When Eliza starts crying for her children Northup tell her to be quiet and she asks him if he does not miss his children and they start arguing about how Northup “truckles at his boot” and he responds with “I survive, I will not fall into despair. I will offer up my talents to master Ford!” This is when Northup started to give up the idea that he wanted to live. Another indication that made the audience believe that Northup had given up was when Armsby told on him that Northup had asked him to send a letter to the North saying who he really was. When Northup’s master confronted him about it, Northup said that Armsby was lying and Master Epps believed him and let him go. Right after that, Northup goes to the forest and burns the letter. This was another sign that he had given up on trying to be free