The pain and abuse endured by Solomon Northrup during his 12 years of slavery, along with the suffering of countless other African slaves who were forcibly taken and sold within the United States, serves as a tragic reminder of the atrocities inflicted by one society upon another group. The film 12 Years A Slave vividly depicts the horrors of American slavery and exposes the shameful nature of the system through the remarkable irony present in Northrup’s story. Despite possessing documentation attesting his status as a free black man, Northrup was stripped of his humanity upon being kidnapped and treated as mere property, akin to an animal.
Solomon’s essence remained unaltered; only a corrupt system proclaimed his disposability unless stated otherwise. A mere document had the power to strip away one’s humanity. Moreover, slave owners and merchants, including Solomon Northrup’s own master, believed they not only possessed the authority to mistreat their slaves unrestrictedly, but also asserted their right to own their fellow human beings. The American government granted them complete freedom to do so.
Dehumanization is a prominent theme in the movie and reflects the prevalence of slavery in the Western world. The black slaves, victims of America’s slave policy, experienced abuse and exploitation that stripped them of their humanity, reducing them to mere property owned by others. Conversely, slave owners, who regarded their fellow humans as possessions to be mistreated at their discretion, became so corrupted by acceptance of slavery that they appeared to lose fundamental human qualities like compassion and rationality.
The slaves’ despair is captured when a fellow slave, after disposing of another’s body in the ocean, tells Solomon Northrup that “he was better off dead”. It is astonishing that these young individuals believed death was preferable to enduring the daily horrors they faced. However, this perspective is understandable considering that slaves were typically born into bondage on plantations and lacked any hope of ever experiencing freedom. Their lives were entirely dedicated to serving the needs of their masters, leaving no room to establish personal goals.
Like animals, many animals are born and seek to survive, but only humans possess the ability to set goals and achieve greater things. Slaves, stripped of the basic human characteristic, were left with only their physical bodies and spirits. However, their bodies were often subject to abuse from their masters, resulting in visible scars on their backs. Maintaining their spirit and dignity proved to be a much more challenging task for slaves. Every aspect of their lives served as a dehumanizing force.
Initially, at the auctions, slaves were compelled to undress and perform dances like monkeys, serving as a means for potential buyers to assess their abilities. Subsequently, slaves were assigned a monetary value, allowing white individuals to easily purchase and subsequently enslave another human, taking them home as property. Additionally, there was no distinction made between men and young individuals, as evidenced by a scene where all slaves walked together, sharing an equal workload, irrespective of being 12 or 25 years old. Post-purchase, masters possessed unrestricted authority to treat their slaves however they pleased, as the slaves were considered their personal possessions.
During a confrontation, a plantation supervisor proclaimed, after an unsuccessful attempt to lynch Solomon, that “Ford (the plantation owner) holds the mortgage, and you have no hold to his life”. It is incredibly ironic that those individuals who were not Solomon’s owners were unable to execute the lynching, while whoever possesses ownership has the freedom to act as they please. The relentless torment aimed at dehumanizing Solomon would undoubtedly crush the spirit of almost any individual. Nevertheless, Solomon made an effort to preserve his own resilience and encourage others to do the same, regardless of the severe punishments he faced for opposing a supervisor.
Additionally, when he observed another female slave in a state of perpetual tears, he advised her that she risked being consumed by sorrow and losing herself to it. Evidently, Northrup made a concerted effort to uphold his sense of self-worth. However, before the thrilling climax of his narrative, a significant incident occurred. Solomon performed on the violin during a dance attended by his owner and their acquaintances. The violin symbolized a semblance of humanity for him, allowing him to transcend the monotonous task of picking cotton and embodying one of the most profound human experiences – the power of music.
Despite the sorrowful background music playing over his song at the ball, Solomon recognized that even in such a human activity, he was still serving his master. This realization led him to smash his violin into thousands of pieces, as he understood that the music he played and everything he felt as a result of it all belonged to his owner. The dramatic act vividly portrays the dehumanization suffered by slaves, including those who attempted to maintain their human dignity but eventually had everything taken away from them.
The masters who abused the slaves to the point of stripping them of their humanity were so cruel that it was difficult for observers to conceive them as human, just as they dehumanized their slaves. This was particularly evident in places further down the Mississippi, such as Northrup’s plantation in Louisiana, where the masters treated their slaves so horrendously that it was impossible to perceive them as human beings. One standout example was the way masters would stand over their workers and mercilessly lash them while whipping, displaying no remorse, much like a jockey standing over his horse. Solomon’s master in Louisiana expressed his perspective on whipping his slaves by stating, “Sin. There is no sin.”
A man exercises complete control over his belongings. The owner does not acknowledge the pain he inflicts on his “property”, portraying him as almost sociopathic. In addition, the same owner singled out a particular slave named Patsy and subjected her to torment that goes against all principles of humanity. He engaged in sexual relations with her, most likely against her consent, and subjected her to brutal whippings. He even once coerced Solomon into whipping her, causing them both to suffer. Other white men demonstrated similar inhumane behavior. During a slave auction, one potential buyer rhetorically questioned a slave: “Are you a slave or a nigger?”.
He displayed such a lack of regard for another person that it became impossible to view him as a human being in return. The excessive brutality most likely did not originate from the owners at birth. Rather, it was ingrained in them by the fact that slavery was authorized and endorsed. With official backing for slavery and a lack of proper regulations, owners were essentially prompted to mistreat their slaves. They acquired no knowledge about the history of slavery or their individual slaves, thereby making it impossible for them to form any connection or empathy towards their slaves. This could be seen as the original uninformed, America-focused principle.
The masters’ conduct and abuse of their slaves were truly dehumanizing, regardless of any justification. Acting in such a terrible way goes against what a proper person would do. It is difficult to comprehend the moral reasoning for slavery in the U.S. Although there may have been significant economic opportunities, a government established “for the people” should prioritize responsibility and discourage slavery instead. This reflects a society that, even today, is sometimes more focused on imagined end goals than on genuine concerns.
The dream of the American South was to create a perfect agrarian society, where individuals’ religion and property would be respected by the government and others. However, this dream only applied to plantation owners, disregarding the rest of the population. While the labor of slaves was crucial for the country’s overall development and failure to utilize their natural resources would have hindered the economy, the methods employed contradicted the original goals of the country.
Despite Thomas Jefferson’s condemnation of slavery in the Missing Clause of the constitution, it continued to exist in the United States for nearly a century. The Southern states saw it as essential for progressing the nation’s development. One possible explanation for this justification was that the approximately 14 million enslaved individuals who played a crucial role in American industry were not recognized as humans but only as slaves.
