The Interpretation of Twelve Years a Slave under Foucault’ s Theory

【Abstract】The novel Twelve Years a Slave which was written by famous American writer Solomon Northup was published in 1853. This paper tries to interprets this novel under Foucault s theories and analyze how these slaves turn into docile machines and shows slaves various resistances under oppression. These resistances expose evil effects of slavery in America and the world and advocates humanitarian spirit， liberty and equality.

【Key words】Discipline and Punishment; Twelve Years a Slave

【作者簡介】郭悅（1997-），女，漢族，黑龍江綏化人，哈爾濱師范大學，碩士，研究方向：英語語言文學美國文學。

1. Introduction of Twelve Years A Slave

Twelve Years A Slave was written by Solomon Northup in 1853 based on his personal experience. It tells a story about a black free man who was kidnapped and had been as a slave for 12 years and finally he was rescued. In 1841， the protagonist Solomon Northup was a carpenter and a violinist who lived in Saratoga Springs New York with his wife and children. One day he met two strangers who offered him a high-paying job as a musician and Northup accepted. However， Northup was cheated when he went to Washington with the two strange white men. Northup was renamed Platt and sold as a slave to the south. As soon as he claimed that he was a freeman， Northup would suffer from being whipped and warned. So he never mentioned that again during the twelve years. Northup and other slaves were sent to New Orleans by ship. During the navigation， Northup tried to send a letter to his friends by asking help from a sailor. The sailor sent the letter to New York successfully. However， Northups friends were unable to rescue him because Northup did not offer his final destination.

Finally Northups friends received letters and came to rescue Northup from the plantation. After 12 years， Northup finally returned to New York and reunited with his family.

2. Power Discourse Theory in Twelve Years a Slave

In Twelve Years a Slave， slaves have no right of discourse， even though they say something true. They are forbidden to talk the way they want because the talking conditions are limited including places and time even the person to speak to. If slaves forbid these rules they would suffer the cruelest torment in both mind and flesh. That is to say， slaves have no right to express themselves freely. Solomon was called Platt during the 12 years when he was a slave. From then on， he has no right to say something only when the slave owners let them say and the content must be fixed. So slaves are all quiet for they are scared of forbidding the rules. They do not dare to argue because they know their words are unimportant， impotent even untruthful. So they spend their miserable lives in silence and they know any mutinous actions or argument would bring slave owners insult， verbal abuse even whipping and maltreatment.

3. Elizas “Madness”

Psychological trauma deepens day by day so the slaves were in a state of madness. In Twelve Years a Slave， black slave woman， Eliza was sold with her two children. Her original master brought her into Washington and had lived with her for 9 years. However， she was cheated and sold as a slave. Finally her children were sold to other slave owners which means she must leave her children. After that， Eliza became “mad”. She missed her children too much to go back her normal life. In the eye of others， Eliza was a madman. Actually Eliza was the product of the slavery civilization. She was a black slave woman and she was a mother too. Her two children were so cute and too young to take care of themselves. However she must be forced to leave them. She cried all day and unceasingly told others about children. She ate nothing and became thinner and thinner gradually for she worried about them and finally died.

Elizas madness is actually a kind of negative resistance. She immerses herself in her own world and imagines her two children together with her all day. The slave owners could do nothing. She made silent protests against slavery and the slave owners who sold her children. She did not eat or drink， she became thinner and thinner and soon she passed away. This was actually a kind of punishment to the slave owner who bought her back because the money was wasted. He did not get the return on the labor value.

4. Conclusion

There are profound realistic critical effects in Twelve Years a Slave. The racism still exists in today society. Although the slavery has become a historical event and African American could obtain their natural rights. In todays America， the blacks play very important roles in every territory such as politics， economy， science and art. There are still all kinds of unequal treatments between the White and the Black because of the American racialism. This paper not only dedicate to those who had suffered cruel slavery but also to those people who are suffering from enslavement right now.

References：

[1]Foucault， Michel. Discipline and punish： The Birth of the Prison[J]. 1987.

[2]Northup， Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave[J]. Penguin Classics，2012.