The Promise By Stoowe Summary

At the very beginning of the book, Stowe almost immediately introduces this idea of slavery and it how it morally changes someone in a negative way. The very first scene of the book causes the reader to be touched emotionally, by expressing the struggle that a young slave mother, Eliza, went through. Her son, Harry, was about to be traded by the slave owner, Mr.Shelby (pg. 15), which meant that her family would have been split up and separated from each other forever. Even though this story takes place in Kentucky, where slavery was more mild than some regions more down south, in the terms of how harsh the slave owners treated their slaves, it was still slavery and it was definitely not a perfect kinship between the slave and the master that some thought it up to be. Furthermore, Mr.Shelby was put in a predicament to either sell some of his slaves to make money, or keep them and try to scavenge for money. In that situation, the choice seemed fairly obvious and Mr.Shelby decided to sell Harry and Uncle Tom, so that his family can continue to survive on the plantation(pg. 46). However, since he was the one who made the decision, it perceived him to be the bad guy, even though he had treated his slaves with such care in the past. He would have been ultimately splitting up their family, if they would have not run away (ch. 6). Through these first couple of chapters Stowe incorporates this situation to show how slave owners, even the less intense ones, were still blinded to the morally wrong and morally degrading actions that they were committing. By treating slaves as property, the effects of the slave owner’s actions could be clearly seen, but yet there was still no positive change that resulted in the slaves becoming less materialized.

Another odd aspect which was displayed in chapter 1 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is the description of Eliza Harris, who is Mrs. Shelby’s maid. She is described as having, “Rich, full, dark eyes, with its long lashes; the same ripples of silky black hair. The brown of her complexion gave way on the cheek to a perceptible flush, which deepened as she saw the gaze of the strange man fixed upon her in bold and undisguised admiration. Her dress was of the neatest possible fit, and set off to advantage her finely moulded shape”. (Stowe, Harriet Beecher.) Unfortunately, many don’t imagine slaves being well groomed, and dressed neatly. It may be believed that Stowe is giving a false racial stereotype here and trying to paint a different image of what slavery was like.

Uncle Tom's Cabin had a tremendous impact. The character Uncle Tom is an African American who retains his integrity and refuses to betray his fellow slaves at the cost of his life. His firm Christian principles in the face of his brutal treatment made him a hero to whites. In contrast, his tormenter Simon Legree, the Northern slave-dealer turned plantation owner, enraged them with his cruelty. Stowe convinced readers that the institution of slavery itself was evil, because it supported people like Legree and enslaved people like Uncle Tom. Because of her work, thousands rallied to the anti-slavery cause.

D.     One of the most important elements that Stowe used to get her point across was Characterization. The message of slavery could not have been accurately portrayed if there was not proper character development. To fully understand what slaves went through, one has to fully understand the mind and heart of a slave. Stowe executes this beautifully with Eliza and Tom. She gives two different detailed and strong viewpoints, which helps the reader understand even more. Stowe includes many stereotypes in her characters. Mr. Haley is the stereotypical slave trader. He is evil, sly, and only cares about making money. This is a character that the reader is supposed to dislike and usually does. Mr. Shelby is supposed to be the “kinder'; slave owner, but Stowe makes it clear that all slavery is evil. The purpose of this character is to show that most men are basically good, but they have been brainwashed to believe that blacks are

In the Holt textbook, it states,”The novel electrified the nation and sparked outrage in the South….The book’s popularity caused one northerner to remark that Stowe and her book had created “two millions of abolitionist”(Holt 443). This represents that the South hated the book and thought that it was nothing like it was in the South. Also, in Document F, Review of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it states,”It is quite clear that whatever may be the demerits of the slave system, they are not fairly exhibited in Mrs. STOWE’s book”(Doc. F).

Stowe speaks toward the audience in this passage, reiterating the purpose of the novel to allow an inside view into the trauma slavery bring into one’s life, and sending the message that it was extremely important for America as whole to abolish it. As Stowe questions the audience on what they would do if they were placed in a similar circumstance, she emphasizes the great lengths people do to reach their freedom and the unnatural nature for one to be owned by another being and have their lives controlled and changed at a whim’s notice without their ability to be able to decide against their

The influence of Stowe’s family with the different forms of the abolitionist movements and her own contact of fugitives from slavery. She knew, heard of and read about; are the two main sources of her hatred for the institution of slavery (89). She also had placed herself in the mindset of a mother who have lost her child from cholera or separation, the emotional bond is the same for whites and black (88). She had been exposed just from what was going on around her and what people around her was one of the people who had an influence on Stowe was her Father Lyman Beecher.

