Slave by Soloman Northup Slavery

¶ … Slave by Soloman Northup [...] slavery from Northup's perspective compare with the perspective of two other former slaves. Northup's perspective is unique because he was a free man who was kidnapped and forced into slavery as an adult.

Slavery looks like a harsh environment and it can be violent and cruel according to Northup's accounts. His first master, Mr. Ford, is kind to his slaves, and does not punish them with violence. Northup writes, "It is a fact I have more than once observed, that those who treated their slaves most leniently, were rewarded by the greatest amount of labor. I know it from my own experience" (Northup 98). However, his second master is cruel and vindictive, and he fears for his life after he threatens him not to whip him for a supposed mistake. He writes, "I beheld Tibeats, accompanied by two horsemen, coming down the bayou. They rode into the yard, jumped from their horses, and approached me with large whips, one of them also carrying a coil of rope" (Northup 113). His life is spared, and eventually this cruel owner sells him to a cotton planter, where he works even harder than he has for his other masters. Life is difficult for slaves because they work constantly, they often are torn apart from their family and friends, and they can be punished for everything.

He talks of how heartbreaking it is to see families torn apart. He writes, "But it was of no avail; the man could not afford it. The bargain was agreed upon, and Randall must go alone. Then Eliza ran to him; embraced him passionately; kissed him again and again; told him to remember her - all the while her tears falling in the boy's face like rain" (Northup 81-82). It is hard to read about these everyday cruelties, and know that they happened so often, and it is hard to read about his experiences, especially knowing he is a married man and his family has no idea what happened to him.

Some of his masters were kind and understanding, while others were cruel and vindictive. Some treated their slaves like animals, while others gave them decent food and living quarters. He and his fellow slaves work from dawn to dusk and beyond. He writes, "This done, the labor of the day is not yet ended, by any means. Each one must then attend to his respective chores. One feeds the mules, another the swine -- another cuts the wood, and so forth; besides, the packing is all done by candle light" (Northup 168). He says of the master who owned him for ten years, "Yet to speak truthfully of Edwin Epps would be to say -- he is a man in whose heart the quality of kindness or of justice is not found" (Northup 183). He describes other owners in the area as "brutes," and describes how they consistently beat and whip their slaves. Clearly, it is a terrible life.

Many of the slaves he knows are young and full of energy, but many of the older ones are weak and feeble. On plantations with kind masters, they are treated well, but in other locations, many of them suffer because of their age and debility. He says, "When a slave, purchased, or kidnapped in the North, is transported to a cabin on Bayou Boeuf he is furnished with neither knife, nor fork, nor dish, nor kettle, nor any other thing in the shape of crockery, or furniture of any nature or description" (Northup 194-195). They have to earn money for these things, and the only day they can earn money is on Saturday. He and his fellow slaves have to hire themselves out to earn enough for even the most basic supplies, which shows how hard their lives are and how tenacious they are.

The women are hard workers who are often abused. He writes of one woman he works with, "She had a genial and pleasant temper, and was faithful and obedient. Naturally, she was a joyous creature, a laughing, light-hearted girl, rejoicing in the mere sense of existence. Yet Patsey wept oftener, and suffered more, than any of her companions" (Northup 188-189). The women are especially vulnerable because their children can be sent away from them, they can be the brunt of a cruel master's sexual encounters, and they often have to serve the master's family, which can make them targets of abuse.

Most of the southern women in the book are portrayed as kinder than their husbands. He writes of the wife of Mr. Epp "She had been well educated at some institution this side the Mississippi; was beautiful, accomplished, and usually good-humored. She was kind to all of us but Patsey -- frequently, in the absence of her husband, sending out to us some little dainty from her own table" (Northup 198-199). They are sometimes jealous of the slave women, as Mrs. Epp is, but for the most part, they are the gentler part of the slave experience, and they are not as cruel or vindictive as their husbands are.

Nat Turner's "Confessions" is the writing of a learned man who has a vision early in life and becomes devoted to the idea that he is supposed to lead an insurrection against the whites to gain his freedom. He follows that idea throughout his life. Northup does not lead an insurrection because he only wants to escape and return to his family, which is the thing that motivates him. Leading an insurrection could lead to his capture and death, and he does not want that.

Northup's account of his time as a slave is similar to Turner's, because they both run away, they both work for hard masters, and they both strongly disagree with slavery and all it stands for. Turner takes his revenge in violence against whites, while Northup takes his revenge when the documents arrive that free him and allow him to return to his family.

Hammond's "Letter" would probably anger Soloman Northup, because Hammond actually advocates the practice of slavery and defends it. He says, "It is impossible, therefore, to suppose that Slavery is contrary to the will of God" (Hammond). Since Hammond never experienced slavery, that assessment would probably anger Northup, and I am sure he would have some retort for him that included his experiences as a slave. Defending slavery seems like the utmost form of cruelty, and it would certainly anger and sadden someone like Northup.

Northup chronicles the daily life and drudgery of the slaves, and shows how they suffered. Helper's critiques of slavery are more balanced and well thought out because of the situation in the South. He believes that slavery should end because it is a practical matter, and the South is sending far too many of its resources north when they should be developing their own. That is one of the things that helped them lose the Civil War, they did not have enough goods to serve their needs, and they had to import them, so he was right. If they would have abolished slavery and built up their industry, things might have ended differently.