![]() As a game, Epps’ son pretends he’s the overseer and rides out into the fields to brutally whip the slaves, “greatly to his father’s delight.” Because of his father’s influence, Epps’ son sees “the black man simply as an animal, differing in no respect from any other animal, save in the gift of speech and the possession of somewhat higher instincts, and therefore, the more valuable.” Later, Epps himself echoes this understanding of slaves as animals. Epps’ ten-year-old son, Young Master Epps, mirrors how he sees his father treat the slaves. Solomon spells out the dark irony in the situation, writing, “Bent with excessive toil…feeling rather as if we could cast ourselves upon the earth and weep, many a night in the house of Edwin Epps have his unhappy slaves been made to dance and laugh.”īesides being used to justify human barbarity, the books makes clear that racism is a learned behavior. If the slaves dance too slowly (despite their crippling exhaustion), he whips them. “When satisfied with his amusement in the house,” he turns his violence upon the slaves, forcing them to run around in the yard in the middle of the night to avoid the painful sting of his whip for the sake of his “brutal humor.” Other times, the drunken Epps forces the slaves to get up in the middle of the night and dance to the quick tunes played on Solomon’s fiddle. When Epps comes home drunk, he first breaks whatever he can find in his own house. ![]() Epps uses his slaves as a means to satisfy his own craving for violence and sadistic entertainment. Though the racist system is absurd, it is the dominant worldview of Southern society at the time, and the evil it leads to is shown most clearly in the character of Epps. For example, when Solomon is initially being sold into slavery by slave dealer James Burch, he notices that one of the most famous slave dealers, Goodin, has “a complexion almost as dark as some of his own negros.” Later, while serving the vicious Edwin Epps, Solomon meets a runaway slave named Celeste, who is “far whiter than her owner, or any of his offspring.” Bass, the Canadian carpenter who eventually helps save Solomon, voices a similar sentiment, saying to Epps, “Talk about black skin, and black blood why, how many slaves are there on this bayou as white as either of us? And what difference is there in the color of the soul? Pshaw! The whole system is absurd as it is cruel.” Solomon and Bass make several references to slaves who look entirely white, or slave owners whose skin is as dark as their slaves. Solomon highlights that sometimes, racism doesn’t even seem to be about skin color as much as its about slave owners feeling justified in their cruelty. Since the Abolitionist Movement was strengthened by the Second Great Awakening-a Protestant revivalist movement that renewed Christians’ commitment to turning away from sin and living godly lives-Northup’s condemnation of racism as being a sin punishable by God appeals to the moral compass of his Northern readers.ġ2 Years a Slave illustrates how racism is a vehicle for human wickedness. Drawing upon his own Christian faith, he also highlights that racism, rooted in wickedness and human sin, is punishable by God. The overarching purpose of 12 Years a Slave is to reveal the heartbreaking realities of slavery for the sake of strengthening anti-slavery attitudes and furthering the Abolitionist Movement, so Northup’s assertion that racism is manmade and a means for human brutality ties neatly into this purpose. 12 Years a Slave clearly points out that racism is a learned behavior, not an inherent understanding that people are born with. The narrative illustrates how racism is an instrument for human wickedness-a justification for a slave owner to be unrelenting, cruel, and inhumane. 12 Years a Slave grapples with the racism that fuels slavery and Solomon Northup’s suffering. ![]()
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