Treatments of Slaves by Master in America
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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
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human: degradation of human morals and value through slavery. This is what slaves get from their wicked master. They can not choose the desired master.
Not only like animals, slaves is also considered and traded as properties. It means that slaves are traded as if they are merchandise. It is portrayed in the
quotation below: Mr. Theophilus Freeman bustled about in a very industrious manner,
getting his property ready for the sales-room, intending, no doubt, to that day a rousting business.
Northup, 2014:48
Solomonadopts Freeman’s inhumane vocabulary as a means of deriding the white man’s abusiveness, calling the slaves “his animals” and “property.” As
animals and properties, slaves are prepared to be sold. They are required to wash thoroughly, and those with beards have to shave. They are furnished with a new suit
each, cheap, but clean. Then they are trained before the admission of customers. After that they are sent to sales room in the slave pen. The slave pen is used as a
place to trade the slaves, as quoted in this part: There were two small houses standing at opposite corners within the
yard. These houses are usually found within slave yards, being used as rooms for the examination of human chattels by purchasers
before concluding a bargain. Unsoundness in a slave, as well as in a horse, detracts materially from his value.
Northup, 2014: 32 This quote shows that human is supposed to be a horse when it is traded.
Silence means loss the value of himitself. Slaves should answer the question when they are interviewed or interrogated. Moreover, sometimes slaves on the auction will
boast of their own abilities simply out of the pride in bringing a high price.
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In the Chapter 12 and 13 when Solomon and his fellow are purchased for Epps, they should do and receive whatever he does for them. They have to fulfill the
master’s needs in his everyday life both in the field and outside the field such as entertaining him in many ways: by music, dancing and even worst, raping. This is
portrayed in the quotations below: When in “his cups”, Master Epps was a roistering, blustering, noisy
fellow, whose chief delight was in dancing with his “niggers”, or lashing them about the yard with his long whip, just for the pleasure
of hearing them screech and scream, as the great welts were planted on their backs. When sober, he was silent, reserved and cunning, not
beating us indiscriminately, as in his drunken moments, but sending the end of his rawhide to some tender spot of a lagging slave, with a
sly dexterity peculiar to himself.
Northup, 2014:112 All of us would be assembled in the large room of the great house,
whenever Epps came home in one of his dancing moods. No matter how worn out and tired we were, there must be a general dance.
When properly stationed on the floor, I would strike up a tune, “Dance, you d—d niggers, dance,” Epps would shout. Then there
must be no halting or delay, no slow or languid movements; all must be brisk, and lively, and alert……… Usually his whip was in his
hand, ready to fall about the ears of the presumptuous thrall, who dared to rest a moment, or even stop to catch his breath.
Northup, 2014: 126 Female slaves are often whipped without any cause by the master just to
please the mistress. It is portrayed in the quotation below: During our absence, I learned from Aunt Phebe and Patsey, that the
latter had been getting deeper and deeper into trouble. The poor girl was truly an object of pity. “Old Hogjaw,” the name by which Epps
was called, when the slaves were by themselves, had beaten her more severely and frequently than ever. As surely as he came from
Holmesville, elated with liquor – and it was often in those days – he would whip her, merely to gratify the mistress; would punish her to
an extent almost beyond endurance, for an offence of which he himself was the sole and irresistible cause. In his sober moments he
could not always be prevailed upon to indulge his wife’s insatiable thirst for vengeance.
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Northup, 2014: 139
The quotation above shows how cruel Master Epps toward his slaves is. He gives no mercy to them and does not give any idle to his slave but to fulfill his needs
and pleasure. Their cries are an entertainment for him as mentioned above. The slaves should hold back their sufferings as slaves. They can not escape
from the plantation. It is because there is a patrol that patrols every night to catch the escape slaves and punish them. Wherever they go, they should have a pass. It is well
described in the quotation below: Not provided with a pass, any white man would be at liberty to
arrest me, and place me in prison until such time as my master should “prove property, pay charges, and take me away.
Northup, 2014: 96 A slave caught off his master’s plantation without a pass, may be
seized and whipped by any white man whom he meets. Northup, 2014: 108
By having a pass, the slave can go to another state without any suffering, moreover they are provided on their journey. It is portray in the quotation below:
……nevertheless, with his pass in his hand, a slave need never suffer from hunger or from thirst. It is only necessary to present it
to the master or overseer of a plantation, and state his wants, when he will be sent round to the kitchen and provided with food or
shelter, as the case may require. The traveler stops at any house and calls for a meal with as much freedom as if it was a public tavern.
Northup, 2014:109 The good condition above can not be found if the slaves escape from their
master’s plantation or wander around without any pass. The patrollers all night will patrol to find any slave who wanders around at the night. Solomon gives the
description about the patrollers as quoted below:
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How it is in other dark places of slavery, I do not know, but on Bayou Boeuf there is an organization of patrollers, as they are
styled, whose business it is to seize and whip any slave they may find wandering from the plantation. They ride on horseback,
headed by a captain, armed and accompanied by dogs. They have the right, either by law, or by general consent, to inflict
discretionary chastisement upon black man caught beyond the boundaries of his master’s estate without pass, and even to shoot
him, if he attempts to escape.
