PERSONAL ASSIGNMENT

BRITISH AND AMERICA STUDIEST

12 YEARS A SLAVE

Name: Muhammad Farhan Aslam

NPM: 201210044

Lecturer: Mr. Tomi Arianto S.S, MA

STUDY PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND HUMANITIES

UNIVERSITY OF PUTERA BATAM

2020
 FOREWORD

Alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin; all praises and gratitude to Allah SWT, the
Almighty, the all loving, and the most merciful, without Allah SWT blessing,
love, and guard, the writer can complete the personal assignment. The
preparation of this personal assignment is to fulfill one of the course
assignments that given Mr. TOMI ARIANTO S.S, MA as British and American
studies lecturer in Putera Batam University.

In arranging this paper, the writer truly get lots challenges and
obstructions but with help of many individuals, those obstructions could pass.
Writer also realizes there are still many mistakes in process of writing this
paper.
Because of that, the writer says thank you to all individuals who helps in
the process of writing this paper. Last but not least hopefully, this personal
assignment can help the readers to gain more knowledge about English
Literature major.

Batam, 2020

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 Muhammad Farhan Aslam

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD................................................................................................................ii

CHAPTER I..................................................................................................................4

BACKGROUND...........................................................................................................4

1. Purpose of the film............................................................................................5

2. Problem formulation of the film.......................................................................5

CHAPTER II................................................................................................................6

DISCUSION OF THE FILM......................................................................................6

1. About the film....................................................................................................6

2. Analyzing racism in America............................................................................8

3. Analyzing the characters.................................................................................10

4. How was the life of the slaves at that time.....................................................11

5. Point of view of slavery and racism in America at the time..........................12

CHAPTER III............................................................................................................15

CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................15

Conclusion..............................................................................................................15

SUGESTION..........................................................................................................16

BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................17

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 CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND

Slavery is a state in which people control or possess others. There are

historians who say that slavery began to arise after the development of
agriculture, about ten-thousand years ago. There were times when prisoners of
war were treated as slaves to work by the captors. Other slaves consisted of
criminals or people who could not pay back debts.

The definition of racism is the view of ideology or understanding

embraced by people who reject or dislike a particular group of society that is
usually based on their race, degree, and so on.

The explanations of some experts on racism are among others:

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Racism or racism is an understanding that

rejects a society based on or of different races. In other words, it has
abnormalities than most.

Alo Liliweri, understanding racism is an ideology that bases itself on

discrimination against a person or group of people, because their race even this
becomes a political doctrine.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the definition of

racism is an ideology that contributes to mythical statements about other racial
and ethnic groups that demean the group or community.

Oliver C. Cox, Racism is an event, a situation that assesses various

actions, and values in a group based on its cultural perspective that views all the
social values of other people outside of themselves as wrong and unacceptable.

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 Base on the best movie by  Steve McQueen the film of 12 YEARS A
SLAVE is a 2013 American-British epic historical drama film adapted from the
1853 memoir of the same name about Solomon Northup, a New York-born free
negro who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold as a slave. He
worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before being
released

1. Purpose of the film

 Knowing how violent slavery was in America at that time
 Knowing how violent racism was in America at that time

2. Problem formulation of the film

 About the film
 Analyzing racism and slavery in America
 Analyzing the characters
 How was the life of the slaves at that time
 point of view of slavery and racism in America at the time

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 CHAPTER II

DISCUSION OF THE FILM

1. About the film

in 1841, Solomon Northup is an independent negro who works as a
carpenter and skilled violinist, and lives with his wife and two children in
Saratoga Springs, New York. Two men offered him a job as a biweekly
musician, but they plied Northup with drinks until he got drunk and he woke up
chained up, about to be sold to a slavery place.

in a dark and closed room, the Northup was tortured with a large
wooden punch and whips that were snitched out by the slave containers of the
time.

Northup was sent to New Orleans and named "Platt", with the
identity of an escaped slave from Georgia. After being beaten repeatedly, he
was eventually bought by an estate owner named William Ford. Northup
managed to establish a good relationship with Ford, a fairly kind master. On the
Ford estate, Northup pioneered a waterway to transport wood quickly and
effectively across the river, and Ford filled it with a violin as an expression of
gratitude. A carpenter on a racist Ford plantation named John Tibeats hates
Northup, and begins trying to verbally abuse him.

