Solomon ends the introductory chapter of his memoir with a poignant metaphor, comparing slavery to a dark cloud:
Thus far the history of my life presents nothing whatever unusual—nothing but the common hopes, and loves, and labors of an obscure colored man, making his humble progress in the world. But now I had reached a turning point in my existence—reached the threshold of unutterable wrong, and sorrow, and despair. Now had I approached within the shadow of the cloud, into the thick darkness whereof I was soon to disappear, thenceforward to be hidden from the eyes of all my kindred, and shut out from the sweet light of liberty, for many a weary year.
By ending a happy and lighthearted chapter with this image, Solomon prepares readers for the heaviness in the chapters that follow. His description of “the shadow of the cloud” and “the thick darkness whereof I was soon to disappear” are palpable and communicate how Solomon will soon be quite literally hidden from the people he loves—he has moved far away, given a new name, and unable to contact any of them. None of Solomon’s previous life can penetrate his new life once he is enslaved, as the metaphor makes clear.
Near the beginning of the memoir, when Solomon is describing his life before being kidnapped and sold into slavery, he uses a metaphor to capture his relationship to his children:
They filled our house with gladness. Their young voices were music in our ears. Many an airy castle did their mother and myself build for the little innocents. When not at labor I was always walking with them, clad in their best attire, through the streets and groves of Saratoga. Their presence was my delight.
In comparing his children’s voices to music (and going on to add more lyrical language about them, such as “their presence was my delight”), Solomon makes clear to readers how important his family is to him, and how joyful his life was before he was sold into slavery. By establishing this at the beginning of the book, Solomon ensures that readers will be even more disconcerted by his life as an enslaved person—he likely hopes that white readers will sympathize for him and see their love for their own families mirrored in his.
Solomon’s decision to compare his children’s voices to music is even more poignant as readers come to understand Solomon’s love for music over the course of the book. It is only when playing the violin, for example, that Solomon is able to find small moments of joy during his 12 years of enslavement.
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 Bass finishes his work on Epps’s house and it’s time for him to leave the plantation, Solomon is filled with despair about losing his friend, and communicates this via a simile:
I had clung to him as a drowning man clings to the floating spar, knowing if it slips from his grasp he must forever sink beneath the waves. The all-glorious hope, upon which I had laid such eager hold, was crumbling to ashes in my hands. I felt as if sinking down, down, amidst the bitter waters of Slavery, from the unfathomable depths of which I should never rise again.
By comparing himself to a drowning man clinging to a floating platform, Solomon shows how Bass kept him alive and gave him a real hope of freedom for the first time.
Solomon goes on to add a metaphor that describes how, with Bass leaving, the floating platform of hope onto which he was holding was “crumbling to ashes” in his hands, leaving the waves of slavery to drown him. This is a powerful image that Solomon hopes will communicate to readers his desperation to be free. Slavery, he suggests, is similar to death: by staying enslaved, he feels he will sink to “unfathomable depths.” This extreme language is meant to inspire readers to understand that slavery is a devastating institution that must come to an end.
Throughout 12 Years a Slave, racist white Southerners make it clear that they see Black people as less than human. When Bass asks Epps about the difference between white men and Black men, for example, Epps uses a racist metaphor to compare Black men to animals:
“Now, in the sight of God, what is the difference, Epps, between a white man and a black one?”
“All the difference in the world,” replied Epps. “You might as well ask what the difference is between a white man and a baboon.”
Solomon obviously does not agree with Epps’s assessment that Black people deserve to be compared to animals, but includes this metaphor in order to show the extreme nature of Southern enslavers’ racism. Moments like this are meant to help white readers understand the degrading belief system underlying the institution of slavery and decide to take action to end slavery in the U.S.
It is noteworthy that Epps compares Black people to “baboons,” as one of the racist beliefs popular at this time in U.S. history was that Black people were less evolved than white people and therefore closer to monkeys or apes. With this passage, Solomon is naming (and ultimately challenging, through Bass's character) some of the violent rhetoric in the country at the time.
