12 Years a Slave · written by John Ridley and Steve McQueen · 2013

Yarney gives Solomon seventeen dollars collected by the delighted party guests, marveling that the money makes him wealthy by plantation standards.

Scene 167 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Yarney
Solomon

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:46 into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 167

After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.

Scenes 1–29
Solomon lives freely in Saratoga as a husband, father, worker, and musician.
Scenes 30–65
Kidnapped and held under the imposed name Platt, Solomon must preserve his life and identity.
Scenes 66–123
He enters plantation life under Ford, passes through Tibeats’s violence and the near-lynching, and is transferred to Epps.
Scene 124
Solomon is transferred to Epps’s plantation and placed among Patsey and the enslaved workers, opening the harsher final plantation phase.
Just before
Scene 164
Solomon catches a duck by the riverbank and removes one of its feathers.
Scene 165
Solomon tries to use crushed berries as ink with the feather and stolen paper, but the liquid runs too freely.
Scene 166
Solomon plays his fiddle at a party at Yarney’s house, entertaining the guests as they dance.
Scene 167
This scene

167INT. YARNEY'S HOUSE/STUDY - LATER

Gay voices filter from the main room as off in a study stand Solomon and Yarney. A very pleased Mr. Yarney is presenting Solomon with 17 dollars in coins.

YARNEY

I have never seen it before; merry

makers so pleased with a

performance they take up a

contribution. Seventeen dollars,

Platt. I'd say that'd make you a

millionaire among niggers.

Certainly the wealthiest on the

Bayou. And how will you spend it?

Furniture for your cabin, a pocket

knife, perhaps. A coat, hat?

Some smart new shoes.

SOLOMON

I cannot say. I am too amazed by

the amount.

YARNEY

Seventeen dollars. The world is

yours.