Tensions between Tibeats and Northup escalate; The Tibeats attack

Northup, and Northup fights back. In retaliation, Tibeats and his friends
attempted to hang Northup in a tree, which was entangled in pain for hours.
Ford stated that to save Northup's life, he had to be sold to Edwin Epps.

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Northup tries to explain to Ford that he is not actually a slave. Ford responded
by saying that "he can't hear this" and stating "he has debts to pay" in
connection with Northup's purchase price.

Epps believed that the right to torture slaves was allowed by the Bible.
Slaves were required to harvest at least 200 pounds of cotton a day, otherwise it
would have been whipped. A young slave girl named Patsey was able to harvest
more than 500 pounds of cotton a day and was praised by Epps. Epps wife was
jealous and often hurt Patsey. Epps also repeatedly raped Patsey.

Epps wife often violently abused Patsey, while Patsey Epps house
party dancing happily to let go of all her tiredness and suffering. Then the Epps
wife came and threw a bottle of wine at Patsey's head, Patsey cringed and cried.
at other times Patsey was wounded by wife Epps by pulling her ears until it
bled. often Epps wife torture Patsey until Patsey tired of her own life.

Epps thought that newly hired slaves had caused the emergence of the
plague of cotton worms, a plague that he thought was sent by God. He rented
out the slaves to neighboring plantations during harvest season. While working
there, Northup received the kindness of the plantation owner, who gave him
coins after playing the violin at a wedding anniversary celebration.

After Northup returned to the Epps estate, he used the money to pay a
white worker and a former plantation supervisor to post his letter to a friend in
New York. The white worker agreed to help Northup and receive his money,
but he betrayed her by reporting it to Epps. The urged Northup was finally able
to convince Epps that the report was a lie. Weeping, Northup burns a letter he
wants to send to New York, his only hope of freedom.

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 Patsey's torture is getting worse. Patsey wanted to die and asked
Northup to kill him, but he refused. One day, Epps gets angry after learning
Patsey is missing from his farm. When Patsey returned, Epps ordered his men
to strip and tie Patsey to a pole; instigated by his wife, Epps forces Northup to
whip Patsey. Northup was reluctant to obey Patsey's orders, and Epps
eventually took the whip out of Northup's hands and brutally whipped Patsey.

During Patsey's recovery, Northup begins work building an Epps

home pavilion with a Canadian worker named Bass. Bass was disliked by Epps
after he expressed his opposition to slavery. On the other hand, Northup begins
to trust Bass and tells him about his abduction. Northup asked Bass to help him
post a letter to Saratoga Springs. By risking his life, Bass agreed to do so.

One day, the estate where Northup worked was visited by the local
sheriff. The sheriff, who came with another man in a horse-drawn carriage,
called Northup who was at work. The sheriff asked Northup a number of
questions to match his answers to the facts of his life in New York. Northup
recognized another man who came with the sheriff as a shopkeeper he knew
from Saratoga. The man apparently came to free her, and the two hugged.
Although Epps got in the way and Patsey wept over his departure, Northup
rushed off the estate.

After being enslaved for 12 years, Northup returned to being a free

man and returned to his family. In closing credits, it is told of Northup's
inability and his attorneys to prosecute those responsible for the abduction and
enslavement of him, as well as the mystery surrounding Northup's death and
funeral.

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2. Analyzing racism in America

Racism in the United States has been rife since the colonial era. Legally
and socially, rights and gifts are granted to white Americans but denied to
Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics or
Latino Americans. European Americans (especially white Anglo-Saxon
Protestants) were given exclusive grants in educational materials, immigration,
voting rights, citizenship, land ownership, and criminal procedures over a
period of time spanning from the 17th century to the 1960s. However, non-
Protestant immigrants from Europe; especially Irish people, Poles, and Italians,
who experience xenophobic exclusion and other forms of ethnic-based
discrimination in American society, are still considered low race and are not
considered fully white people. In addition, Middle Eastern American groups
such as Jews and Arabs face ongoing discrimination in the United States, and as
a result, some of those who fall into the group are not identified as white. South
East Asians also face racism in America.

There are so many parts in this film that show white people racism to black
people. even at the beginning of the film has been shown racism, mentioned
that Northup is a negro runaway from Georgia, when in fact Northup comes
from Saratoga, New York.

Racism that spread in those days was already very severe, black people
were made like personal objects even most consider them as pets. it's too sad to
see racism so inhumane.

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 Vile threats and torments received by negroes. even according to white
people at the time "nigga was born and raised just to be a slave". they are
employed in fields, building construction, etc.