Stowe presents slavery in the only way she knows how, by using the facts. Several sources of other works in American literature contrast on to how Stowe presents slavery in her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The elements of slavery are driven through the reflections of theme, characterization, and setting to show that the way slavery is presented is not contradicting.

"So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." - President Abraham Lincoln to Harriet Beecher Stowe about Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1862. Though Stowe wrote this book, not to start a war, but to recognize the horrors of slavery. This can be appropriately addressed by comparing the three main places Uncle Tom was sold to: The Shelby Farm, the St. Clare Homes, and the Legree Plantation. They vary from each other, especially concerning family dynamics, religion, the treatment of slaves, and what kind of people are there.

Stowe focuses on the story of a slave name Uncle Tom, who was sold down the river and brutalized by the planter whose name remains a synonym for cruelty and oppression, Simon Legree. Uncle Tom was a slave for the Shelby’s’, who were very nice to him and really cared about their slaves. Unfortunately, due to their financial circumstances they had to sell Uncle Tom to another man named Haley, who later sold him to a very oppressive master named Simon Legree. Tom experienced the “best” of slavery at the Shelby plantation, and suffered the “worst” at the Legree plantation. Even though Tom suffered a lot he never gave up, as stated in the book when he tells his master “if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I’d give ye my heart’s blood” (Stowe, 464).

Stott’s article was very insightful because he used Abraham as an example in his writing. He talked about God making a promise to Abraham and his wife. God told Abraham that “he was going to be a father of many nations.” Even though Abraham was unable to see the fruition of the promise. God was faithful to fulfill his promise. As Christian we must have faith that God will fulfill his promise, but he may not accomplish the promise on a person’s timetable. Stott talked about God being a keeper of his covenant and one who will pour out his blessing. When one is in fellowship with God, the benefits are promises from God and blessings.

Stowe utilizes Eliza as a powerful agent of change, a complex character who seeks above all to honor God and her family, and consequently adds fuel to the growing Abolitionist movement of her time. While Uncle Tom’s Cabin may be fictional, it remains as a shining example of the way in which the clashing of cultures in American history has led to many people confronting the difficult crises that often arise from their intersectionality, and effecting positive social change as a

As previously mentioned, Stowe composed Uncle Tom’s Cabin to express the various views of slavery, and how it impacted the lives of those affected by this lifestyle. Growing up in this century, Stowe found the institution of slavery to be corrupt, with “the country requiring her complicity in a system she thought was unjust and immoral” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin). As Stowe did not believe in the Fugitive Slave Law—which required everyone to aid in the capture of fugitive slaves—she chose to hide runaway slaves, and her family promoted her drive to aid those in need. Stowe accomplished this feat through housing, feeding, and smuggling slaves to legal freedom in Canada, because it was the Christian thing to do.

Although he and his wife, Emily, have a strong relationship with their slaves, the only way to not lose everything they own is to raise money by sailing two of them to Mr. Haley. The two slaves were Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man who has a wife and children on the Shelby far, and Harry, a young boy who is the son of Elizza, Mrs. Shelby’s maid. Once Shelby tells his wife about his arrangement, she is angered, during their conversation Eliza overhears them and goes to warn Tom and his family. Harry and his mother flee to the north in hopes for freedom, little did they know they were being pursued by Haley. She evades being captured by crossing the Ohio River and into the Quaker settlement. There they are offered safety and the transportation they

Stowe uses her platform to show these political arguments by humanizing the characters and uses pathos to get the reader emotionally involved. She uses positive religious figures to go against slavery to get her idea across. Uncle Tom, a slave, is a devout Christian and through many trials and tribulations, he never loses his faith. He often gets put in positions that instead of questioning God, he trusts in him even more, an example of this is when Legree tries to turn him against God. Also as Uncle Tom is dying, he tells the men that he forgives them. He never loses his faith even on his last dying breath. Mrs. Shelby, a Christian woman, too thought that slavery goes against the love of the Lord: “Abolitionist! If they knew all I know about slavery, they might talk! We don’t need them to tell us; you know I