12 Years a Slave: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

One morning, in March of 1841, Solomon walks around the Saratoga Springs village, thinking of ways to make a little extra money. Anne is at work twenty miles away with Elizabeth, while Margaret and Alonzo are at their Aunt’s house. As Solomon walks around the town, he comes across two men, Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton, who claim to have heard of Solomon’s extraordinary fiddle-playing abilities.

Brown and Hamilton explain that they’re affiliated with a circus based in Washington D.C. but are in New York to do some sightseeing. They tell Solomon that they’re paying their travel expenses by putting on small shows along the way but have found it difficult to find a musician to accompany them. They ask Solomon to travel with them to New York City as their fiddle player in return for wages. Solomon quickly agrees. Since the whole trip will be short, he decides not to write to Anne about where he is going.

The three men travel by carriage to Albany, and Solomon takes part in that night’s performance—the only performance that Hamilton and Brown put on during the entire time Solomon is with them. The show, which includes “causing invisible pigs to squeal” and “frying pancakes in a hat,” is attended by a handful of people and pulls in very little money.

The following day, the men depart from Albany and reach New York City. Hamilton and Brown urge Solomon to accompany them all the way to Washington D.C. to take part in their circus, which is going to travel north. Hamilton and Brown offer Solomon high wages (and many compliments), so Solomon accepts the offer.

The next morning, Hamilton and Brown tell Solomon to get his free papers, since the group will be traveling to Washington D.C., a slave state. Solomon thinks the papers are a waste of money, and wouldn’t have thought to get the papers if his new friends hadn’t suggested it. Upon retrieving the papers, Solomon places them in his pocket and returns with his new friends to the hotel.

The group arrives in Washington D.C. a few days later. Hamilton and Brown pay Solomon a generous forty-three dollars—more than their agreed-upon rate—claiming that they haven’t put on as many shows during their travels as they intended but still wish to pay Solomon well for accompanying them. They also say that the following day is a big event in the city—General Harrison’s funeral—so the circus will delay its travels northward by a day.

Solomon interjects, explaining to the reader that during this time, he believed that Hamilton and Brown were sincere in their kindness to him, and he trusted them entirely. Between their suggestion that Solomon obtain free papers and the “hundred other little acts” they did for him, Hamilton and Brown appeared as kindly friends committed to keeping Solomon safe and happy. Solomon writes that at the time, he had no idea the men were “subtle and inhuman monsters in the shape of men,” capable of the “great wickedness” that was about to unfold.

Solomon is shown to his room at the back of the hotel. The following day, he watches General Harrison’s funeral unfold in the company of Hamilton and Brown. Throughout the day, the men frequent several bars but drink with moderation and always pour out some alcohol for Solomon, who also drinks moderately and does not get drunk. That night, Solomon grows increasingly ill, plagued by nausea and a pounding migraine. Returning to his sleeping quarters, Solomon tries to sleep off his sickness.

Sometime after midnight, Solomon hears several people enter his room. The people tell Solomon that he needs to see a doctor immediately, so he follows them out into the street but soon loses consciousness. In hindsight, Solomon cannot remember if Hamilton and Brown were among them. He tells the reader that his memory of the entire situation is now “altogether indefinite and vague, and like the memory of a painful dream.”

When Solomon wakes up, he finds himself imprisoned by chains in a small, dark room. He tries to remember how he arrived at this place and where Hamilton and Brown are, but he realizes that there is a huge gap in his memory. Feeling his pockets, Solomon realizes his free papers are gone and that he has been kidnapped. He thinks there must have been some mistake, considering he is a free citizen of New York with a clean criminal record. Solomon begins to weep and pray to God, realizing there is no “trust or mercy in unfeeling man.”