Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom 's Cabin

In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe uses the character of Augustine St. Clare to play a very important role in expressing her views of abolition to the reader throughout the novel. St. Clare is, in himself, a huge contradiction of a character, as his way of life is supported by the same system that he despises, slavery. St. Clare professes multiple times in the book that slavery is wrong, yet he holds slaves and refuses to release them, making him a hypocrite whose morals are right, mainly because of his mother, but he is unwilling to do the right thing. St. Clare symbolizes some of the southern slave owners at the time who knew that slavery was a sin and an act against God, but refused to stand up and stop it. St. Clare is such an essential character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and he is an important part of the overall message of the novel and Stowe’s interjection of her abolitionist views that are throughout the novel.

This is hypocritical in that the white men make these values and traditions a staple of their lives, yet when it comes to slaves, they seem to go away. He also believes that, though he will use “the severest language”(Douglass) he can, he firmly believes that “not one word shall escape me that any man whose… not blinded by prejudice, or… a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just”(Douglass). So he sincerely believes that the average human being also knows that the treatment of slaves is unjust and unethical, but they choose not to act on these thoughts. His view, coming from the eyes and thoughts of slaves across America, show how hypocritical the nation actually is in both one sided values and not acting upon their knowledge that what is going on is wrong.

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe for the first time. The book that the former president is referring to is Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a 1850s book about the moral wrongs of slavery. It has been said to be the most influential anti-slavery book that has ever been written. Harriet Beecher Stowe is an effective author. She uses numerous literary devices such as facile characters, character foils, and symbolism to highlight her abolitionist views and constructs a persuasive argument against slavery.

“A person held in servitude as the chattel of another” (Slave, n.d.). This is the definition of a “slave”. The most well-known cases of slavery occurred during the settlement of America, for well over 300 years, slavery was allowed and for the most part considered the “norm” within our country. There were many eradicators who made an attempt to end slavery, as we know at some point; they were successful at doing so. One very influential person was, Fredrick Douglas, he along with many others, were extraordinary influences in the anti-slavery movement. Douglas was known for being a social reformer, author, journalist, women’s and human rights activist, a publisher and an abolitionist all in one. He helped to shape and strengthen our nation and try to make it one with equality as possible. Dedicating his life to fighting for justice for all Americans, specifically African-Americans and minority groups. Frederick Douglass rose from slavery, this fact itself inspired him to do so much more than just write about what it was to be a slave. He turn into one of the leading African-American voices. Douglass would eventually become the best-known abolitionist in the country and the most famous black American of his time. As an alternative to only arguing against slavery, Douglass took a different approach, he asked some hard questions about what freedom really is. The speech by Fredrick Douglas, entitled “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” represents just that. It express his discontent for the way the slaves were been treated while using sarcasm to prove his point that the slaves are entitles to their freedom, liberty and all American democracy.

In his speech, Douglass included a powerful pathos appeal by explaining the horrible conditions the slaves were forced to endure, causing his listeners to pity these slaves and feel the desire to help. “...it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty , to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow-men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters,” is how Douglass painted an emotional,vivid, and depressing picture of what the slaves went through every single day. In addition to using a pathos appeal, Douglass also incorporated a careful, but strong diction. “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July” was a very important speech for Douglass, leading him to be very careful with his words. He used an extensive vocabulary to prove to the audience that he was qualified enough to give his famous speech. Douglass was trying to successfully get his point across, while also being sure to not upset his audience. “The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable - and the difficulties to be

Before delving into the observations of Henry Highland Garnet’s and Frederick Douglass’s view on slavery, it is first important to discuss how slaves were generally viewed. During the 19th century, slaves had one goal and one goal only: to flee north. The voyage to freedom was anything but easy. Because of the perceived disloyalty a runaway slave display towards his/her owner, slave owners often issues bounties for the retrieval of their slaves. If the slave were returned, they would surely be hanged, tortured, or starved to death to illustrate to other slaves the consequences of a disloyal servant. Supporters of slavery believed that if slavery was abolished, then the economy in the south would plummet faster than a shooting star. Because of the unprecedented revenue the South received from cotton sales, the majority of their reliance was on slave labor. However, abolitionists such as Garnet and Douglass not only believe that a black man had equal worth to a white man, but they also firmly demanded that a change be brought about. Over time, abolitionist became more persistent in their demands, fueling many intellectual discussions. Amongst these intellectual discussions was Garnet’s unsuccessful but brilliant speech addressing slaves and Douglas’s historic speech on the meaning of the fourth of July to a slave.

