Who Solomon Northup is
In Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup recounts how kidnapping takes him from freedom in New York into slavery in Louisiana. He lives with his wife, Anne, and their children before two men persuade him to travel for paid musical work. In Washington, D.C., he wakes in chains, and his captors beat him when he insists that he is free.
What Solomon Northup wants
Sold under the name Platt, Northup struggles to preserve an identity that his captors seek to erase. He wants to get word to people in New York, but asserting his freedom openly can bring further violence. His memory of home sustains a hope that he must keep carefully concealed.
Solomon Northup and the others in the story
Northup experiences William Ford's kindness without losing sight of Ford's acceptance of human ownership. Under Edwin Epps, exhausting cotton labor and repeated violence shape his daily life. His accounts of Patsey's abuse and Eliza's separation from her children place his own suffering beside the experiences of others.
Preguntas
Who is Solomon Northup?
Solomon Northup is the author of Twelve Years a Slave, a memoir of being kidnapped as a free Black man and enslaved.
Why is Solomon Northup called Platt?
Northup is sold under the name Platt as part of a system that erases his past.
Does Solomon Northup play the violin?
Yes, Northup is a violinist whose music sometimes brings small privileges, though it cannot change his legal condition.
