Analysis Of Solomon Northrup’s Emotional Changes In 12 Years A Slave

12 Years A Slave is, at its core, a story of hope. The film follows Solomon Northrup, a family man and talented violin player from upstate New York. Solomon is a free African-American man, but is abducted by slave traders and sold into the Southern slavery market. We see Solomon stripped of dignity, identity, and humanity as he works for a grueling 12 years on plantations until his eventual rescue due to the brave actions of a Canadian abolitionist. In this paper, I will examine the emotional changes Solomon went through in his acceptance of and escape from the horrors of slavery.

At the start of the film, we see Solomon as a content man. He is living in Upstate New York with his wife and children. We get glimpses into his life such as him playing violin in an ensemble for a house party. Solomon is revered and respected in his community as a stand-up family man. He is then approached by a pair of men posing as circus performers desperate for Solomon’s talent in their circus band. They explain it won’t be for long and the pay will be sufficient. Solomon being the kind and trusting man he is accepts the offer and travels with the men to Washington DC. After getting him drunk at a dinner, the men bring him to bed. We are immediately thrust into an entirely different environment. We see Solomon chained and shackled in a crude jail cell fit for an animal. Solomon is visibly and understandably shocked and confused. Before he can even begin to grasp his surroundings, he is “greeted” by men who explain to him that he is a runaway slave, will be bought in a market, and will work on a plantation. He is also told his name is Platt, and is reprimanded when he doesn’t respond to it. We see Solomon enter in to an emotional state of desperation at this point. He pleads with the men, fellow educated slaves around him, and the market director that they have made a mistake. On a steamboat headed towards his new “home”, Solomon and the others grow rebellious and devise a retaliation plan, but this is quickly abandoned. Solomon’s desperation turns into disbelief, as he begins to grapple with the fact that there isn’t an end in sight to the horror that awaits him.

At this point in the story, we meet Platt’s first plantation master, Ford. In relation to the inhumane act being committed, Ford seems like a reasonable man. He is without a doubt a slave owner, but treats the slaves with a sort of quasi-compassion and care. Solomon, noticing this, again shifts his emotional state into hope. He begins to make Ford notice that he in an educated man, raising ideas on projects and speaking with eloquence. This is all to to the chagrin of Ford’s right hand man, Tibeats. There begins to be a tension rising between Solomon and Tibeats, culminating in an exchange Solomon views as ridiculous, and Tibeats views as insubordinate. The first legitimate brush with death Solomon has is after this exchange where he is hoisted in the air to be hung. He is eventually let down and Ford explains to him that in order to keep him from being killed, he will have to go to a different plantation. His new master, Epps, is the polar opposite of Ford. He breaks Solomon’s spirit. This is where Solomon reaches his next emotional change.

After spending some time at the Epps plantation and realizing the inescapability of his situation, Solomon’s emotional state becomes one of hopelessness and acceptance. Epps’ ruthless nature and dehumanization of himself and other slaves has caused Solomon to decide the only way to live through this is to play the game. He becomes utterly complacent and complies with each and every command from his master. The hope of escaping has not gone away completely, but he falls overwhelmingly into despair. This causes him to treat every day with this detached, hopeless attitude that keeps Epps quiet but severely harms any quality of life he was clinging to. He begrudgingly plays violin for a party of slave owners which is hauntingly similar to the party he played for as a free man at the start of the film. This further entrenches Solomon in this hopeless state he has been faced with for some time now.

At this point, Solomon is introduced to a new worker on the plantation. Armsby. He is a free, white man working on Epps’ plantation to earn money in order to get back on his feet. This sparks a renewal of hope in Solomon, as he realizes that Armsby may be able to assist him in getting a chance at freedom once again. After spending painstaking time drafting a letter to his family explaining his situation, he brings the letter and an idea for secret delivery to Armsby. Armsby accepts this plan in exchange for payment. It is visible to the viewer that all of the hope and determination Solomon had at the start of this horrific situation is immediately rekindled. This all comes crashing down, however. Epps takes him outside in the middle of the night and explains to him that Armsby has ratted him out. We can see all of the hope and excitement Solomon had regained leave him at once. This failure throws Solomon even further into his accepting and complacent state. He labors without protest and accepts his fate on the plantation. Soon though, he meets a Canadian abolitionist who comes to work on the farm named Bass. After explaining to Bass his situation and how much hardship he has faced in his past years, Bass agrees to do what Solomon initially asked Armsby to do. He will deliver a letter from Solomon to his friends back North explaining the horror he’s facing. Reluctance and apprehension are felt on both sides, but they agree to trust each other. This resparks Solomon’s determination to find a way out of the plantation. However, he knows in order for this to work, he needs to keep his head down and act as if nothing is different.

After some time has passed, a man shows up on the plantation looking for Solomon Northup, marking the first time Solomon had heard his real name used in 12 years. This outrages Epps, but instantly excites Solomon. Relief washes over him, and he grows obviously defiant of Epps, realizing he now has no power over him. The film then cuts to the moment when Solomon finally reunites with his family. It is in this instant that we feel Solomon’s emotions in the strongest way of the entire film. You can see relief, joy, and sadness at the passage of time all at once in his face. He realizes he has finally reached the end of this emotional and physical terror he was subjected to for so long, and gets to return to life in the North as a free man. As he is reintroduced to his family, he meets his daughter’s husband and the child they share. He now understands that even through his struggle, his family became bigger and stronger. He looked on his life, now a grandfather, with nothing but happiness that the horror he had suffered through was finally over and offered such a sweet consolation at the end. Northup would go on to become a worker on the Underground Railroad and fight in the abolitionist movement. He kept his determination to see slavery come to an end all the way to the final years of his life.

Solomon Northup was not a typical protagonist. He did not have an unflinching determination to achieve his goal. Many times throughout his story, he gave up. He accepted that his circumstances simply couldn’t be changed. He decided the best response was none. He faced inconceivable struggle, false hope, and utter despair. But at the end, it was the very determination he had begun his story with that led to him ultimately securing his freedom. Solomon dealt with hopelessness, confusion, anger, and sorrow. And out of all of those things grew hope, relief, happiness, and joy. Solomon’s emotional journey throughout this film is what captivated me the most. If you didn’t already have plenty of other reasons to root for him in this film, his hope sure was one of them. Solomon is what it means to be a genuine hero.