Reflection On 12 Years A Slave

When I watched the film, 12 years a slave, it brought a deeper impact towards what I learned during our lecture because the film was not just a typical story, it was based on someone’s life, Mr. Solomon Northup. It threw me off that even though he was a free man, Americans tricked him into being part of their business, luring Northup with a higher paying income than he was earning. I would understand that he bit into that deal because, during that time in 1840, British Americans, free slaves, and small time farmers are into expanding their land, plantation, and properties. All that matters during that time was to work hard and earn more, the lives of the people that they’re treating as slaves don 't bother them. In the film, it was shown that …show more content…
Due to the growing population in the field, specifically in a cotton plantation, slave owners have their own plantation rules which they call “bible”, meaning that the slaves that he owns must follow the rules that is being implemented, such rebellious behavior will not be tolerated, or else they will be whipped/ punished. I empathized women, though because not only they are expected to work as hard as the men on the field, but they are victims of rape as well. But what scares me about these slaves were, if their masters find out that their slaves are educated, meaning they know how to read and write, they will be killed. It is very unfair for slave owners to be so cruel towards these people whom they are maltreating, not knowing that these slaves have the same needs as they have. The only reason why slaves prefer to be quiet and submit to their masters was because they truly believe that God sees their suffering and that they have more fear of God towards men who can only hurt them …show more content…
I learned that selfish ambition and greed for money could change a person’s heart. The land of America is indeed the land of the free, but what these slaves had experienced is not what our founding fathers had fought for. We say that this is a land of equal opportunities where if we strive hard, we will reap what we sow, but it is not happening for most of us. What happened is that we, the Americans have abused such freedom and power that we have achieved and oppressed those who are helpless.
In the film, there’s nothing that I notice that was inaccurate about what happened in the past. Maybe the scenes that were a bit inaccurate was when the slave traders displayed their slaves that they harbored inside a house rather than out in public, and the slaves has their own house inside the plantation, because I am sure that if they are maltreated, they will be stuffed inside a house no matter how many they are, but all in all, the film that was being shown was accurate as what I learned in