12 Years a Beloved Slave: The Women of Slavery

The Oscar winning film 12 Years a Slave and Toni Morrison's Beloved share the theme of slavery, but more so have a connection between the women in each story. Each story includes the theme of slavery but in two different ways. In Beloved, slavery was inevitable for Sethe, as she was born into slavery and had to run away from the act of slavery with the emotional baggage forever embedded in her. 12 Years a Slave is centered around Solomon, a free man who was fooled and sold into slavery, so his experience was much different since he had had the opportunity to be educated. His journey was about dumbing himself down to survive and finding a way to get back to his family. Through his journey, however, we encounter the lives of Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), and "The Crying Woman," who do mirror the life of Sethe in Beloved.

 Sethe's memories of slavery were brutal because she was the only woman amongst a house of men and a woman who later became unable to care for herself, let alone maintain the slaves when her husband died. So when she called in schoolteacher, Sethe's life changed for the worst, and that sparked her plan to run away. The men stealing Sethe's milk and the chokecherry tree put on her back mirror Patsey's whipping by Solomon. Neither woman had done anything so wrong that they deserved to be brutally beaten. This emphasizes that slavery for women was more difficult because no matter who they pleased, how hard they worked, they were not humans, but seen as animals and sex slaves, a direct reflection we see in Beloved as Seth witnesses men listing her "animal characteristics." Patsey, from 12 Years a Slave, on the other hand, was the most valuable slave on her plantation, and she was raped by her master, which only angered his wife. As explained in the article by Andrea Livesy, "Patsey is the victim of both the mastering the mistress--the master sexually assaults her and the white mistress, instead of sympathizing with her plight, subjects her to psychological and physical abuse."

Patsey was beaten simply because she left to get some soap to clean herself, but her jealous master had made up in his mind that she went to have sex with another man. This scene carried the idea that the master's mindset was along the lines of "You are my dog on my leash, you do not escape from my leash without consequences," but because his lust for her body was more powerful, he could not beat her himself and would not have done it if his wife were not there egging him on. Sethe and Patsey are similar in that both were treated as objects by men and were punished simply because men wanted to assert their authority on those who were subjected to respect them, those who were powerless. These beatings left Patsey begging Solomon to kill her and Sethe unable to fully live off of the freedom she had acquired.

"The Crying Woman" is the character from the film who cried for most of the movie because she had been separated from her children. She had been beaten for crying and all she did was cry louder. The mistress at her new "home" told her that she would soon forget them, as she had not and never would, but that was the only amount of consolation she received. According to Paul D (from Beloved), the woman made the mistake of loving her children too much, which was why the pain was unbearable. Forgetting children was something Beloved's Baby Suggs found herself doing, and even Sethe's ma'am made herself barely recognizable to Sethe as a child. They all knew how slavery worked, and that their lives were not their own. In the article "A Life More Terrible: The Women of 12 Years a Slave," from the conversation.com, Andrea Livesy emphasizes how women were perceived during slavery, saying that "The status of these people as "non-human" was so ingrained in the American psyche that even the rape of an enslaved woman could only be brought to court if it was considered to be a "trespass" on someone else's property."This reinforces how women's identities were taken from them, and their human characteristics were ignored. Women were seen as breeders, not mothers, wives, sisters, or aunts. Baby Suggs, Paul D, and Sethe's ma'am understood this, so they tried not to attach themselves to their children or if they did, they let go of them quickly. "The Crying Woman," and Sethe saw themselves as mothers, which is why both of them were in excruciating amounts of pain. "The Crying Woman" cried for her children every time she was seen on camera, and she was beat for it. Sethe killed one of her children in fear of them having to succumb the hardships of slavery.

A Life More Terrible: The Women of 12 Years a Slave

Snitches Get Stitches

        Retro 3's by Bria Williams    
     Kim comes from a powerful Jamaican family. She has just turned eighteen and moved to America to bring the “family business” to Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents are taking a humongous risk trusting Kim with introducing their family’s business to a dangerous American city known for their abundance of gangs and drug dealers. Her parents have sent employees to Baltimore with her for protection and anything else she may need. Kim lives in East Baltimore and her employees work in West Baltimore. There is a well-known drug dealer who goes by Big D. Word on the street is the “D” stands for “dope.” Everyone works for Big D, and all those who have presented themselves as competition to him have died. These employees are good at their job in Jamaica, but they do not have any power in Baltimore. They are finding it hard to demand respect in an unknown land where people are scared to go against Big D. But Kim promised her family she could get the job done, so she has to do some recruiting herself, she needs people who are fearless and loyal.

