but was generally brutal and degrading. Whipping, execution and sexual abuse of women, including rape, were common.
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was most often meted out in response to disobedience or perceived infractions, but masters or overseers sometimes abused slaves to assert dominance. Slave masters even beat pregnant women, devising ways to do it without harming the baby. Slave masters would dig a hole big enough for the woman's stomach to lay in and proceed with the lashings. In addition, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese in Schneider (2007:90) says, “Mistresses whipped slave women with whom they might have shared beds, whose children they might have delivered or who might have delivered theirs, whose children they might have suckled and who frequently suckled theirs.”
The mistreatment of slaves frequently included rape and the sexual abuse of women. Some slaves died while trying to resist sexual attacks. Others sustained psychological and physical the any race as property. After 1662, whe
regulated by classifying children of slave mothers as slaves regardless of their father's race or status.
Jenny Hill in Schneider (2007:85) explains the bitterness of such treatment when she was separated from her husband and child to be enslaved:
21
Particularly in the Upper South, a population developed of mixed-race damaging to racial purity.
22 CHAPTER III
METHOD OF RESEARCH
In doing this analysis, library research is conducted to collect the data. Library research is an activity in collecting the data by visiting the library, collecting the source data that is related to the object of research, learning and quoting the data from books, documents, and internet as well. In other word, this research does not do a research in a field. Its scope is broader than just a field.
There are 4 characteristics of this research according to Zed (2004:4): 1. The researcher deals directly to the text;
2. Library or reference data is ready-made;
3. Library or reference data generally is a secondary source; 4. Library or reference data is not limited by space and time.
23 3.1 Data and Source of Data
The source data of this research is the Twelve Years a Slave novel written by Solomon Northup. This novel was first published in 1853 and its latest version in 2014 by Collins Classic consists of 278 pages. The 2014 version is used as the source data. The data of this research is words, phrase, sentence which indicates the slavery and injustice in the novel.
3.2 Data Collecting Procedure
The primary source of the data is the novel itself, and the data is the proved sentences in novel, but only sentences that are related to the topic are being used as the data. There are some steps that the writer uses in doing the analysis. Firstly, the writer takes source data from Solomon Northup’s novel Twelve Years a Slave and read the whole novel to get better understanding about it. Secondly, the writer chooses and collects the important information that is related to slavery and injusticefrom the novel. Thirdly, the writer finds out further information about the novel and social issues at the time from other sources such as internet and so forth.
3.3 Data Selecting Procedure
24 3.4 Data Analyzing Procedure
25 CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Every human is born to be a human who has a freedom and does not bondage to other people. In other words, they have their own rights. But, as the time goes by, people develop to be better while the others still in their base position. This causes the difference among them, such as status, position, power and so forth. This condition is impacted toward society. A group of people starts to control the weak group. They consider the weak group as minority, marginal, and even worst, as merely as a property or animals. The weak people are not treated as human. This effect causes social issues. It spreads all over the world with its variations of the issues. Some of them are slavery and injustice. These are portrayed in the novel Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
Twelve Years a Slave is a slave narrative which is based on true story of
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undermined and perverted the principal institutions upon which America was founded.
4.1 Slavery in America and its Characteristic
Slavery is one of social issues that is discussed in this novel. This novel mainly talks about slave life under masters’ control and oppression. Slavery means the state of being a slave, a person who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for them. Slaves are often considered as a property, tool and as equal as animals. They do not have any rights: they belong to masters wholly. The masters can do anything to them: whipping, beating, even raping them. Everything that should be done by the slaves is as the master’s wish.
One of slavery that happens and gives the impact to the world is in America. This is one of the worst histories of America. It is due to its association with the race of a particular nation and human rights – on this case is the black people from Africa. As the result of the slavery in America, black people are often regarded as low class people, uneducated, and treated as if they have no same status and position with the white people. This social issue decreases the degree of a particular groups or nations. In other words, it breaks the human rights: people are equal.
