Uncle Tom 's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe

Thoreau tried to fight slavery in different ways than Mrs. Shelby, but they both had the same intent, to treat everyone equal regardless of their skin color. Thoreau went to the source of the problem, the government. This is where Thoreau was able to try and get through to a higher authority. He did this by gathering protests in Massachusetts where a slave was being held for fleeing from the south for a chance at freedom. Where as Mrs. Shelby posses the same ideas as Thoreau, but she helps slaves in other ways. Mrs. Shelby does in fact go against the government though, at this point in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" she helps slaves try to escape to Canada where they will be free of their slave owners. One example of this is when Mrs. Shelby distracts the slave traders to allow more time for Eliza to escape further away (Heath Anthology P. 2316). It was at this point that Mrs. Shelby, in contrast to Eliza, never has had the courage to denounce slavery. This was realistic because it was an example of the Underground Railroad, which was a secret network of people who helped runaway slaves find safety in the north to Canada.

It influenced social reform movements because it was originally a religious movement where it emphasized on faith in which it later influenced those concerning about temperance, education, women's rights, and abolition throughout the country when they decided to change their religions.

The first installment of “​Uncle Tom’s Cabin”(​2, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center: Uncle Tom’s Cabin) was published in an anti­slavery publication called “​The National Era”(​3) on June 5th, 1851, before its release Stowe scoured published freedom narratives and journals in search of first­hand accounts of slavery that would later influence the composition of her novel and in turn incite the movement for freedom on an international level. Stowe’s novel exists as persisting example of the ignorance and s u p r e m a c y b e g e t u p o n t h e b l a c k p u b l i c u n d e r a w h i t e r e g i m e . ​“ U n c l e T o m ’ s C a b i n ” ’ ​s entire basis was

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was valuable because it opened the eyes of American citizens to the harsh reality of slavery and proved its need for abolishment. Harriet Beecher Stowe proved the wrongness and cruelty of many southern slave owners by mentioning the splitting up of slave families in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In the beginning of the book, Stowe developed the nasty and feelingless character of Mr. Haley, a slave trader. He decided to buy Harry from Mr. Shelby and wanted to separate the young child from his mother without considering the impact it would have on their family. Stowe also explored the cruelty of slavery in the scene where Simon Legree beat Uncle Tom to death. She used Legree as an example for many southern slave owners who brutally acted the same way in real life. Stowe was very bothered by the fact that slave owners were willing to kill their own slaves and was able to share her hostile feelings with many others with her book. Through Stowe’s examples of family separation and death, she was able to show Americans how ruthless some slave owners could truly be. This compelled both Northerners and Southerners to fight for the abolishment of slavery.

By the 19th century the debate over race centered around two theories: “one theory was that different races signified different species; the other, that humans were one species and that race represented discrepancy in the human species” (Michael). These views were compatible with the teachings of the Bible. Through the mid-19th century, there was confrontation to slavery in both the U.S. and Europe. The abolitionist movement of the 19th century sought to humanize the predicament of African slaves in various ways, to influence political power and public opinion. One of the ways that race played out in popular culture was in the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which depicted a more realistic portrait of slavery and

Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been explained as being a history of harmful acts towards Blacks in America for a period of a hundred and thirty years (Stowe, “Nineteenth”). 51).The book Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of History’s favorite books (Stowe, “Nineteenth” 1). It talks about how Tom would do anything for the white man (Stowe, Uncle 1). The southerners did not give Harriet Beecher Stowe and credit for writing the book (Piacentino 1).

Stowe shows Tom’s resilience and Christian faith being built up with love from the St. Clare’s plantation and attempted to be broken down by Simon Legree. The idea that, blacks can be humane if taught to be humane is something that she hopes the reader will understand. Throughout the book her feminist viewpoint is obvious with how she treats her female characters. Characters like Mrs. Shelby, Miss Ophelia, Eva, and Eliza act as individuals, but also for their family. Their characters encompass a wide variety of traits that women do not often get enough credit for like being morale, loving, innocent, and the voice of reason for those around them. It was Eva who fueled Tom’s Christian faith and love for all human beings. Her innocence makes her a character almost no reader can despise, and when she dies, and later when Tom dies preaching her word, the reader naturally feels saddened and sympathetic. These two themes come together to form her last theme. That Slavery is evil and has no place in the world.

