MovieChat Forums > 12 Years a Slave (2013) Discussion > What became of Patsy?

What became of Patsy?

posted 9 years ago by TheMadHattress
2 replies | jump to latest

I just watched '12 Years a Slave' for the first time as for some reason, the film evaded me when it was first released.

I was utterly captivated by the characters of Solomon and Patsy. Fassbender's slave owner was also utterly mesmerizing as someone who paradoxically embodied pure evil and madness and an oddly charismatic side. He really inhabited that character. I flinched whenever he was on screen!

By the end of the film, I couldn't help but wonder what becomes of Patsy? She clearly relied very much on Solomon, even asking her to assist with her suicide. It's clear that Solomon will always feel guilt over Patsy and it was also evident that the physical mistreatment of her was growing worse; singled out for the masters 'affections' and rape, but also the wives physical abuses and mental torment.

I know that the film was based on a real story which I intend to read, but does anyone know what became of Patsy? Did she die a slave?

[–] jamotide 9 years ago

She got freed ten years later during the war

[–] colonel_green 9 years ago

Nobody knows for sure.

From a newspaper clipping located by modern scholars, Union soldiers in Louisiana who visited the Epps plantation during the Civil War reported seeing a slave named Patsy there, though it's unknown if it was the same woman.

The 1900 US census also recorded a Patsy Epps living in the general area of the old Epps plantation, whose approximate age was around what you would have expected Patsy's to be at that point, so it's possible that she lived into the 20th century.