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years in captivity until his eventual escape. Deep South is a region which is well-known for its agriculture: plantation of cotton, sugar-cane and others. Most of Southerners have broad fields and plantations which require a lot of labors to cultivate them. Therefore, the demand of slave – especially from Africa – is increasing, especially for Deep South and the Southwest. There are so many slaves in the Southern states:
Gradually, agriculture in the Upper South faltered as the soil wore out. Slave owners recognized that they could profit by exporting slaves to regions of the country with a growing need for labor—the Deep South and the Southwest. By the 1790s, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware were exporting more slaves than they imported. From 1820 to 1860, the interregional movement of slaves—from North to South and especially to the Southwest—averaged each year some 20,000 slaves, partly through planter migrations but mostly through trading. “For slave children living in the Upper South in 1820, the cumulative chance of being ‘sold South’ by 1860 might have been something like 30 percent. . . . In the exporting states it would have been quite rare [for a slave] to have survived into middle age without being sold locally or interregionally.
(Schneider, 2007: 51-52)
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Slavery in America has its characteristics that are divided into several categories:
4.1.1 The Disintegrated Family
In a slave trade, it is common and sad thing when a family should be separated from the family members: a mother should be separated from her children; a husband should be separated from his wife and goes far away with his master and others. This is caused by the demand of the purchaser that only chooses one of the family members. This situation is happen to one of Solomon’s fellow, Eliza and her children, Randall and Emily. Randall is sold to an old man without his mother and sister. Eliza is sold to another master without her daughter because she is not for sale. Eliza should face an agony for losing her children. As the result, she should face the punishment by her slave trader:
Freeman sternly ordered her to be quiet, but she did not heed him. He caught her by the arm and pulled her rudely, but she only clung the closer to the child. Then, with a volley of great oaths, he struck her such a heartless blow, that she staggered backward, and was like to fall. Oh! How piteously then did she beseech and beg and pray that they might not be separated. Why could they not be purchased together! Why not let her have one of her dear children! “Mercy, mercy, master!” she cried, falling on her knees. “ Please, master, buy Emily. I can never work any if she is taken from me: I will die.”
(Northup, 2014:54)
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There is no law that against family separation of the slaves. This is clear as Goodell (1853: 114) says “in the slaveholding States, except in Louisiana, no law exists to prevent the violent separation of parents from their children, or even from each other.” So, it is no doubt that the master can force to separate the family and even using violent action towards his slave.
4.1.2 The Fulfillment of Basic Needs
According to Schneider (2007: 80), “how well or badly the slaves lived varied with the wealth or poverty of their owner, his generosity or miserliness, and his understanding of his own economic interests.” Living as slaves has so many sufferings: they provided with a lack of facilities, and needs.
a. Shelter
As the slaves, they are provided with shelters to live, to keep them before they are brought to another place, or to be auctioned. There are two shelters which are mentioned in this novel: slave pen and cabin.
Slave pen is not a place like an ordinary home or a nice place to live or stay. It is storage of slaves before they are sold to their masters. It is quite clear in the quotation below:
The slave jails served a triple function—as places to confine and punish slaves who had angered their masters, as temporary stopping places for masters traveling with their slaves, and as holding pens for slaves waiting to be sold. Slaves held there for sale were better fed than the others, so as to fatten them in order to raise their purchase prices.
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Solomon describes the place where he is confined as a place with poor light. Even he can observe the room after the door is opened. It can be seen in this quotation:
The light admitted through the open door enabled me to observe the room in which I was confined. It was about twelve feet square – the walls of solid masonry. The floor was of heavy plank. There was one small window, crossed with great iron bars, with an outside shutter, securely fastened.
(Northup, 2014:19)
The quotation above shows how isolated Solomon is from outside world. He does not know anything about outside of their room but the darkness. In addition, the room in which he is confined consists of a wooden bench and neither bed, nor blanket, nor anything whatever .While underneath the roof, there is a crazy loft all around, where slaves, if so dispose, may sleep at night, or in inclement weather seek shelter from the storm. These conditions show how awfully the slaves are treated.
