Solomon Northup's Cultural Identity In Twelve Years A Slave

Through a detailed textual reading of the well-known African American writer Solomon Northup's narrative Twelve Years a Slave(1853),one of the most important19 th century American slave narratives,and supported with both Stuart Hall's cultural perspectives and Frantz Fanon's psychological explanations of cultural identity,this thesis takes the antebellum free black Americans' identity predicaments as the central issue,focusing its attention on the protagonist Solomon Northup's identity changes in political,social and spiritual dimensions in the story,trying to uncover the causes of and Northup's intentions in portraying these changes with special reference to the racial relations in the 19 th century America.The thesis starts with a review of relevant literary criticisms on the story and a demonstration of its significance.Then it moves to the major section which explores Solomon Northup's identity changes in three various dimensions respectively.In the political dimension,Northup is a born-free black American citizen,then kidnapped and sold into a slave for twelve years,and eventually regains citizenship.In the social dimension,he transforms from an outsider of the black community to an insider and finally a solid defender of the black community.In the spiritual dimension,Northup initially deviates from the white touted Christianity,but is forced to be a servile Christian under the pressure of the atrocity of slavery.After years of enslavement,with secret access to the ungoverned and undisturbed natural spaces around the Louisiana plantation,he refreshes the Christian belief,restores self-assertion and the sense of rebellion.By representing the identity predicaments of the antebellum free blacks or the first generation of African Americans,Northup demonstrates his all-around poignant criticism towards theinhuman American slavery institution and the dreadful impacts of the slavery history and American racism on numerous black Americans cultural identity construction.