12 Years A Slave Commentary

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Kidnapped in 1841 and enslaved for 12 years, Solomon Northup tells his story in a heart-wrenching autobiography, 12 Years A Slave. The books exceptional portrayal of his journey from being a free man, to then being kidnapped and tricked into slavery, has extremely graphic and vivid scenes and stories, which led to this book becoming a bestseller. This book is rare because it has both perspectives from Solomon Northup, him being a free man as well as him being a slave. This emotionally strong and compelling autobiography was made into a movie in 2013. Although the book went into much more detail, the movie was forced to condense and leave out many scenes in order to make it an appropriate length and also entertaining for the viewers. It was …show more content…
This is an extremely important time period because Northup is finally able to find a connection to the outside world that he never would have gotten a chance to have before. He tries to find ways to connect with his family and friends back home, since he was kidnapped and forced to leave abruptly without anyone knowing where he was going. In the book, Bass who is a carpenter, comes and expresses his views as an abolitionist. This was the first time anyone had expressed their views openly about how they believed slavery was wrong. With that being said, Platt, under close observation, decides to confide in Bass and tell him something that he had not yet told anyone else. He says to him that before being enslaved he was a free man. This relationship was a key event to him finally being freed after 12 years. Not only did Bass keep his secrecy, but mailed a letter for him, and on more than one occasion wrote and sent letters to his friends and family giving the general location of where he was located in Bayou Boeuf, with prayers that he would soon be rescued and set free. The two men got along, and worked out a plan so that Platt could be saved from this torturous lifestyle. The book showed the uniqueness of their relationship and went into more detail, but the movie as well followed the books baselines with this part particularly, and were similar in many ways. Bass, played by

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