"12 Years A Slave" Book Review: Memoirs Of Being Enslaved

The book 12 years a Slave is an 1853 memoir written by Solomon Northup. The book is a primary source which means the author lived through it all. Solomon was a free, black man until he was being sold as a slave and wrote this story about his life. “My object is, to give a candid and truthful statement of facts: to repeat the story of my life, without exaggeration, leaving it for others to determine, whether even the pages of fiction present a picture of more cruel wrong or a severer bondage.” His purpose in writing his story is to present the actuality of his 12 years of being a slave and also to give the slaves hope of escaping slavery one day. He wants his purpose to be seen as a call to action to promote abolitionists against slavery in the south. The expected readers at that time were the people in the north, slaves, and the public. “The sufferings I can compare to nothing else than the burning agonies of hell!” The main idea of the book is that slavery is unjust because Northup frequently repeats multiple times about the pain he and the other slaves endured. Northup also expresses the mental suffering he experienced while being a slave. Solomon also creates a factual tone because it was his story. The mood seems to be hopeless because of the depressing setting in most of the book. 

Solomon Northup was born in July 1808, in New York, he began his life as a free, African American. He had a family of his own, functioned as a farmer, and also a violinist. In 1841, he was taken by men in Washington and he became enslaved for 12 years of his life, he was forced to live through unspeakable pain. But finally, in 1853, he was rescued with the assistance of friends and others. Solomon creates credibility through his factual background as he was a slave for 12 years. It is also created through his structure of details throughout the narrative. Northup uses many rhetorical appeals in the story to sway the audience against slavery. For example, in the quote, “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.” he creates an emotional appeal to the audience when a little boy is getting separated from his mother while she’s being sold as a slave. The use of pathos causes the audience to feel empathy towards the mother and child. He also gives an appeal to logos throughout the book by giving precise descriptions of the events that occur. “Is everything right because the law allows it?”This quote is an example of ethical appeal used in the book asking the readers what's right from wrong. 

The strengths of the book are the details of slavery that Northup goes in-depth about because of his account of slavery. Also, he makes it very easy for the reader to comprehend the story and he even humanizes characters who are cruel at some points. To me there weren’t a lot of weaknesses but just that it was a weird structure of the events that took place and it somewhat spoils the ending at the start of the book which could be a purpose for objectivity. 12 years a Slave has multiple themes included, two of them are slavery and racism. Northup’s narrative makes the reader visualize how racism can be seen as human cruelty. He also says that racism doesn’t seem to be about the skin tone because one of the slaveowners was the same color as him. When Solomon is being sold as a slave by a dealer named James Burch, he notices that one of the popular slave owners, Goodin, has “a complexion almost as dark as some of his own negros.” Also family is a theme of the story too because Northup was completely cut off from them. Even though his family isn’t seen a lot in the narrative they still play a major role in the involvement of his life. 

The personal narrative indicates that family is more important than just being related by blood or commitment. Family is seen as anyone that you love or care for whether or not that person is blood-related. The carpenter named Bass had no family but made a deep connection with Northup as if they were family. Bass is also the one who led to Solomon’s freedom as well. Northup thinks of his family for comfort and faith in cruel times. He uses them as a strength to be able to see them again sometime in the future when he is freed. When I began reading the narrative, I inferred from the cover it would be about someone getting caught because of the chains but also then I realized one of the chain links was broken which meant the person would also find a way to be freed. The book was structured into a timeline, and introduction, 22 chapters, and also some endnotes. When I read the beginning paragraphs, I saw how detailed everything was and how the details were going to get more in-depth as the narrative went on. Northup’s words were surprising to me because he was a slave but seemed to have a great degree of education by his word use. The words he uses have an emotional appeal that attracts the reader to stay connected. 

The book is a wake-up call. The narrative is leaving me amazed. I would most definitely want to watch the movie after reading this book. Hopefully, the movie is as good as the book. In conclusion, the narrative shows the reality of cruelty when it came to slaves in the past and describes what the African Americans went through. The book will make you feel a lot of different emotions because of Northup’s detailed narrative. When reading the book, remember how we live now and how they used to live in the past. Such great change has occurred since this time period. The book was very well written and I would suggest that you read it too.