Twelve Years a Slave

Summary In 1841, Solomon Northup was a free man who lives with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, NY. He earns his living as a carpenter and fiddler. One day he was approached by two men, alleged artists who drugged and bind him before selling him into slavery. Northup is sent by boat to New Orleans, where it is called "Platt" before being bought by a plantation owner named William Ford. Although being his slave, Northup gets along with Ford, which turns out to be a relatively benevolent master. When Solomon proposes a new technique for transporting trees to Ford, causing him to save time and resources, it provides him with a good heart his violin. But the racist carpenter employed by Ford, John Tibeats, is jealous of the success of Northup and begins to put a spoke in the wheels, verbally and physically threatening. Tensions between Tibeats Northup and reach their climax when the Tibeats hit and it defends itself. In revenge, Tibeats and two of his friends try to lynch him. To protect him from the wrath of his carpenter, Ford is finally forced to sell Northup Edwin Epps, cruel and impulsive owner, convinced that his right to abuse his slaves permitted by the Bible. At planting Epps, Northup pick cotton. Each slave must collect at least 90 kg (200 pounds), on pain of being whipped. However, a young slave named Patsey harvest 500 pounds of cotton per day (about 220 kg). Her beauty and talent caught the attention of his master, but make jealous wife Epps; it's a disadvantage and then hits her husband rapes her on a regular basis. When disease swept the cotton planting, given by Epps to a sign from God, praise the slave slaves to a nearby plantation for the season by the time the crop recover. Again, Northup won favor with the owner who asked him to play the violin during various occasions