Instructions Read the source. Answer each free response question below. Your answers will be graded with the SAQ rubric. Source Read and respond to the following excerpt from 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup: “I did insist upon it, and then the blows were renewed, faster and more energetically, if possible, than before. When again tired, he would repeat the same question, and receiving the same answer, continue his cruel labor. All this time, the incarnate devil was uttering most fiendish oaths. At length the paddle broke, leaving the useless handle in his hand. Still I would not yield. All his brutal blows could not force from my lips the foul lie that I was a slave. Casting madly on the floor the handle of the broken paddle, he seized the rope. This was far more painful than the other. I struggled with all my power, but it was in vain. I prayed for mercy, but my prayer was only answered with imprecations and with stripes. I thought I must die beneath the lashes of the accursed brute. Even now the flesh crawls upon my bones, as I recall the scene. I was all on fire. My sufferings I can compare to nothing else than the burning agonies of hell!” SAQ Identify the different methods of physical torture employed by the slave owner against Solomon Northup in this excerpt. Explain how Northup’s refusal to admit he is a slave, despite the brutal torture, exemplifies his unwavering resistance and determination to maintain his identity as a free man. Examine the slave owner’s actions and behavior in this passage. How do they illustrate the dehumanizing nature of slavery? Interpret Northup’s comparison of his suffering to “the burning agonies of hell.” How does this metaphor effectively convey the intensity of his physical and emotional pain? Resource Northup, Solomon. Excerpt from “Twelve Years a Slave.” Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, 1853, pp. 78–82. Courtesy of historymatters.gmu.edu.
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