The Civil War was the war fought between the United States of America and the Confederate states of America. Was this war inevitable? The Civil War was not certain to happen, and it could have easily been solved without a war. If people just compromised more and didn’t always need to get what they want, slavery could have been stopped or prevented, and the whole Civil War could have been prevented. Harriet Beecher Stowe is one person that you can say helped a lot. She wrote the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin which helped people understand the seriousness of slavery. The Missouri Compromise didn’t help slavery as much, but it did keep it limited. This idea was great and kept both parts of the United States happy, but the South just wanted all slavery.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was a profoundly dedicated Christian who trusted that religious confidence would be a central point in the abrogation of servitude- which, of course, it was. Stowe had incorporated her feelings of religion into her novel with the utilization of her characters. In one conversation between Eliza and George, Stowe gave an insight as to how she believed that religion had affected the slaves and their work.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the most popular story in the mid to late 19th century. There are nearly thousands of copies of that novel sold. The author Harriet Beecher Stowe was an amazing author and abolitionist. The purpose of her writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin is to influence other people to abolish slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was based on Religion and the abolition of slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was epic story in the mid 1800’s because it represents the cruelty of slavery and religious beliefs. Stowe kind of has some similarities with Fredrick Douglass because they both abolish slavery. Except Harriet Beecher Stowe was not a slave and did not have a rough childhood like Fredrick Douglass.

In American history, the era of slavery holds a dark blanket over society. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in a newspaper as a 40 part installments during 1851-1852. Stowe’s installments were introduced a popular abolitionist newspaper titled, “National Era”. Stowe’s writing was written next to political stories as well as debates between the north and south to decide upon slavery. When Stowe wrote the articles slavery was not yet abolished therefor the articles went against the “norm” of society, creating a forum depicted as a counter public. Stowe’s ability to capture the essence of slavery, without attacking any one owner or the white population, allowed for her article/story to become widely popular. In around 1852, her articles transcended from newspaper to book form. Each installment that was written in the newspaper appeared in the book. In the novel Chapter 31, labeled “Middle Passage,” holds great importance when addressing the social idea of slaves. In this chapter, Stowe is able to capture the essence of the actual middle passage and the treatment slaves received once in America. {………………………………….]

Do you have dreams? Do you think that dreams that manifest into actions can change the status quo? Do you think one person can change the world? Robin Williams once said: "No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world. “This quote in many ways illustrates what Harriet Beecher Stowe wanted to accomplish with her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The anti-slavery novel was published in 1852 and according to Will Kaufman “helped lay the groundwork for the civil war."Stowe was an active abolitionist but her true profession was a being a teacher in Connecticut, where she was born and raised. The novel's main character is Tom, a slave who has gone through much suffering during his life and whose story the other characters revolve

In her most prominent novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes the truth about slavery. Through her personal views on slavery, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Stowe was set on displaying the wrongs of slavery, and Americans in the south. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a tragic story that displays the life of Uncle Tom, a man of Christian values, honest integrity, and unfailing kindness, taken away from his “cabin” / family, dying as a result of a slave owner’s menacing behavior.

Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin with intent to help spread the harsh realities and injustices of the institution of slavery in America. One of Stowe’s chief arguments in her novel is that slavery treats blacks unjustly. She considers slavery an evil and immoral practice that it should be immediately abolished and is calling for blacks to participate in ending their own enslavement. However, she appears to be proposing that the blacks should not revolt but instead should continue to be compliant to their masters and focus their attention into being devout Christians. Stowe portrays this stance through Tom who knows that through a peaceful submission to his masters and an unbreakable faith, he will ultimately achieve

In the 21st century, Hollywood transformed best-selling novels into movies; in the 19th century, best-selling novels became plays. Uncle Tom’s Cabin became the best-selling novel of the 19th century and elicited widely varying dramatizations. While copyright protection laws are extensive today, they protected only the actual printing of the novel in 1852. Being a phenomenal success, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was immediately adapted and dramatized without Harriet Beecher Stowe’s approval. In these dramatizations known as Tom shows, characters became comical caricatures through the use of blackface minstrel traditions and the true purpose of the anti-slavery novel was lost in this mockery. Unfortunately, these plays frame the modern understanding of Uncle Tom’s Cabin as people became less likely to spend time reading the novel when slavery was already abolished. Tom shows were loosely based on the Stowe’s novel and generally added extravagant effects such as bloodhounds, minstrel traditions, double characters, and alternative endings that avoided Stowe’s original anti-slavery message.