Uncle Tom's Cabin St. Clare Character Analysis

The novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe is an anti-slavery novel that changed how Americans viewed treating people as property. The book How to Read Literature Like a Professor provides 27 insightful chapters on how to find a deeper meaning in any given novel. The topics I chose to use to analyze Uncle Tom’s Cabin are chapter twelve, “Is That Symbolism?”, chapter fourteen, “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too” and chapter six, “The Bible”.

Uncle Tom was a Christian slave owned by Arthur Shelby who had great trust in Tom and treated him well. However, after losing wealth, he sold Tom, along with his wife’s maid Eliza, to slave trader Mr. Haley. Eliza, scared of being separated from her family, decided to escape slavery to Canada with her husband George and son Harry. Tom on the other hand, went to the slave market where he met and saved little Eva by rescuing her from the river she had fallen in. After seeing Tom’s courageous rescue, Eva’s father, St. Clare, bought Tom. In New Orleans Tom and Eva grew close, sharing their passion of faith and christianity, but Eva soon became ill and passed away, and St. Clare passed shortly after. St. Clare’s self-centered wife ended up selling

Throughout history, the Battle of Wounded Knee has remained a sensitive topic due to lack of clarity and communication that coincided between the parties involved during these events. Author, Stew Magnuson, translated his interpretation of this controversial portion of United States history through his book, known as Wounded Knee 1973: Still Bleeding. Although Magnuson seems to take an unclear and sometimes neutral stance on the issue, Russell Means’ actions and views are often depicted as just and within reason. With the exception of a few aggressive incidents, Means seemed to possess the role of a fallen hero throughout the series of events that can be identified today as the repercussions of the Battle of Wounded Knee. Parallel to the characteristics of a fallen hero, Russell Means called major attention to the racial inequalities within the U.S., heavily depended on his personal “moral code”, and experienced major trials and losses throughout his fight for justice.

According to Annette Gordon-Reed, It is common for people to look at women’s novels and not take them seriously, especially in that time. “Jane Smiley, in a controversial essay, asked why Stowe’s novel has been more harshly treated than works written by men which are just as dated and offensive in their treatment of race, notably, Huckleberry Finn.” (Annette Gordon-Reed). I believe that Stowe’s novel was taken seriously as a woman’s novel. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was very influential in that time period, and still is today. The novel is commonly noted as a big influence that began the Civil War, and people still refer to it today. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is used very commonly today as a reference to slavery and the time period, and in many literature courses throughout high school and college. It is also stated in this critique that, “As a woman, Stowe had no hope of making a statue” (Annette Gordon-Reed). I disagree with this statement as well. Although women, along with blacks, were suppressed in that time period, there were many influential women in that time period that made a ‘statue’ for themselves, or a name.

Although it was calm between the North and South for nearly 50 years, extreme differences began to change that, which lead to anger and war. There are many ways that caused the South to secede from the nation but, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Fugitive Slave Law, and Abraham Lincoln becoming president were just a few. Now, Harriet Stowe’s book made many of the Southerners outraged when it came out.

St. Clare, Uncle Tom’s new owner, rescues a little child that was being beat by a previous slave master. St. Clare’s Cousin, Ophelia can be said to represent the author’s views throughout the story. Ophelia does not support slavery and wishes for the slavery to be put to an end. Ophelia takes in the child, by the name of Topsy, and nurses it back to health. Slave children were often illiterate along with being poorly treated. Chapter 12 provides a brief summary on how the author perceived the treatment of slave children. Many were beaten and had “battle” wounds, deeper than just the skin. Harriet Beecher Stowe brings the idea of the “low” children not knowing anything about the time, what year it is, or even age(pg. 137). In such a short sentence, one is able to see how slavery was looked at through the eyes of the author. Harriet Beecher Stowe explains what such a matter is like when children are taken from the arms of parents at a young age and sold into slavery. Later in the chapter, Ophelia infers that the child is stealing and tells Topsy to confess or the consequence of being whipped would arise(pg. 138). Topsy then insist on being whipped, claiming that doing so would help the child's productivity. One would often be bewildered by such a remark, as was Ophelia when the statement was made. The authors intent can strongly be seen through the words and actions of Ophelia. A statement of