Northup, 2014:167 Escaping from plantation is ever done by a slave named Wiley. He is Aunt
Phebe’s husband. Though generally quiet and obedient, he has a limit. After being unfairly beaten for a minor offense, the longing for freedom prompts him to escape,
for a time, from Epps’ plantation. Sadly, Wiley’s freedom is short-lived, and he is punished cruelly:
Paying the jail fee, and writing him a pass, underneath which was a note to Epps, requesting him not to whip him on his return, Wiley
was sent back to Bayou Boeuf. It was the hope that hung upon this request, and which Roberts assured him would be respected by his
master, that sustained him as he approached the house. The request, however, as may be readily supposed, was entirely disregarded.
After being kept in suspense three days, Wiley was stripped, and compelled to endure one of those inhuman floggings to which the
poor slave us so often subjected.
Northup, 2014: 170 Escape is one way to release the slaves from overworking and exhausted.
Some of them are willing to escape one or two days just to take a rest, although they know what punishment that should they face later on:
Notwithstanding the certainty of being captured, the wood and swamps are, nevertheless, continually filled with runaways. Many
of them, when sick, or so worn out as to be unable to perform their task, escape into swamps, willing to suffer the punishment inflicted
for such offences, in order to obtain a day or two of rest.
Northup, 2014: 171
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Not all of the masters are cruel as Master Epps, there are kind masters who treated their slaves so well by supporting their needs, give them a reward as an
appreciation of their work, and others. There are two kind masters who are mentioned in the novel. They are William Ford and Miss Mary McCoy. William
Ford is portrayed as a kind Christian man as quoted below: …..in my opinon, there never was a more kind, noble, candid,
Christian man than William Ford. The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong
at the bottom of the system of Slavery. He never doubted the moral right of one man holding another in subjection….. Nevertheless, he
was a model master, walking uprightly, according to the light of his understanding, and fortunate was the slave who came to his
possession. Were all men such as he, Slavery would be deprived of more than half its bitterness.
Northup, 2014: 58 The statement above has the proof that William Ford and also his wife are
kind people. In the Chapter 7is shown that Ford and his wife takes care and treats Solomon and his fellow nicely as quoted below:
Before leaving, Mistress Ford called me into the store-room, and handed me, as it is there termed, a tin bucket of molasses for Harry
and myself.
Northup, 2014: 62 Eliza was still ringing her hands and deploring the loss of her
children. Ford tries as much as possible to console her – told her she need not work very hard; that she might remain with Rose, and
assist the madam in the house affairs.
Northup, 2014: 62 In the Chapter 9, Solomon also describes the kindness of William Ford based
on his experience when he is facing Tibeats’ threat. Ford help him to release the hanging Solomon by cutting the rope that bind the Solomon’s neck, gives Solomon
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rest to recover his health and even allows Solomon to sleep in his house as quoted below:
…….suddenly Chapin presented himself at the cabin door and called me. “Platt.” Said he, “you will sleep on the floor in the great
house tonight; bring your blanket with you.
Northup, 2014: 63 Platt is Solomon’s slave name given by Mr. Theophilus Freeman while
Chapin is Solomon’s overseer in Fords’ plantation. Chapin does anything based on Ford’s order. He is not as cruel as Tibeats. The quotation above shows the kindness
of Ford; he allows his black slave – which has different status and complexion – to sleep in his great house. It is unusual in the ordinary master and slave relation but he
shows his humanity among others. In the Chapter 20, Solomon mentions a young Mistress named Mary McCoy.
Solomon describes her as a kind, loving Mistress that is loved by her slave as quoted below:
This estate is now owned by Miss Mary McCoy, a lovely girl, some twenty years of age. She is the beauty and the glory of Bayou
Boeuf. She owns about a hundred working hands, besides a great many house servants, yard boys, and young children………. She is
beloved by all her slaves, and good reason indeed have they to be thankful that they have fallen into such gentle hands. Nowhere on
the bayou are there such feast, such merrymaking, as at young Madam McCoy’s. Thither, more than to any other place, do the old
and young for miles around love to repair in the time of the Christmas holidays; for nowhere else can they find such delicious
repasts; nowhere else can they so pleasantly. No one is so well beloved – no one fills so large a space in the hearts of a thousand
slaves, as young Madam McCoy, the orphan mistress of the old Norwood estate.
Northup, 2014: 205
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Miss Mary McCoy shows her kindness by providing anything that the Slaves need for their Christmas celebration. Her kindness is described in the quotation
below: On my arrival at the place, I found two or three hundred had
assembled. The table was prepared in a long building, which she had erected expressly for her slaves to dance in. It was covered
with every variety of food the country afforded, and was pronounced by general acclamation to be the rarest of dinners.
Roast turkey, pig, chicken, duck, and all kinds of meat, baked, boiled, and broiled, formed a line the whole length of the extended
table, while the vacant spaces were filled with tarts, jellies, and frosted cake, and pastry of many kinds. The young mistress walked
around the table, smiling and saying a kind word to each one, and seemed to enjoy the scene exceedingly.
Northup, 2014:205 This quotation shows that she gives the best for her slaves. She gives the best
dinner to them and allows them to enjoy the party by dancing with other slaves and she does not hesitate to mingle to her slaves. She does not limit her social intercourse
to her slaves.