The topic of slavery in the United States has always been controversial, as many people living in the South supported it and many people living in the North were against it. Although it was abolished during the Civil War before the beginning of the 20th century, different opinions on the subject still exist today. Written in 1853, the book Twelve Years a Slave is a first-person account of what it meant for Solomon Northup to be taken captive from his free life in the North and sold to a plantation as a slave in the South, and of his struggle to regain his freedom. By writing on the themes of anonymity, inhumanity, suffering, distrust, defiance, and the desire for freedom, Northup was able to expose the experiences and realities of slavery. Since Northup wrote this book himself, he was able to provide readers with the truth and truth. the experiences of life as a slave in the South. The beautiful experiences Northup wrote about seemed to be few and far between in the story, but the moments were great. At the beginning of the story, he talked about being with his family and the experience of being a free black man in the North. Once his freedom and family were taken away, the next good experience he talked about was when he met friends, on boat trips or on plantations. These friends, although he was once free and most of them were not, had many things in common with Northup and all had similar views on slavery. A third positive experience Solomon wrote about was when officials came to Ebbs' plantation to take him back north to freedom, which Ebbs could not believe. Although Ebbs wasn't happy about it, Solomon was excited to be back up North and with his family. Reuniting with family after... half of the card... opposite. Obviously during the time that slavery occurred, there were opposing opinions on the subject: the majority of the South was for slavery and the majority of the North was against slavery. Solomon Northup's first-person account provided insight into what really happened in slavery and was able to uncover a piece of America's larger history. In addition to being personal, his story was also unique, as he managed to tell his story from both the perspective of a free man and that of a slave. He was able to expose the true aspects of slavery through his themes of anonymity, inhumanity, struggle, mistrust, defiance, and the desire for freedom. Northup also told the reader about his positive and negative experiences during this time, so that he or she really got a decent effect from what he or she experienced. This book seemed to open society's eyes to such a sad and controversial topic.