 Kim hangs around Parker High School in West Baltimore, a school infamous for students constantly selling drugs, participating in gang wars, race wars, drug wars, and deaths. Someone was always dying at Parker High School. The truth is, these kids have been brainwashed and petrified by Big D. They are under the impression that drugs are the only way to a successful life. Almost everyone is under Big D’s control, but not everyone. After watching the school’s behavior closely for a couple of months, Kim noted that one kid, Ellis, had absolutely no part in all of the madness. It was almost as if he were immune to the Big D’s chaotic world. He was well-known, but steered clear of the path of drugs and death. Kim sent one of her employees to get Ellis and bring him to the house for a chat. Kim told Ellis what she noticed, and she asked him why he was so distant, or allowed to be distant, he shrugged his shoulders, saying, “Guess I ain’t got nuffin ‘ ta offer Big D.” Kim told him to work for her, that she came from a very powerful family in Jamaica, and that he would be under protection from Big D if he agreed to sell for her. He agreed.

Ellis was a good addition to the staff, in just three days he had brought Kim over $700. But a week later, Kim’s house was broken into. She was asleep when she heard a gunshot. She grabbed an M3 from underneath her bed and slid out of her room. Her employees were all dead, there were two men, shadows rather, talking at the bottom of the staircaseKim couldn’t hear them, but she aimed at one of the shadows and fired. Bull’s-eye. The other shadow looked in her direction but she was gone. She slipped through the back door and was blind-sided with a bullet. Kim fell to the ground and was taken into a car. She opened her eyes to see Big D’s face. He scolded her for trying to come into competition with his business and asked her where she was from, she said nothing. Big D tells her that she fell right into his trap, and that Ellis was indeed working for him. The shadow that Kim killed was Ellis. Big D had no remorse, saying “Snitches get stitches,” then he shot Kim in the head, threw her body out of the car, and pulled off.

Paths of Slaughterhouse Five

Themes:

     In Slaughterhouse Five, there are themes evident of privates, the lesser known of the war officers, and prisoners of war, people who have no say in what happens next. However, it would be safe to say that everyone involved in war is a prisoner, trapped in a box where the only ways out are death and victory. Billy becomes a prisoner of the Germans, and the three unlucky soldiers randomly selected to be arrested and charged with cowardice in the film Paths of Glory become prisoners of their own country. They become trapped with no fair way out, and are put to death unjustly. What makes this so heart-wrenching is that they went to war with the French and for the French, and then were killed by the French simply because they did not want to participate in a suicide mission. Now let us address this suicide mission the men were ordered to carry out. The French knew it was a suicide mission, and when the troops were ordered to carry out the mission, some moved out of the trenches and were killed instantly, while others never left the trenches, and then there were the soldiers in between who decided to leave the trenches, then retreated back. One of the soldiers that was charged with cowardice and sentenced to death reminded me of Billy because he was a part of the group who did not leave the trenches at all because he saw no point in it, just as Billy kept zoning out, this character seemed to have the same sort of character traits. The difference between the two is that Billy was captured and this man was sentenced to death, killed by his own men. The Colonel who was yelling at his men, telling them to leave the trenches before they were killed by French guns was ironically similar to Weary because he was trying to save his men, just as Weary was trying to save Billy. Slaughterhouse Five highlighted the roles of the privates, and the film showed all aspects of officials, but it seemed as though the lower the rank of the official, the more influence they seemed to have on the current situation.

Tone:

     The tone in Slaughterhouse Five, particularly chapter two when reading about Billy actually at war, was very similar to watching the war scenes in the beginning of the film. While reading chapter two, there was a very ominous tone, and I found myself reading faster to see what was going to happen next, the anticipation of them getting captured or shot at was killing me, and I felt the exact same way when a Lieutenant and two soldiers were out on night patrol, crawling on the ground to get to the Anthill. I felt my heart start to speed up while watching that scene, and I went through the same emotions I went through when reading chapter two.