It was like a farmer’s barnyard in most respects, save it was so constructed that the outside world could never see human cattle that were herded here.
(Northup, 2014:19)
The awful condition of place where the slaves live in is not only found in the slave pen. It is also found in the cabin where the slaves live with the master after they are purchased. It is portrayed in the quotation below:
The cabin is constructed of logs, without floor or window. The latter is altogether unnecessary, the crevices between the logs admitting sufficient light. In stormy weather the rain drives through them, rendering it comfortless and extremely disagreeable. The rude door hangs on great wooden hinges. In one end is constructed an awkward fireplace.
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In addition, the slaves sleep in uncertain place. Solomon conveys his experience as a slave how they sleep in the cabin as quoted below:
Depositing our blankets in one of the small buildings in the yard, and having been called up and fed, we were allowed to saunter about the enclosure until night, when we wrapped our blankets round us and laid down under the shed, or in the loft, or in the open yard, just as each one preferred.
(Northup, 2014: 46)
This quotation shows the poor condition to sleep for slaves. They sleep without any pedestal. They just sleep right upon the ground. In addition, Solomon in Chapter 12 gives explanation about his condition of living as quoted below:
The softest couches in the world are not found in the log mansion of the slave. The one whereon I reclined year after year, was a plank twelve inches wide and ten feet long. My pillow was a stick of wood. The bedding was a coarse blanket, and not a rag or shred beside. Moss might be used, were it not that it directly breeds a swarm of fleas.
(Northup, 2014: 118)
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window and so on. There is a level or position separation among them. The black slaves are treated as cattle.
b. Clothes
Slaves are provided with clothes for their daily activities. Their clothes are simple clothes as quoted in the quotation below:
We were then furnished with a new suit each, cheap, but clean. The men had hat, coat, shirt, pants, and shoes; the women frocks of calico, and handkerchiefs to bind about their heads.
(Northup, 2014: 48)
All of their old clothes are thrown away. All of their past glorious has been thrown away with their clothes and then they wear the slaves clothes to emphasize their status at the time as a slave that are ready to be sold and purchased by their master.
On their journey from one state to another, the slaves are only given a blanket for their belongings. This blanket is used just for sake to keep they warm on their journey, on winter and when they sleep in the cabin. This blanket is not as soft and fluffy as they imagine. It is used upon animals Solomon states in the quotation below:
Finally we were each provided with blankets, such as are used upon horses – the only bedding I was allowed to have for twelve years afterwards.
(Northup, 2014: 25)
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He is furnished with a blanket before he reaches there, and wrapping that around him, he can either stand up, or lie down upon the ground, or on a board, if his master has no use for it.
(Northup, 2014:136)
In the winter when they are with their master, the slaves are provided with winter garments as quoted below:
One day the mistress was urging Ford to procure a loom, in order that Sally might commence weaving cloth for the winter garments of the slaves.
(Northup, 2014: 67)
From the quotation above, it is clear that the mistress is intended to make the winter garments for slaves so that they are not getting cold of winter. Goodell (1853: 153) also gives the similar statement as Northup’s in the quotation below:
The slave who shall not have, on the property of his owner, a lot of ground to cultivate on his own account, shall be entitled to receive from said owner one linen shirt and pantaloons for the summer, and a linen shirt and woolen greatcoat and pantaloons for the winter.
c. Foods
Slaves are fed twice a day, at ten and five o’clock – always receiving the same kind and quantity of fare, and in the same manner. They always receive corn bread or hoecake and bacon for their breakfast or dinner:
I retired to the cabin extremely tired, and having cooked a supper of bacon and corn cake.
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All that is allowed them is corn and bacon, which is given out the corn crib and smoke-house every Sunday morning.
(Northup, 2014: 116-117)
During the journey we were fed twice a day, boiling our corn-cake at the fires in the same manner as in out huts.
