Solomon takes the time to describe the inside of the slave pen where he is confined, an example of the use of imagery:
The yard extended rearward from the house about thirty feet. In one part of the wall there was a strongly ironed door, opening into a narrow, covered passage, leading along one side of the house into the street. The doom of the colored man, upon whom the door leading out of that narrow passage closed, was sealed […] Underneath the roof there was a crazy loft all round, where slaves, if so disposed, might sleep at night, or in inclement weather seek shelter from the storm. It was like a farmer’s barnyard in most respects, save it was so constructed that the outside world could never see the human cattle that were herded there.
While the literal description of the pen is important in terms of keeping readers in the scene (Solomon takes pains to describe the length of the yard, the material of the door, etc.), the figurative language adds critical texture to the scene, such as Solomon’s description of how the door sealed “the doom of the colored man.”
The imagery of the barnyard also goes hand in hand with the metaphor Solomon includes, likening the kidnapped people to “human cattle,” a poignant comparison that effectively links farmers’ treatment of animals to the dehumanizing effects of slavery. The slave pen, Solomon shows through imagery, is a combination of a prison and a barn—he is neither an animal nor a criminal yet is treated as if he is, merely because he is Black.
When Solomon describes his attempt at running away from the cruel enslaver Tibeats, he uses imagery to communicate the terror of his experience:
Every few moments I could hear the yelpings of the dogs. They were gaining upon me. Every howl was nearer and nearer. Each moment I expected they would spring upon my back—expected to feel their long teeth sinking into my flesh. There were so many of them, I knew they would tear me to pieces, that they would worry me, at once, to death. I gasped for breath.
Solomon’s language makes it possible for readers to hear the howls of the dogs, feel the dogs’ teeth “sinking into” his back, and feel Solomon gasping for breath. The imagery he uses is not merely visual but also auditory and tactile.
These details come together to demonstrate to readers the risk that enslaved people take when they try to find freedom. In taking the time to capture all of the specificities of this experience, Solomon hopes readers will understand that the experience of enslavement is terrifying and traumatic on several different levels all at once. He hopes that this, in turn, will inspire them to join the Abolitionist movement and push for an end to such a violent institution.
Several times throughout his memoir, Solomon uses imagery of light and dark to communicate feelings of hope and despair, forming a motif. For example, after a white steamboat captain refuses to help Solomon find freedom in Chapter 14, Solomon expresses his hopelessness as so:
I was compelled to smother the sudden flame that lighted up my bosom with sweet hopes of liberation, and turn my steps once more towards the increasing darkness of despair.
Later, in Chapter 16, Solomon burns the letter that he was going to give Armsby to mail for him (after Armsby betrays him by telling Epps about his plan). He again communicates his hopelessness with similar imagery:
The hope of rescue was the only light that cast a ray of comfort on my heart. That was now flickering, faint and low; another breath of disappointment would extinguish it altogether, leaving me to grope in midnight darkness to the end of life.
Both these passages include similar language—in the first he describes a “sudden flame” turning into darkness, while in the second he writes of a light “flickering, faint and low” that will soon be extinguished, leaving him in “midnight darkness.” Moments like this encourage readers to visualize Solomon’s despair and also to feel it, as both descriptions of the light also communicate the light as a warm flame or fire.
These moments help white readers understand the precarity of Solomon’s situation—if one of the few white people he comes into contact with refuses to help him, he is genuinely left without options. These descriptions also encourage white readers to reflect on their position as people who could free enslaved Black people like Solomon by helping to abolish slavery.
Several times throughout his memoir, Solomon uses imagery of light and dark to communicate feelings of hope and despair, forming a motif. For example, after a white steamboat captain refuses to help Solomon find freedom in Chapter 14, Solomon expresses his hopelessness as so:
I was compelled to smother the sudden flame that lighted up my bosom with sweet hopes of liberation, and turn my steps once more towards the increasing darkness of despair.
Later, in Chapter 16, Solomon burns the letter that he was going to give Armsby to mail for him (after Armsby betrays him by telling Epps about his plan). He again communicates his hopelessness with similar imagery:
The hope of rescue was the only light that cast a ray of comfort on my heart. That was now flickering, faint and low; another breath of disappointment would extinguish it altogether, leaving me to grope in midnight darkness to the end of life.
Both these passages include similar language—in the first he describes a “sudden flame” turning into darkness, while in the second he writes of a light “flickering, faint and low” that will soon be extinguished, leaving him in “midnight darkness.” Moments like this encourage readers to visualize Solomon’s despair and also to feel it, as both descriptions of the light also communicate the light as a warm flame or fire.
These moments help white readers understand the precarity of Solomon’s situation—if one of the few white people he comes into contact with refuses to help him, he is genuinely left without options. These descriptions also encourage white readers to reflect on their position as people who could free enslaved Black people like Solomon by helping to abolish slavery.
