Daily Dialogue — September 2, 2014

“If you want to survive, do and say as little as possible. Tell no one who you really are and tell no one that you can read and write. Unless you want to be a dead nigger.”

— 12 Years a Slave (2013), screenplay by John Ridley, based on a memoir by Solomon Northup

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Abduction.

Trivia: The tree where Solomon Northup sees several men being lynched was actually used for lynching and is surrounded by the graves of murdered slaves.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This is critical dialogue as it gives voice to the survival mode Solomon adopts once he has been abducted and taken south. Some might say that leads to a passive protagonist, however that underscores the powerlessness of being a slave.

If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please head to comments.