Generally in those days, dissident negroes would be beaten and punished,

the punishment given was inhumane. Their clothes were removed, their backs
whipped until their skin was peeled and torn off, blood flowing between them.
usually they are whipped fifty to a hundred lashes. If dissident nigger slaves are
more insolent then they will be hanged. no exception would it be slave girls as
well as men. female slaves sometimes cannot avoid rape committed by their
employers, if they refuse their employee they give their lives to their master.

3. Analyzing the characters

1. Solomon Northup is the main character of the type of person with a

high charismatic, intelligent, artistic talent. featured several times in the
film, Northup playing the violin to entertain people or party celebrations
was a very happy person before he was trapped in the world of slavery.
not discouraged always looking for a way to be free from slavery. the
character's portrayal is very emotional, very good in nature, submissive,
and unrelenting to the violence of his master to the slave girls
2. William Ford was Northup's first employee, the character's portrayal of
ford was a good and unable employer. Ford showed kindness several
times in the film. he always praised the work performance of Northup,
when Northup managed to find new innovations, namely the delivery of
garden products through the river. Ford gives Northup a violin as violin.
and when Northup is hung by a rope on a tree, ford tries to protect
Northup. But unfortunately because of the debt owned by Ford he was
forced to sell his slaves to Epps

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3. John Tibeats is the head carpenter on William Ford's plantation farm,
the Tibeats hate Northup so much because Northup is able to take heart
from Ford with his cleverness. the point of the feud between the two of
them when the Tibeats grudge against the Northup because the Northup
managed to whip back the Tibeats. with the grudge he has Tibeats invite
his friend's friend to avenge him. The Tibeats hang Northup up the tree.
but Northup saved by ford. depiction of Tibeats characters is envious,
impatient, vindictive
4. Epps was the second master of the Northup and was the most violent
master of his slaves. for Epps torturing slaves is not a crime, for him
slaves are merely personal possessions. depictions of Epps characters
are grumpy, drunk, and irresponsible.
5. Epps wife is a quiet person and does not talk much, the character
portrayal of the Epps wife is quiet, grumpy and jealous. Epps wife
dislikes Patsey which is the prayer of one of her slaves, because of
Patsey's closeness to her husband Epps. make her angry with Patsey.
several times in the film portrayed Patsey being tortured by Epps wife
6. Patsey was one of those slaves who worked for Epps. The character
depiction of Patsey is moody, quiet, loner, diligent, diligent and
tenacious. he was often the victim of abuse from his Epps wife, and
became a slave to the lusts of his own Epps
7. Bass was a white worker, he was a construction foreman. The depiction
of the bass character is a hard worker, he is a person with strong
arguments, and dislikes slavery. at one part of the film bass says "white
people and blacks are just no different". and bass was the one who
helped to liberate the Northup from slavery.

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4. How was the life of the slaves at that time
How was the life of slaves in America at that time. most of the slaves in
America at that time suffered, even most of them were desperate and decided to
end their lives. slaves were inhumanely edified and violently coerced

maybe not all employers in America at the time did so, depending on their
employer. whether he's good or not. but most of the Dizaman’s employers did
violent things to his slaves and even rape.

in the 18th to 19th centuries most people were black slaves and belonged to
white people, although some natives and blacks also had slaves. There were
also white slaves, but there were few. The majority of slave owners are in the
Southern United States, where most are used as "machines" for agriculture

Although the international slavery trade was banned starting in 1808, the
internal slave trade continued and the slave population soared to 4 million
before slavery was broken into.

When new areas in the Western part of the U.S. opened, southern states
believed they had to maintain a balance between pro-slave states and free states
so as to maintain a balance of power in Congress or the U.S. Parliament.

slavery in the southern United States, in fact, was very much related to its
geographical conditions such as the very fertile ecological state. Which
produces sugar cane, cotton, and tobacco according to its natural environment.
It turns out that it can encourage slavery in agricultural areas. Plantations in the
south are in desperate need of slave labor. The things that drove the colonists to
use black labor were labor problems on various plantations, because whites
failed to use workers from Indians who were already living freely in free areas
and plantations. White power gardening is ineffective because it cannot stand
the hot climate and the price is also so expensive. Negro slave labor when
placed in gardening is very effective and also cheap

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 There is a way for slave owners in the United States to keep black slaves.
The way it is used is to make the slave or keep the slave forever know nothing.
The master also instilled an attitude of excessive dependency so that the Slave
could not be truly independent, the slaves were very hit with the matter of self-
reliance. Most of these slaves couldn't read or write. So most likely if this slave
escapes he won't be able to do much.

