I've been cut off acronym abbreviation initialism difference Northup goes into forensic detail about his life as a slave: the maggots that often infested the bacon they ate; the fear they had of going to sleep in case they failed to wake before sunrise, which would result in lashes with a whip; the simple pleasure of making “coffee” by scorching cornmeal in a pan and adding water; the joy that slaves felt of having a couple of days free each Christmas, during which they could see their friends on nearby plantations.