(Northup, 2014: 134)
These quotations show that whenever and wherever they are, they always get the same manner and foods for them to eat. They should cook their bacon and corn cake not only in the cabin, but also in the steamboat and on their journey notwithstanding they are extremely tired.
Not only the lack of foods, they are also lack of eating utensils. Most of them do not have any complete eating utensil such as knife and fork. This is shown in the quotation below:
The use of plates was dispensed with, and their sable fingers took the place of knives and forks.
(Northup, 2014: 39)
The quotation above shows that the slaves do not use any plate, knife and fork to eat their foods. They eat by using their bare hand and without any plate to place their bacon and corn cake.
The majority of slaves have no knife, much less a fork. They cut their bacon with the axe at the wood-pile.
(Northup, 2014: 117)
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An axe is improper to use to cut foods. It shows that the slaves are humiliated. The master seems do not care too much about it.
When a slave, purchased, or kidnapped in the North, is transported to a cabin on Bayou Beouf, he is furnished with neither knife, nor fork nor dish, nor kettle, nor any other thin in the shape of crockery, or furniture of any nature or description.
(Northup, 2014:135)
The quotation above shows the condition of slave who is transported from North to south without equipped with anything to support his life. They just bring themselves. That is why they eat by their own bare hands. The masters do not provide them with such equipment. Moreover, if the slaves ask for it, they only receive bad treatment for its respond as quoted below:
To ask the master for a knife, or skillet, or any small convenience of the kind, would be answered with a kick, or laughed at as a joke.
(Northup, 2014: 136)
This shows that slaves have no any rights to ask something to their masters even for a small thing. Whatever is expressed by the slaves is regarded as a joke by the masters.
Schneider gives the same point as Solomon describe. He describes the condition of slaves living in the large plantation as in Louisiana: what, when and how they do eat everyday as quoted below:
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cook prepared two of their daily meals. The slaves ate where they could, near their work, from troughs or gourds, with spoons, shells, or their bare hands. Slave wives and mothers, after a day’s hard labor in the fields, might cook their families’ evening meal in their cabins: “a bit of bacon fried, often with eggs, corn-bread baked in the spider [frying pan] after the bacon, to absorb the fat, and perhaps some sweet potatoes roasted in the ashes.” Diets consisting mainly of rice, fatback, cornmeal, and salt pork rendered slaves vulnerable to blindness, sore eyes, skin irritations, rickets, toothaches, pellagra, beriberi, and scurvy.
(Schneider, 2007: 80)
4.1.3 Labor
The slave should face so many difficulties on work in plantations. For example in the hoeing season from April until July, the slaves should receive whips from the overseer if they do not do the task properly as quoted below:
During all these hoeings the overseer or driver follows the slaves on horseback with a whip, such as has been described. The fastest hoer takes the lead row. He is usually about a rod in advance of his companions. If one of them passes him, he is whipped. If one falls behind or is a moment idle, he is whipped. In fact, the lash is flying from morning until night, the whole day long.
(Northup, 2014: 114)
Solomon describes the condition of slaves in which they even do not have time to take a little rest to relinquish their exhausted. They should be overworking and forcing themselves unless they are whipped. No one can avoid this punishment.
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At this time each slave is presented with a sack. A strap is fastened to it, which goes over the neck, holding the mouth of the sack breast high, while the bottom reaches nearly to the ground. Each one is also presented with a large basket that will hold about two barrels. This is to put the cotton in when the sack is filled. The baskets are carried to the field and placed at the beginning of the rows. When a new hand, one accustomed to the business, is sent for the first time into a field, he is whipped up smartly, and made for that day to pick as fast as he can possibly. At night it is weighed, so that his capability in cotton picking is known. He must bring the same weigh each night following. If it falls short, it considered evidence that he has been laggard, and a greater or less number of lashes is the penalty.
