Before this year’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Solomon Northup’s memoirs, Twelve Years a Slave wasn’t a huge work in the public consciousness. Sure, those with a vested interest in African-American history were aware of Northup’s story, but it wasn’t the account of slavery on everybody’s lips until a faithful and devastating adaptation from Steve McQueen. Luckily, Twelve Years a Slave is now in the spotlight as one of the most important, affecting, and accurate accounts of the darkest part of America’s history.
The accuracy of Twelve Years a Slave is unparalleled. Being an educated man, and having previously experienced freedom, Northup has both the intellectual ability (as he notes, many of the slaves were not able to read and write) and the context and perspective to point out his unjust treatment, and condemn his captors. But even then, Northup makes the distinction that, like the slaves, not all slave owners were the same. There are different shades of morality amongst these men and women: William Ford is a kind man who taught his slaves about religion and treated them with respect and dignity, only owning slaves himself because it is all he has known. Northup is careful never to see Master Ford perceived as a bad person but a decent man accepting the culture he lives in. Meanwhile, Northup’s final master, Edwin Epps, is revealed in his full, unbridled cruelty: from his violent temper to his uncontrollable drinking and his lust for the poor slave Patsey.
The film Twelve Years a Slave is a violent, disturbing depiction of the American South. Perhaps unbelievably, the book is even more harrowing, especially with regards to the whipping of Patsey. Epps’ treatment of Patsey in this moment, spurred on by the jealousy of his wife, is simply barbaric, and while necessary to read, is enough to turn the stomach. There are further moments of violence and cruelty experienced by Northup and the other slaves that are omitted from the adaptation: Northup is threatened with axes, with having his throat slit, is chased by wild, bloodthirsty hounds and much, much more. It seems unbelievable that a man can do this to another human being, but it did happen to Solomon Northup, and perhaps most chilling of all, Northup includes his captors’ justifications for his answers.
We may condemn these actions of the past, and feel disgusted with the slave owners as we read Northup’s book, but as Steve McQueen noted during the promotion of the film, slavery still exists in the world today, and even in the UK and USA. If nothing else, Twelve Years a Slave is a book that must be read to educate people that slavery is a beast that still needs defeating.