5. point of view of slavery and racism in America at the time

There was an early white slavery of negroes and practices that had been
going on since ancient times. Slavery in America began when Christopher
Columbus discovered the Americas and was followed by British immigrants
living there. The horrific dimensions of this system of slavery were made
worse by the formation of a new area now known as the United States.
There was a slave trade that knew no humanity and the seas between
America-Africa were full of slave ships. More than 200 years of ships
containing black slaves docked in American ports. Since then humans have
been treated like animals and even traded. All historians believe America's
current success is the result of the work of millions of African slaves. The
anguish experienced by American slaves is actually a sad story.

The lives of slaves were miserable, because:

 Every day they have to work hard from sunrise to sunset without
pay and rough treatment.
 For shelter the slaves had to build their own house with roughing
materials.
 To eat, they usually eat rough food.
 In a year only a pair of shoes and clothes roughing by his master.

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  Slaves are not allowed to speak when working with their language.
When you talk, you get punished.
 Slaves should not learn to read and write. But on Sundays they are
allowed to go to church.

There is a way for slave owners in the United States to keep black
slaves. The way it is used is to make the slave or keep the slave forever
know nothing. The master also instilled an attitude of excessive dependency
so that the Slave could not be truly independent, the slaves were very hit
with the matter of self-reliance. Most of these slaves couldn't read or write.
So most likely if this slave escapes he won't be able to do much.

Slaves depend on their owners, both in food and clothing, so that they
are enmeshed in the minds of any slaves whose needs depend and ask from
their owners, in general the pattern that slave owners apply to their slaves is
to create a slave mindset that is a habit to fully depend on the owner or by
trying to train the slave to work but prevent him from learning to take care
of himself. This made the majority of slaves understand nothing except by
obeying their owner's every wish.

Most of the slaves of course worked in the fields. The exact work of
their labor varied according to the plants and abilities of the slaves. In small
farms the owner often tiered hard side by side with his slaves. The majority
of slaves lived and worked in plantations, where men, women and children
worked in groups usually supervised by supervisors. The supervisors often
treated slaves harshly.

The state of black Slaves in the United States was a state of historical
reality filled with discrimination. Harsh treatment as well as interracial
distinction has become commonplace in the life stories of slaves.

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 The film 12 Years a Slave gives a lot of clear picture, of how hard
slavery was committed by white people to negroes. depictions of racism and
slavery connected with learning in British and American studies.

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION
Slavery is a state in which people control or possess others. There are
historians who say that slavery began to arise after the development of
agriculture, about ten-thousand years ago. There were times when prisoners of
war were treated as slaves to work by the captors. Other slaves consisted of
criminals or people who could not pay back debts.

At first the slavery of white people against negroes and practices had been
going on since ancient times. Where the practice was practiced by the
Egyptians against negroes in Africa. The slaves were used in agricultural areas
and on the site of temples.

At first slaves employed in the southern part of America came from West
Africa. Where in West Africa, the population works from agricultural products,
in addition to fishing and hunting. Agricultural products in this region of West
Africa are usually wheat, cotton, rice. The practices of slavery showed the
exploitation of fellow human beings. Slaves are considered property that is
fully controlled by the owners, so it is easy to sell. Slavery as a social institution
is regulated and protected by the state in the southern region.

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 Expected from the film 12 years a slave we are able to understand the
meaning of slavery and also the form of racism in certain people. In the film is
shown like eps and his wife who is very racist and cruel to his slaves.

SUGESTION
The author of course still realizes that the paper still contains many
mistakes and is far from perfect. The author will improve the paper based on
many sources and constructive criticism from readers.
In studying this paper, it is expected that the reader will study the
book as well as relevant sources in order to expand the insight for the reader. So
that from understanding the relevant book or source can strengthen the
knowledge of the information that has been presented in this paper.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://dosensosiologi.com/pengertian-rasisme/
 https://rusydahbintaqur-aniyah.blogspot.com/2014/05/makalah-sistem-
perbudakan-di-amerika.html
 https://www.voaindonesia.com/a/a-32-a-2003-06-17-14-1-
85317742/55504.html
 https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perbudakan_di_Amerika_Serikat
 https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasisme_di_Amerika_Serikat

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