(Northup, 2014: 114)
This quotation shows that the new comer should face the whip first to accelerate their work, so that they can fulfill the amount for a day in picking cotton. In addition, they can get additional whips if they can not get a large or normal amount of the cotton as quoted below:
An ordinary day’s work is two hundred pounds. A slave who is accustomed to picking, is punished, if he or she brings in a less quantity than that.
(Northup, 2014: 114)
The number of lashes is graduated according to the nature of the case. Twenty-five are deemed a mere brush, inflicted, for instance, when a dry leaf or piece of boll is found in the cotton, or when a branch is broken in the field; fifty is the ordinary penalty following all delinquencies of the next higher grade; one hundred is called severe; it is the punishment inflicted for the serious offence of standing idle in the field; from one hundred and fifty to two hundred is bestowed upon him who quarrels with his cabin-mates, and five hundred, well laid on, besides the mangling of the dogs, perhaps, is certain to consign the poor, unpitied runaway to weeks of pain and agony.
(Northup, 2014: 124)
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punishment that they would receive from their driver. This is portrayed in the quotation below:
The hand are required to be in the cotton field as soon as it is light in the morning, and, with the exception of ten of fifteen minutes, which is given them at noon to swallow their allowances of cold bacon, they are not permitted to be a moment idle until it is too dark to see, and, when the moon is full, they oftentimes labors till the middle of the night. They do not dare to stop even at dinner time, nor return to the quarters, however late it be, until the order to halt is given by the driver.
(Northup, 2014:116)
The slaves’ fear continues to the cotton-weighting after the colleting is done. They should bring their cotton to the gin-house. This is a place where their fate of all-day-work and effort are decided. The quotation below shows their anxiety and fear when they are headed to gin-house:
No matter how fatigued and weary he may be – no matter how much he longs for sleep and rest – a slave never approaches the gin-house with his basket of cotton but with fear. If it falls short in weight – if he has not performed the full task appointed him, he knows that he must suffer. And if he has exceeded it by ten or twenty pounds, in all probability his master will measure the next day’s task accordingly. So, whether he has too little or too much, his approach to the gin-house is always with fear and trembling. Most frequently they have too little, and therefore it is they are not anxious to leave the field. After weighing, follow the whippings; and then the baskets are carried to the cotton house, and their content stored away like hay, all hands being sent in to tramp it down.
(Northup, 2014: 116)
Solomon gives the description of his experience in collecting cotton and his punishment as quotes below:
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was rarely that a day passed by without one or more whippings. This occurred at the time the cotton was weighed. The delinquent, whose weight had fallen short, was taken out stripped, made to lie upon the ground, face downwards, when he received a punishment proportioned to his offence. It is the literal, unvarnished truth, that the crack of the lash, and the shrieking of the slaves, can be heard from dark till bed time, on Epps’ plantation, any day almost during the entire period of the cotton-picking season.
(Northup, 2014: 124)
This quotation shows that when the slaves bring too little or too much of cotton, they still feel the fear of doing something bad. Their fear continues until their rest time in the midnight. It causes them to decide sleep for a little time and full of awareness as quoted below:
The same fear of punishment with which they approach the gin-house, posseses them again on lying down to get a snatch of rest. It is the fear of oversleeping in the morning. Such an offence would certainly be attended with not less than twenty lashes. With a prayer that he may be on his feet and wide awake at the first sound of the horn, he sinks to his slumbers nightly.
(Northup 2014: 118)
Through the quotation above, it is said that slave who is late to go to the field or oversleep should be punished by twenty lashes. In other words, working as a slave should face the horror of being punished by whiplash. They can not avoid it whatever they do.
The slave should face unpredictable emotions or anger of master or overseer in their work. They do not do anything wrong but they are accused for doing something wrong in master or overseer’s point of view as quoted below:
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“Yes, master, and so I did; and overseer said he would get another size for you, if you wanted them, when he came back from the field.”
