12 Years a Slave: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Edwin Epps is a gruff, heavy-set man who is “fond of the bottle,” and goes on drinking “sprees” that last two weeks at a time. When he is “in his cups,” he is noisy, abrasive, and loves to make games of whipping his slaves. When he is sober, he is stoic and clever and whips his slaves when they don’t work efficiently enough.

Epps’ primary business is growing and harvesting cotton. Solomon explains to the reader the way cotton is grown, noting that it takes two mules, three slaves, a plow, and a harrow to plant a single row of cotton. Over the next few months, the cotton is hoed, and by August, picking season begins. Each slave picks about two hundred pounds of cotton each day, and they are punished if they don’t meet their quota. Epps’ best cotton-picker, Patsey, picks five hundred pounds of cotton per day.

Solomon explains that the entire cotton-picking process is based on fear. If a slave breaks a cotton branch (which is easy to do and often unavoidable), the slave is severely punished, since “The cotton will not bloom upon a broken branch.” The slaves are given ten minutes during the work day to scarf down their lunch—a small morsel of cold bacon—and then continue working late into the night. At the end of the work day, every slave “approaches the gin-house with his basket of cotton but with fear.” If the day’s harvest weighs too little, the slave is punished. If the day’s harvest weighs more than usual, the slave must pick that same amount for all the days to come.

Epps’ slaves are given one element of choice in their day-to-day lives. Whether they want to grind their weekly portion of cornmeal all at once or a little bit each night is entirely their choice—“A very generous man was Master Epps,” Solomon remarks. The slaves keep their weekly allowance of corn and bacon inside a gourd.

Solomon also describes the slave accommodations at Epps’ plantation. Each slave sleeps on a plank of wood for a bed, a “stick of wood” for a pillow, and a “coarse blanket.” During the stormy season, rain seeps through the cabin, and the slaves sleep while soaking wet. When the slaves rise in the morning and leave their cabin, “the fears and labors of another day begin.”

Solomon describes Epps’ cattle that inhabit the swamplands. The cattle are branded, and then herded toward the swamps, “to roam unrestricted within their almost limitless confines.” Epps also has a garden, though its harvest only feeds the Epps family. By Autumn, “The grass withereth and the flower fadeth” in other parts of the country, but flowers bloom year-round at Bayou Boeuf.