And, of course, a seventh step is forced illiteracy. The only literature the enslaved are given is scripture. The central proof for Solomon's story is his literacy, and thus it is his greatest liability. If his masters discover he can read and write, he is a dead man.
Perhaps the worst attack on dignity, however, was in turning enslaved against enslaved, actively or passively. Take, for instance, two scenes, almost next to each other. In one, Epps (Michael Fassbender) wants to whip Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), but forces Northup to do it, at gunpoint. Either Northup whips her, or he gets killed. In romantic fiction, he would choose death. This is not fiction. In another scene, Patsey asks Northup to kill her, and free her from her horrible life. Again, in fiction he would do it and we would weep. In fiction.
What do we make of the masters in this film? Is there a single man among these men? They too suffer their own upper-class dismantling. Each one seems inhuman, yet gets surpassed in brutality and bestiality by the next. Freeman (Giamatti) sees nothing but product as he lines up his people. In his world, there are humans, there are beasts of burden, and in between are the enslaved. If the enslaved seems to aspire to humanity, he beats them back into submission.
Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) seems to have a conscience somewhere in his chest in that space where his heart used to beat. He sees himself as a business owner, a manager, working his way out of debt. The slavery becomes a necessity for him to maintain his lifestyle.
Briefly, we meet master Shaw, who has fallen in love with his servant (Alfre Woodard), abandoning his wife for her. And, what do we learn? In the pages of popular fiction, the new Mistress Shaw would resist his advances, and reject any opportunity to sit in the throne of mastery over other enslaved peoples. But, that is romance, not reality. Her lesson is that if you can improve your lot, then you must do it, even if it means you perpetuate the barbarous system upon others while you sit for high tea.
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