Tibeats walked to the keg, looked a moment at the contents, then kicked it violently. Coming towards me in a great passion, he exclaimed,
“G—d d—n you! I though you knowedsomething.”
“I made answer: “I tried to do as you told me, master. I didn’t mean anything wrong. Overseer said –“ But he interrupted me with such a flood of curses that I was unable to finish the sentence. At length he ran towards the house, and going to the piazza, took down one of the overseer’s whips.”
(Northup, 2014: 72)
4.1.4 Slave Activity
Living as a slave everyday is like a never ending struggle. They have to travel from one state to another state until they are sold to the purchaser as their right masters. Schneider (2007: 56) said that on the journey itself most of the slaves walk the weary miles, only the toddlers riding in the wagons. They walked day after day, in good weather or bad, cold or heat. Along their journey, they should be handcuffed. The steamboat is used as their transportation to other states which are too far by walk. This is shown in several chapters in Twelve Years a Slave such as in the chapter 5 and 7. The journey is ended with the slave jail, the slave auction or salesroom, and an unknown future with a new master.
In the master’s dominance, the slaves should prepare themselves to face master’s madness, overworking, lashes, exhausted, and so on. This daily life is portrayed in the quotation below:
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again. It is an offence invariably followed by a flogging, to be found at the quarters after daybreak. Then the fears and labors of another day begin; and until its close there is no such thing as rest. He fears he will be caught lagging through the day; he fears to approach the gin-house with his basketload of cotton at night; he fears, when he lies down, that he will oversleep himself in the morning. Such is a true, faithful, unexaggerated picture and description of the slave’s daily life, during the time of cotton picking, on the shores of Bayou Boeuf.
(Northup, 2014: 118)
4.1.5 Treatments of Slaves by Master in America
There are so many treatments, bad and good treatments, which the slaves should face and receive. They may not tell the truth of their true identity or they will get punishment from their master. This condition is ever happened to Solomon. He ever tries to tell the truth that he is a free man. As the effect, he should be beaten by his kidnapper. He is warned not to tell the truth or he will be killed. It is portrayed in the quotations below:
He answered that I was his slave – that he had brought me, and that he was about to send me to New-Orleans. I asserted, aloud and boldly, that I was a free man – a resident of Saratoga, where I had a wife and children, who were also free, and that my name was Northup……..He denied that I was free, and with an emphatic oath, declared that I came from Georgia……he called me a black liar, a runaway from Georgia.
(Northup, 2014: 20)
With the paddle, Burch commenced beating me. Blow after blow was inflicted upon my naked body. When his unrelenting arm grew tired, he stopped and asked if I still insisted I was a free man. I did insist upon it, and then the blows were renewed, faster and more energetically, if possible, than before.
(Northup, 2014: 21)
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in comparison with what would follow. He swore that he would either conquer or kill me.
(Northup, 2014: 22)
The slaves not only have no freedom but also no rights to educate themselves: their master does not allow them to learn how to write and read. Moreover, they must be punished if the master finds out that they can read and write. It is portrayed in the quotation below:
Soon after he purchased me, Epps asked me if I could write and read, and on being informed that I had received some instruction in those branches of education, he assure me, with emphasis, if he ever caught me with a book, or with pen and ink, he would give me a hundred lashes. He said he wanted me to understand that he bought “niggers” to work and not to educated.
(Northup, 2014: 162)
Besides of daily routine, they should face anger without any cause by the master. Solomon states that the slaves in the slave pen are treated like inhuman as quoted below:
The very amiable, pious-hearted Mr. Theophilus Freeman, partner or consignee of James H.Burch, and keeper of the slave pen in New Orleans, was out among his animals early in the morning. With an occasional kick of the older men and women, and many a sharp crack of the whip about the ears of the younger slaves, it was not long before they were all astir, and wide awake.
(Northup, 2014:48)
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human: degradation of human morals and value through slavery. This is what slaves get from their wicked master. They can not choose the desired master.
