In the movie, 12 Years a Slave a 2013 film that follows the life of a man who was once a free man and was kidnapped and sold into slavery. In the film we see many instances where slavery had a dehumanizing effect on other slaves. I examined a scene about 45 minutes into the film which shows the main character Solomon Northup who goes by “Platt” was out on the plantation in Louisiana building a house for other slaves to live in when the plantation overseer came over to him and told him he was using the wrong nails to build the house. Solomon insisted that he was using the right nails and the two of them argued for a few moments until the overseer told him that he needed to strip because he was going to whip him. Solomon refused to strip
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The overseer and Solomon began to fight and Solomon was able to grab the whip from the overseer and started to hit the overseer with the whip. After they fought for a while, the owner of the plantation came over to see what was going on and was surprised to see that a slave was fighting the overseer. The overseer told Solomon that he “would not live to see another day” and then walked back to the house. The owner of the plantation, who previously praised Solomon for finding a more efficient way of shipping logs down stream, was supportive of Solomon and told him that he should, “Stay where you are or else I cannot help you.” Solomon followed the master's orders and stayed by the house being built. After a long period of time, the overseer and two other white men approach Solomon and take him too a tree. When they get to the tree, they set up a noose and they were going to hang Solomon. While the overseer was trying to hang Solomon, the master came back once again and told the white men that if they kill Solomon they would be killed also. The men then leave the scene but Solomon is still dangling from the tree to the point where he can barely touch the ground. The master then leaves the scene and Solomon is still hanging
The overseer and Solomon began to fight and Solomon was able to grab the whip from the overseer and started to hit the overseer with the whip. After they fought for a while, the owner of the plantation came over to see what was going on and was surprised to see that a slave was fighting the overseer. The overseer told Solomon that he “would not live to see another day” and then walked back to the house. The owner of the plantation, who previously praised Solomon for finding a more efficient way of shipping logs down stream, was supportive of Solomon and told him that he should, “Stay where you are or else I cannot help you.” Solomon followed the master's orders and stayed by the house being built. After a long period of time, the overseer and two other white men approach Solomon and take him too a tree. When they get to the tree, they set up a noose and they were going to hang Solomon. While the overseer was trying to hang Solomon, the master came back once again and told the white men that if they kill Solomon they would be killed also. The men then leave the scene but Solomon is still dangling from the tree to the point where he can barely touch the ground. The master then leaves the scene and Solomon is still hanging