Analysis of Power Discipline and Subject Resistance in Twelve Years a Slave from the Perspective of Foucault’s Theory

Twelve Years a Slave is an autobiographical novel written by Solomon Northup, a freeman from the North, after being abducted and sold to a southern plantation as a slave for Twelve years. In the book, slave owners discipline black slaves by using various means of physical punishment. Most of the black slaves were forced to submit, but a few were still firm and confident and had the courage to resist. The book profoundly exposes not only the miserable lives of black slaves, but also praises the courage to resist repression. Based on Foucault’s theory of disciplined power, this paper analyzes the physical, discursive, and spiritual discipline of black slaves by slave owners in Twelve Years a Slave, as well as how black slaves resist under the harsh discipline mechanism, which not only indicts the evil of slavery, but also inspires people to stick to their beliefs and have the courage to redeem themselves in the face of difficulties and injustices.