Not only like animals, slaves is also considered and traded as properties. It means that slaves are traded as if they are merchandise. It is portrayed in the quotation below:
Mr. Theophilus Freeman bustled about in a very industrious manner, getting his property ready for the sales-room, intending, no doubt, to that day a rousting business.
(Northup, 2014:48)
Solomonadopts Freeman’s inhumane vocabulary as a means of deriding the white man’s abusiveness, calling the slaves “his animals” and “property.” As animals and properties, slaves are prepared to be sold. They are required to wash thoroughly, and those with beards have to shave. They are furnished with a new suit each, cheap, but clean. Then they are trained before the admission of customers. After that they are sent to sales room in the slave pen. The slave pen is used as a place to trade the slaves, as quoted in this part:
There were two small houses standing at opposite corners within the yard. These houses are usually found within slave yards, being used as rooms for the examination of human chattels by purchasers before concluding a bargain. Unsoundness in a slave, as well as in a horse, detracts materially from his value.
(Northup, 2014: 32)
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In the Chapter 12 and 13 when Solomon and his fellow are purchased for Epps, they should do and receive whatever he does for them. They have to fulfill the master’s needs in his everyday life both in the field and outside the field such as entertaining him in many ways: by music, dancing and even worst, raping. This is portrayed in the quotations below:
When in “his cups”, Master Epps was a roistering, blustering, noisy fellow, whose chief delight was in dancing with his “niggers”, or lashing them about the yard with his long whip, just for the pleasure of hearing them screech and scream, as the great welts were planted on their backs. When sober, he was silent, reserved and cunning, not beating us indiscriminately, as in his drunken moments, but sending the end of his rawhide to some tender spot of a lagging slave, with a sly dexterity peculiar to himself.
(Northup, 2014:112)
All of us would be assembled in the large room of the great house, whenever Epps came home in one of his dancing moods. No matter how worn out and tired we were, there must be a general dance. When properly stationed on the floor, I would strike up a tune, “Dance, you d—d niggers, dance,” Epps would shout. Then there must be no halting or delay, no slow or languid movements; all must be brisk, and lively, and alert……… Usually his whip was in his hand, ready to fall about the ears of the presumptuous thrall, who dared to rest a moment, or even stop to catch his breath.
(Northup, 2014: 126)
Female slaves are often whipped without any cause by the master just to please the mistress. It is portrayed in the quotation below:
45 (Northup, 2014: 139)
The quotation above shows how cruel Master Epps toward his slaves is. He gives no mercy to them and does not give any idle to his slave but to fulfill his needs and pleasure. Their cries are an entertainment for him as mentioned above.
The slaves should hold back their sufferings as slaves. They can not escape from the plantation. It is because there is a patrol that patrols every night to catch the escape slaves and punish them. Wherever they go, they should have a pass. It is well described in the quotation below:
Not provided with a pass, any white man would be at liberty to arrest me, and place me in prison until such time as my master should “prove property, pay charges, and take me away.
(Northup, 2014: 96)
A slave caught off his master’s plantation without a pass, may be seized and whipped by any white man whom he meets.
(Northup, 2014: 108)
By having a pass, the slave can go to another state without any suffering, moreover they are provided on their journey. It is portray in the quotation below:
……nevertheless, with his pass in his hand, a slave need never suffer from hunger or from thirst. It is only necessary to present it to the master or overseer of a plantation, and state his wants, when he will be sent round to the kitchen and provided with food or shelter, as the case may require. The traveler stops at any house and calls for a meal with as much freedom as if it was a public tavern. (Northup, 2014:109)
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How it is in other dark places of slavery, I do not know, but on Bayou Boeuf there is an organization of patrollers, as they are styled, whose business it is to seize and whip any slave they may find wandering from the plantation. They ride on horseback, headed by a captain, armed and accompanied by dogs. They have the right, either by law, or by general consent, to inflict discretionary chastisement upon black man caught beyond the boundaries of his master’s estate without pass, and even to shoot him, if he attempts to escape.
