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again. It is an offence invariably followed by a flogging, to be found at the quarters after daybreak. Then the fears and labors of
another day begin; and until its close there is no such thing as rest. He fears he will be caught lagging through the day; he fears to
approach the gin-house with his basketload of cotton at night; he fears, when he lies down, that he will oversleep himself in the
morning. Such is a true, faithful, unexaggerated picture and description of the slave’s daily life, during the time of cotton
picking, on the shores of Bayou Boeuf.
Northup, 2014: 118
4.1.5 Treatments of Slaves by Master in America
There are so many treatments, bad and good treatments, which the slaves should face and receive. They may not tell the truth of their true identity or they will
get punishment from their master. This condition is ever happened to Solomon. He ever tries to tell the truth that he is a free man. As the effect, he should be beaten by
his kidnapper. He is warned not to tell the truth or he will be killed. It is portrayed in the quotations below:
He answered that I was his slave – that he had brought me, and that he was about to send me to New-Orleans. I asserted, aloud and
boldly, that I was a free man – a resident of Saratoga, where I had a wife and children, who were also free, and that my name was
Northup……..He denied that I was free, and with an emphatic oath, declared that I came from Georgia……he called me a black liar, a
runaway from Georgia.
Northup, 2014: 20 With the paddle, Burch commenced beating me. Blow after blow
was inflicted upon my naked body. When his unrelenting arm grew tired, he stopped and asked if I still insisted I was a free man. I did
insist upon it, and then the blows were renewed, faster and more energetically, if possible, than before.
Northup, 2014: 21 Burch desisted, saying……..that if ever I dared to utter again that I
was entitled to my freedom, that I had been kidnapped, or any thing whatever the kind, the castigation I had just received was nothing
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in comparison with what would follow. He swore that he would either conquer or kill me.
Northup, 2014: 22
The slaves not only have no freedom but also no rights to educate themselves: their master does not allow them to learn how to write and read. Moreover, they must
be punished if the master finds out that they can read and write. It is portrayed in the quotation below:
Soon after he purchased me, Epps asked me if I could write and read, and on being informed that I had received some instruction in those
branches of education, he assure me, with emphasis, if he ever caught me with a book, or with pen and ink, he would give me a
hundred lashes. He said he wanted me to understand that he bought “niggers” to work and not to educated.
Northup, 2014: 162
Besides of daily routine, they should face anger without any cause by the master. Solomon states that the slaves in the slave pen are treated like inhuman as
quoted below: The very amiable, pious-hearted Mr. Theophilus Freeman, partner
or consignee of James H.Burch, and keeper of the slave pen in New Orleans, was out among his animals early in the morning. With an
occasional kick of the older men and women, and many a sharp crack of the whip about the ears of the younger slaves, it was not
long before they were all astir, and wide awake.
Northup, 2014:48 He uses sarcastic diction to describe Freeman: “the very amiable, pious-
hearted” which is opposite to the reality. Freeman treated his slaves as “his animals” with “an occasional kick of the older men and women, and many a sharp crack of
the whip about the ears of the younger slaves”. This shows the degradation of
