Master Epps and Mistress Epps were an example of what immoral things they wanted slaves to do to others. They handed Northup a whip in which he was given orders to whip anyone who was working slowly. If he didn't do the job he was asked to do, there was a whip waiting for him. He never thought that he would commit the immoral act of making others suffer as they were doing to him. He did everything he could to avoid hurting others and himself. He had no choice whether to refuse this order because he would have to do what he was told without hesitation. It seems that his masters' abuse of him has affected him because he must do his duty rather than suffer the pain himself to avoid punishment. His role as tormentor is avoided when Epps and the overseers are gone, but he brings up the idea that “It's not the slaveholder's fault that he's cruel, it's the fault of the system under which he lives. "He is suggesting that slave owners are only cruel because of the way society wants white people to think of black men and women. He understood this when he was told to follow this order. This has not only a impact on the slaves but it also impacts the community because it shows that other slaves can have control over their slave