Analysis

In relating the stories of his fellow slaves, Northup returns to themes of freedom and justice. He emphasizes the innate human desire to be free, particularly when placed in situations of gross injustice. Wiley’s sad story is an example of that. Though generally quiet and obedient, even he has a limit. After being unfairly beaten for a minor offense, the longing for freedom prompts him to escape, for a time, from Epps’ plantation. Sadly, Wiley’s freedom is short-lived, and he is punished cruelly.

In spite of Wiley’s example, Northup himself cannot stop the stirrings for freedom that burn inside him. He writes, “There was not a day throughout the ten years I belonged to Epps that I did not consult with myself upon the prospect of escape.” Still, the many cases of failed attempts at freedom by his peers were enough to temper his actions. Yet the fact that Northup can relate so many examples of slaves risking everything to be free is again proof of Northup’s overall point: Enslavement of other human beings is an unnatural circumstance, as even the lowliest slave longs to be free.

Commenting on the many injustices southern whites have inflicted on their black slave population, Northup appeals to a final, immutable, spiritual law: Justice. In perhaps an eerie prophecy of the coming horrors of the American Civil War, he warns that there will come a day of vengeance when white slave masters will be called to account through suffering akin to that which they’ve inflicted.