(Northup, 2014:167)
Escaping from plantation is ever done by a slave named Wiley. He is Aunt Phebe’s husband. Though generally quiet and obedient, he has a limit. After being unfairly beaten for a minor offense, the longing for freedom prompts him to escape, for a time, from Epps’ plantation. Sadly, Wiley’s freedom is short-lived, and he is punished cruelly:
Paying the jail fee, and writing him a pass, underneath which was a note to Epps, requesting him not to whip him on his return, Wiley was sent back to Bayou Boeuf. It was the hope that hung upon this request, and which Roberts assured him would be respected by his master, that sustained him as he approached the house. The request, however, as may be readily supposed, was entirely disregarded. After being kept in suspense three days, Wiley was stripped, and compelled to endure one of those inhuman floggings to which the poor slave us so often subjected.
(Northup, 2014: 170)
Escape is one way to release the slaves from overworking and exhausted. Some of them are willing to escape one or two days just to take a rest, although they know what punishment that should they face later on:
Notwithstanding the certainty of being captured, the wood and swamps are, nevertheless, continually filled with runaways. Many of them, when sick, or so worn out as to be unable to perform their task, escape into swamps, willing to suffer the punishment inflicted for such offences, in order to obtain a day or two of rest.
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Not all of the masters are cruel as Master Epps, there are kind masters who treated their slaves so well by supporting their needs, give them a reward as an appreciation of their work, and others. There are two kind masters who are mentioned in the novel. They are William Ford and Miss Mary McCoy. William Ford is portrayed as a kind Christian man as quoted below:
…..in my opinon, there never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford. The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery. He never doubted the moral right of one man holding another in subjection….. Nevertheless, he was a model master, walking uprightly, according to the light of his understanding, and fortunate was the slave who came to his possession. Were all men such as he, Slavery would be deprived of more than half its bitterness.
(Northup, 2014: 58)
The statement above has the proof that William Ford and also his wife are kind people. In the Chapter 7is shown that Ford and his wife takes care and treats Solomon and his fellow nicely as quoted below:
Before leaving, Mistress Ford called me into the store-room, and handed me, as it is there termed, a tin bucket of molasses for Harry and myself.
(Northup, 2014: 62)
Eliza was still ringing her hands and deploring the loss of her children. Ford tries as much as possible to console her – told her she need not work very hard; that she might remain with Rose, and assist the madam in the house affairs.
(Northup, 2014: 62)
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rest to recover his health and even allows Solomon to sleep in his house as quoted below:
…….suddenly Chapin presented himself at the cabin door and called me. “Platt.” Said he, “you will sleep on the floor in the great house tonight; bring your blanket with you.
(Northup, 2014: 63)
Platt is Solomon’s slave name given by Mr. Theophilus Freeman while Chapin is Solomon’s overseer in Fords’ plantation. Chapin does anything based on Ford’s order. He is not as cruel as Tibeats. The quotation above shows the kindness of Ford; he allows his black slave – which has different status and complexion – to sleep in his great house. It is unusual in the ordinary master and slave relation but he shows his humanity among others.
In the Chapter 20, Solomon mentions a young Mistress named Mary McCoy. Solomon describes her as a kind, loving Mistress that is loved by her slave as quoted below:
This estate is now owned by Miss Mary McCoy, a lovely girl, some twenty years of age. She is the beauty and the glory of Bayou Boeuf. She owns about a hundred working hands, besides a great many house servants, yard boys, and young children………. She is beloved by all her slaves, and good reason indeed have they to be thankful that they have fallen into such gentle hands. Nowhere on the bayou are there such feast, such merrymaking, as at young Madam McCoy’s. Thither, more than to any other place, do the old and young for miles around love to repair in the time of the Christmas holidays; for nowhere else can they find such delicious repasts; nowhere else can they so pleasantly. No one is so well beloved – no one fills so large a space in the hearts of a thousand slaves, as young Madam McCoy, th
