Solomon Northup - 12 Years A Slave

I compelled Olivia to purchase Solomon Northup's narrative penned in 1853 or thereabouts for my Christmas reading.  My fascination was triggered by the fact that a Kenyan lass - Lupita Nyong'o is acting a part in the motion picture based on the narrative.  Ted also took me a movie watching so that I might be found on the right side of literary history. (What patriotism!)  As I write, Lupita has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress Award at the upcoming Oscars and invariably many articles are being written about her.  Like Obama before her, she has put Kenya positively on the map. The Mexican birthers be damned.

My sister, Wendy, remarked that this was one movie she has watched in which there was no opportunity to smile or laugh.  So saddened was she by the treatment of slaves that when the movie ended two hours later she 'felt cheated'.  As we exited the theatre - and considered other offerings -  she wondered why Ted hadn't selected something more palatable or uplifting for a Friday night.  My uncle quipped that the treatment of slaves was so gruesome that he was unable to appreciate Lupita's performance.  So incensed was he, when he countenanced the stripes on the bodies of the slaves. This is not a book to read or movie to watch when in a state of despair as it would only sink one further into the slough of despondency. Neither is it for the fainthearted.  Besides, the diction, syntax and accent in the movie is very old school that it might impede  one's understanding of the plot.

I complemented my literary exercise by reading reviews in the Independent, Guardian, New York Times, BBC & Daily Nation on both the book & movie.  I researched not just Lupita but also Chiwetel Ejiofor who plays the part of Solomon Northup. The 'funniest' related to fuss over posters in Italy advertising the movie. Brad Pitt who plays the minor part of Bass appeared prominently on the cover instead  of Chiwetel who, as Solomon Northup, is the main protagonist.  I was not surprised as Italy is still fighting her demons having been on the news lately on the racist treatment of a Cabinet Secretary of Congolese descent & the footballer of Ghanaian descent.  Oh! and Kenyan cartoonists have - in commemorating 50 years of our independence - satirised the common man's predicament as one of "50 Years A Slave".  I presuppose shackled  under the bondage of corruption, impunity, poverty, crime and unlimited vices from which the ordinary mwananchi is unable to extricate themselves.

I have gotten ahead of myself though. In reading the book, I was excited by 'old English'.  I marvelled at how spoken language has evolved since 1853. Were I to converse in the old way, my audience would have trouble understanding what I intended to communicate.  So it took me longer than usual to get through the 136 pages making up Solomon's tale.  When all is said and done,  as far as most motion pictures go, the movie is a faithful rendering of the narrative.  The producers have taken certain liberties without fundamentally altering the story line.

Like Solomon Northup, I too cannot "comprehend the justice of that law, or that religion, which upholds or recognizes the principal of slavery".  Over the years, atrocities have been perpetuated in the name of God & men/women have used religion and the law to subjugate their fellow man for personal gain.  Solomon absolves the slaver by stating that "It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives".  This is the same explanation people profer about my country Kenya.  Is it the fault of a policeman when he bows down to bribery?

This is a book worth reading and I am glad that I bit the bullet.  The subject of slavery is complex but this narrative is rendered eye opening having been allegedly recounted by a negro, born free but unfortunate to be kidnapped and sold into slavery. Indeed Solomon was oblivious to what it meant to be a slave prior to his capture.  My favourite passage is "Let not those who have never been placed in like circumstances, judge me harshly".

In the end, Good eventually triumphs over Evil & Hoping against hope gets a just recompense of reward.  There are many who hold that this is a narrative of hope and indeed it is. Solomon Northup never gave up hope that he might - just might - one day be rescued from the sisyphean situation in which he found himself.  (The book demonstrates that even in the worst of human character there stand 'good' people like Mr Ford, Mr Bass, Ms Mc Coy & others who are willing to go against the grain.) Indeed all is not lost and we need not despair of this existence called life.  As St Paul famously taught us "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen."