CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
At the end of 2014 there were several criminal cases emerged in Indonesia
that related to housekeeper’s oppression. For example, in Medan there was a family
that persecuted their housekeepers. Moreover they killed one of their housekeepers
and thrown her body in Barus Jahe, Karo. In Tanjung Periok, 3 housekeepers were
persecuted by their boss. They should eat stale rice and tempe, got physical and
sexual harassment, and even they did not get their 1 million wages per month
(retrieved from
there was a shocking case about people who were employed as laborer in an iron
wok factory in Tangerang. The workers were promised Rp.700.000 wages per month
and got facility. On the contrary, they should face slavery. They did not get the
promised wage and should work without any pay by their boss. They were kept in
the factory and forced to make iron wok 150-200 per day. Theyworkedfromsix in the
morninguntiltwelve o'clockandgotbreakfastandlunch. Iftheworkerdid notcomply
withwhat was ordered, thentheywould belocked upinastorehousenext door to
thefactory. Iftheycomplained about their misery, they would also getbeaten. There
were about thirtiespeople as the victimsofslaveryandsomeof them wereminors. The
boss would slap and threatened the workers if they tried to escape, they would be
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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
Slavery in America began in the 16th century when the first African slaves
were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 by
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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.
In the 19th century, a movement to abolish slavery in America gained strength
in the northern United States, led by free blacks such as
white supporters such as William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the radical newspaper
The Liberator, a
novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1852). Free blacks and other antislavery northerners
had begun helping fugitive slaves escape from southern plantations to the North via a
loose network of safe houses as early as the 1780s. This practice was known as the
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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
Solomon Northup, a freed African-American man who was kidnapped in
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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.”
Moreover, Twelve Years a Slave is used as the reinforcement of Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.Northup and his editor dedicated the 1854
second edition to Harriet Beecher Stowe, in recognition of her widely successful
antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). Northup’s experience as a slave
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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
There are three objectives of the study based on the statement of the problem
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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.
2. As reference in literature, especially about social issue such as slavery
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3. To give information and add the reader’s knowledge about life and social
