Twelve Years a Slave Lesson Plan

How does Northup describe Epps's eldest son? What is the effect on the reader?

Northup describes the eldest Epps child growing up in/surrounded by the institution of slavery, and explains how even as a young child, he has learned to regard black people as no better than animals. We even see him participating in cruel and violent games, like pretending to be an overseer, to his father’s delight. It would be easy to imagine that at the time, readers sympathetic to Northup would see this is as both tragic and appalling. We can also see that this racist hatred is instilled and taught to children in the south, perpetuating the system of slavery and preventing people from seeing...