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Observation Essay
The events that transpired during a period of two consecutive days in a rundown, cold
and dark cell at the back of a building, and a nearby yard, in the city of Washington D.C. in 1841
are focused on a man named Solomon Northup. The observations recorded during this period
may prove pertinent to find out how power dynamics set the basis of a relationship between
oppressors and the oppressed, once the institutionalization process begins.
On the evening of 22nd March, 1841, I sat perched on the edge of an exposed brick in the
wall, and began observing an unconscious, black man slumped over the floor in a room which
had no openings except for a large, solid door and a barred, clerestory aperture through which a
meagre amount of light was illuminating space around the unconscious man. Though
unconscious, the man was sweating and had been chained to the wall. After several hours the
