Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave opens with an excerpt from William Cowper’s 1785 blank verse “The Task.” Why do you think Solomon Northup chose these particular words for his epigraph? How does this epigraph support the abolitionist aims and thematic interests of Twelve Years a Slave?

Following the widespread attention of both fictional slave narratives—such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin—and nonfictional slave narratives—such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave—Twelve Years a Slave quickly became a bestseller. Critics of abolitionism, however, scrutinized the book’s details for accuracy and veracity. Examine two to three rhetorical strategies Northup uses throughout Twelve Years a Slave to prove—and illustrate—that his narrative is truthful.

While the chronology and many of the major events in Steve McQueen’s 2013 film adaptation of Twelve Years a Slave remain true to Northup’s memoir, the film changes several details, combining characters, attributing one character’s words to another, and even—in some cases—fictionalizing moments. Analyze at least three changes between the original memoir and the 2013 film. Do you think these changes were necessary, or do you think they detracted from the impact of the book?