Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau and the Voices of the Oppressed

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an 19th century novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that is basically a canon of masterpieces that depict the cruelties of slavery throughout this time period. Stowe uses her novel to spread her opinions of slavery throughout the United States at this time while using typology to tie the whole problem of slavery into Christianity. Uncle Tom’s Cabin shows that a person’s attitude toward religion intertwines with attitude towards slavery. The story follows the characters of Uncle Tom, Eliza, Eva, the St. Clare’s, and

Through Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe communicates to readers that slavery is morally corrupt, by showing the wrong in slave owner's actions, the struggles and heartaches slaves were put through, and how faith and religion ultimately contradicted all that slavery encompassed.

Another place in the text where Stowe’s theme becomes clearer to readers in in chapter twenty when St. Clare exclaims, “That’s you Christians, all over!—you’ll get up a society and get some poor missionary to spend all his days among just such heathen. But let me see one of you that would take one into your house with you, and take the labor of their conversation on yourselves! No; when it comes to that, they are dirty and disagreeable, and it’s too much care, and so on (866).” St. Clare recognizes the evil of slavery himself but is afraid free his slaves in order to become a “Christian.” He is more than willing to point out all the problems

But I do not agree with this. I feel that Stowe was just trying to spread awareness and let people know the extreme experiences that slaves were actually put through. I feel that this is very different then promoting racial stereotypes. In a way I feel like this is challenging them more because it is more real and honest. This novel says it how it was there was no sugar coating whatsoever. This to me was a great approach because it was better at spreading awareness of what all those people actually went through.

One of the things Harriet Beecher Stowe is known for in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is her many literary devices in her writing that have hidden meanings which emphasizes her abolitionist views. She is an effective author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin because her literary devices such as symbolism reiterate her very strong abolitionist views. Firstly, an example of Harriet Beecher Stowe using a character to help her anti-slavery views is during a dialogue between Evangeline and her father, Augustine St. Clare. Her father calls her over to show a statuette that he had bought just for her, and Eva tells him about her feelings that have been suppressed. She says to him, “‘O, that’s what troubles me, papa. You want me to live so happy, and to never have any pain,-never suffer anything,-not even hear a sad story, when other poor creatures have nothing but pain or sorrow, all their lives; … Papa, isn’t

Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of the most influential writers from the 19th century. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” brings up many ideals about history and culture. Stowe supports ideals of American exceptionalism such as slavery, christianity, and equality through earlier periods in American history. American identity has been created and explored in literature ranging from the days of the conquistadores and the early settlers to the middle of the nineteenth century. White Americans have had greater opportunities than anyone else since the beginning of time. This may seem racist, but it is the truth. In “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” the slave owners were all white. The slaves were African American. African-Americans weren’t allowed to own property, have their

Harriet Beecher Stowe Elisabeth is most famous for being an abolitionist toward slavery. Harriet was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811. He was the seventh of 13 children. Stowe was born religious leader Lyman Beecher and his wife Roxana, an extremely religious woman who died when Harriet was just five years old. Brothers Harriet 's include a sister, Catharine Beecher, was an educator and author, as well as brothers who became ministers whose names are Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, and Henry Ward Beecher, an abolitionist famous. Harriet enrolled in the seminary which was directed by her sister Catharine, where she received a traditionally "male" education in the classics, including the study of languages and mathematics. Among her classmates there was Sarah P. Willis, who later wrote under the pseudonym Fanny Fern. At age 21, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to join his father, who had become president of Lane Theological Seminary. There, she also joined the Semi-Colon Club, a literary salon and social club whose members include Beecher sisters, Caroline Lee Hentz, Salmon P. Chase, Emily Blackwell, and others. It was in that group that met Calvin Ellis Stowe, a widower and professor at the seminary. The two were married on January 6, 1836. He was an ardent critic of slavery, Stowe and supported the Underground Railroad, which temporarily houses several fugitive slaves in their home. They had seven children, including two twin daughters.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin may never be seen as a great literary work, because of its didactic nature, but it will always be known as great literature because of the reflection of the past and the impact on the present. Harriet Beecher Stowe seemed destined to write great protest novels like Uncle Tom’s Cabin: her father was Lyman Beecher, a prominent evangelical preacher, and her siblings were preachers and social reformers. Born in 1811 in Litchfeild, Connecticut, Stowe moved with her family at the age of twenty-one to Cincinnati. During the eighteen years she lived there she was exposed to slavery. Although her only personal contact with the south was a brief trip to

Harriet Beecher Stowe is a young girl who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852. She used her talent in literature to express her thoughts of slavery—Slaves should have the same rights as other Americans. Slavery should be prohibited because it is a great moral problem.

In this quote, the readers have the ability to see the terrible conditions in which many had to undergo, as many were not given the proper rights white citizens of the state would have received. This supports Stowe’s goal of bringing awareness to those on the degrading nature of slavery.

Two men, similar in their transcendentalist beliefs and yet so different in their methods of expressing their beliefs on handling the issues of society, were major voices in the anti-slavery movement. While their focuses are more on the subjects of morality and individual choice, they still reflect on how slavery should be addressed by the American people, American referring to the free whites who actually make the decisions. Ralph Waldo Emerson is highly regarded for his views on Transcendentalism during what some of deemed the “American Renaissance.” Emerson establishes his place in history by expressing his liberal agenda through his beliefs that truth is

Through the character of Mrs. Shelby, Stowe seems to use her opposition against slavery the most. Mrs. Shelby's character realizes that slavery is unfair, unjust, and most of all unchristian. This theme of opposition of slavery can be compared to that of Henry David Thoreau, a transcendentalist in early American history. Thoreau was the

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was by no means a factual book. In fact, most, if not all of the events were completely made up. How then can a completely fictional book change the lives of so many? It comes from the power of Stowe’s rhetoric in conjunction with her target audience. Stowe was a white Christian female. She believed slavery was completely wrong and wanted to make a change. But how could she? She was a woman after all and during that time period women simply did not effect change through politics. According to Susan Harris, a respected Stowe researcher, “The men are not evil, but they are involved in the public world” (Harris). However influencing politics was the only way things were going to change and Stowe knew this. She henceforth targeted the white Christian mothers because they in turn could influence their men to make changes in the male dominant society of politics. A perfect method by which to achieve a change in slavery laws indirectly. Stowe especially used the power of sentimentalism to connect with her audience. She did not need facts or evidence, all she needed to effect change in the hearts of the women was a general feel for the subject. The women of that day were very sensitive and yet very powerful in the home. Stowe capitalized on this by using the Christ figures of Tom and Eva and their experiences during the slavery era to evoke a feeling of compassion for them in her audience. By using more emotion and targeting the human aspect of

So Stowe was accurate in portraying Eva’s mother as thinking slaves did not need to read and also accurate in her view of slaves in general. She viewed slaves as inferior when she said slaves were “not made for anything else” but for work (Stowe 286). This is an example or one theme in Stowe’s novel that is right in line with current historical research.

As many people say history was written by the victors, we need to remember there would be no victors without the struggle and turmoil of those that lost. This is what Harriet Beecher Stowe’s compelling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin has taught us in regards to the war on slavery. In the midst of the 1800’s, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to address the various issues regarding race during this century. Throughout her novel, readers learn the lives of slaves, slave masters, and their families, which leads to the understanding of a unique lifestyle among the characters. As her novel is important in today’s society, it made an even greater impact during the nineteenth century as it portrays the ideology of the Civil War and the abolitionists.