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852. Stowe’s purpose for writing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, was to depict the lives of African Americans that are enslaved to whites in hopes to bring about change and encourage abolition protest. Uncle Tom was portrayed as a Godly man with a good heart it was meant show that slaves are just as human as whites, and that slavery should be saw as inhumane and unjust. There are several important concepts that are alluded to, but slavery, religion, and the power of women are what stood out most to me.

to prove her point and get across her message of abolition in this book, much to the contrary of

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe focuses on portraying the dependance a slave’s life is on their master. The protagonist in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is “Uncle Tom”; Uncle Tom is a slave who gets traded and sold old among other plantation owners. Uncle Tom's personality is showed as passive and very religion based; he is a Christian. Uncle Tom initially belonged to the Shelby family but due to economy shortages they are forced to sell Uncle Tom along with Harry. Harry and his family escape before they are sold to Mr. Hayley; thus, Mr. Hayley sends for them to be found and captured but he does not succeed. Later Uncle Tom is sold to St. Clare due to Uncle Tom saving Eva, St. Clare’s daughter, from drowning. Uncle Tom and Eva have a loving bond.

With the police now involved and volunteers ready to help search the property, Lee spearheads the campaign for everyone to split up and search the property. But in their search, Lee discovers another piece of unsettling evidence: Flora’s doll, dismembered with a pig’s head. When Matt & Shelby join her search, they come to find an abandoned farm riddled with flies. In the barn, something even darker lurks, as two feral boys (Dustin Jones & Connor Rosen) feast on a pig and know only one word: Croatoan. The boys are taken into custody as it turns out that they were part of the Polk family, better known as the hillbillies who tried to buy the property.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is arguably the most influential novel in American History. Stowe’s sentimental writing style seized the imagination of her readers and Uncle Tom’s Cabin became the standard of the abolition movement. Uncle Tom, one of the protagonists, spreads Christianity and dies for his faith, like Christ. By equating Uncle Tom with Jesus Christ, Harriet Beecher Stowe deliberately provokes her audience to social change and abolition.

I don’t know if the Market Revolution changed women’s quality of life or the strong will of many women. There were several women in this time period that stepped forward and raised up the issue of women’s rights. These women fought to remove women from the “Cult of Ture Womanhood”, helping to fight for equal wage rights, showing the importance of the American women in the workforce and raising the issue of higher education for girls. Emma Willard, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B Anthony, Grimke Sisters and many nameless women joined the fight to improve the quality of life in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin opens as Mr. Shelby and a slave trader, Mr. Haley talk over how much it will cost Shelby to clear up his debt. Despite his intuition in knowing this man's true nature, Shelby decides to sell Tom, his most honest and trustworthy slave as well as Harry, the son of his wife’s favorite slave, Eliza. Eliza finds herself listening in on the conversation and finds out that they plan to sell her son. She makes a quick decision to flee to Canada in an attempt to gain her freedom Just before this George Harris ,her husband, had let her know that he had plotted a similar scheme against his master and the two hope to reunite in Canada.

In Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author portrays to the reader the gruesome realities that the common slave would have to endure by depicting the harsh living conditions of slaves, the oppression of religion a slave would undergo and the feeling of worthlessness a slave had to bare.

One of the most important manners in which a society and its culture advances is through social change. Social change begins with the individual person. Where would our society be today without authors and activists like Harriet Beecher Stowe, who spoke out against slavery in her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Frederick Douglass, who also spoke out against slavery in his many novels including My Bondage and My Freedom and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Or what about Andre Aciman who wrote LGBT fiction; or George Orwell’s novel 1984, which highlighted government, politics, and forms of social control. Our history is filled with activist novelists. When individuals read about social issues affecting their own community, country, or world,