Douglass’ speech supported the abolitionist movement of the 1850s, which lasted until after slavery ended nationally in 1865. The location and timing of this speech are extremely vital in the components within it; had it been given on a different day the outcome may not have been the same. Frederick Douglass gave this speech on the day after America’s celebrated national Independence Day. This day is relative to slavery as it elaborately exposes the injustice and unequal treatment of fellow humans. This is one topic that Douglass expressed passionately as the white man was celebrating his independence as the black man was still in chains. “He characterized the Fourth of July as a hypocritical sham from the point of view of the millions living in the country who were still enslaved” and had not ever lived a day of a free white man (Bibby). Douglass said, “Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us,” which shows that during this time period there was a wide gap in treatment of individuals solely based on the color of their skin (Douglass 1236). Through Frederick Douglass’ speech it is evident that there was strong racial divide even without knowledge of the context. Slavery was ongoing while this speech was given, and Douglass made several claims throughout validating abolitionists views; that slavery was brutal and morally wrong.

Through his crafty use of rhetoric, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of America in his self-referential speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” The speech articulated his passionate pursuit for liberty and equal rights. Douglass’s speech passionately argued that in the eyes of the slave and even the “free” black

He states “This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” (What to the Slave) He mentions due to this because in 1852 at the time of this speech slavery was still happening. He effectively argues that this anniversary doesn’t include him but it reveals the distance between the day and himself. Douglass mentions how that there isn’t a nation guiltier of practices, more shocking and bloody, than the people of the United States. (What to the Slave) Douglass also argues that something as slavery is not divine but inhumane and that God did not establish this pro-slavery blasphemy, that it is cruelty in his nature. He states that “it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submit to their masters.” (What to the

He has shown that the “blessings in which you, this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common” (124). With the purpose of his speech firmly defined, he now has the liberty to expound upon the true evil of slavery that lurks in the shadow of hypocrisy. He employs the satirical technique of ridicule to expose the ugly nature of enslavement with equally ugly diction. Douglass’ disapproval ranges from “hideous” to “revolting” to “an outrage”, and culminates in the assertion that slavery is the “greatest sin and shame of America” (125). A far cry from the almost reverent tone of his opening statements, Douglass led his audience from the throes of a Fourth of July celebration to an intense degradation of the freedom they so

Frederick Douglass was another abolitionist who also spoke out vigorously about slavery. He himself was an emancipated slave who fought for the abolishment of slavery. He fought to demonstrate that it was crude, unnatural, ungodly, immoral, and unjust. During a July 4th Celebration he made it known that he despised the treatment of the slaves. He explained that this hypocrisy was aimed at the black population and so in his speech on the Fourth of July celebration he proclaimed to the anti-slavery individuals that “This Fourth of July is yours not mine” and “You may rejoice, I must mourn”. Frederick Douglass quoted from the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal; and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. He wondered if the rights that are stated in the Declaration of Independence, apply to everyone in America, because he believed they should. He asked the question what the Fourth of July was to an American slave, and responded, to the American slaves that one day, is full of hyprocrisy. He wondered how people could celebrate liberty and equality where there was slavery in America. In support of his idea of how sorrow slavery was Douglas used imagery. He stated, “I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I

In What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Frederick Douglass talks about his thoughts regarding how “the American slave trade, (is) sustained by American politics and American religion” (Douglass, p. 7). Douglass starts off in his speech pointing out the differences that Americans of different color encounter. A notable difference is how a person of color can be enslaved. Slavery was most significant for southern states, though through laws that changed. He says that “by an act of the American Congress...slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form…(and) is now an institution of the whole United States” (Douglass, p.8). Douglass continues that through the use of “the

“ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” was and is most likely the most famous fugitive speech in national history. It produced a different message than other abolitionary speeches produced. Douglass criticized the American holiday of the Fourth of July basically stating it was a self-righteous. While he accolades the former American founders and applauses there hard work and formation of the Declaration of Independence, he stays on track and states that the current and future American’s must keep working to preserve their freedom and expand it, more specifically to the enslaved American’s. He believed in the way the American Revolution played out and they way the revolutionary colonists did achieve their goal of freedom as he states in his sermon. While he cares deeply about the previous American revolutions and the state of the country to be the best and most powerful country while living up to it’s potential, his main importance in this speech was slavery. He pressed many times in his speech on his opinion of slavery. He believes that American is untrue to their word of “freedom”. He states that the country is untrue if you decide to go back to their earlier foundation of laws and ideas. Obviously, before the American Revolution, the colonies wanted freedom from the British. It can be compared that the enslaved American are to colonists as the post revolutionary American citizens are to the British. Douglass says in his speech that the country must follow through from what they previous founding fathers believed in and it must be achieved. To summarize, Douglass concludes that the American are hypocrites in relation to their idealism of

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.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel written in times of unrest where slavery was a controversial topic and women 's rights were still suffering. Uncle Tom’s Cabin showed the grim reality of slavery and showed the importance for women to gain a societal role beyond the domestic domain. The reading contains a number of major characters throughout the novel. The two most notable characters we will discuss is Mrs. Shelby and Marie St. Clare. Throughout this paper we will compare and contrast these two characters and give specific examples to illustrate the similarities and differences between these two unique individuals.