Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe had such influence on its readers, by using sentimentality to address the evils of slavery that it changed people’s views of slavery and also the political scene. First, the north, which was hostile towards antislavery, became more open to antislavery. Secondly, it paved the way for Abraham Lincoln, an antislavery candidate. When he met Stowe, he is quoted as saying, “so you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War” (Lincoln, 1862). As stated by Hollis Robbins, “the political influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin can be measured by who talked about it or who used it as a rationale for action. Frederick Douglass wrote of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that ‘Nothing could have better suited the
This book was about the life of a slave that showed the harsh conditions that a slave has to go through. When Uncle Tom's Cabin was published, thousands of Americans bought and read the book. The thing was, Stowe didn't go to the South, ever. She wrote this book from abolition newspapers and speeches from Frederick Douglass, but this still changed the minds of the people about slavery. Northerners looked at this as a crime and slavery is wrong for this country. In a part of the book, a slave found out her son was sold away from her, “Your child’s gone; you may know it first as last. You see, i know’d you couldn’t take him down south; and I got a chance to sell him.” People saw how rough this was to have your child sold away from you forever. In the South, people thought this book made them look like bad people. They got angry over this book, and wanted to get rid of the book. Two different people had two different views on this book, one that slavery is bad, and the other is making slaveholders look like bad people. This book caused the South to want to secede from the North even more than before because most of the North was protesting to end slavery in America. This gets America closer to the Civil
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
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
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.
Stowe expresses the terrors of slavery, by giving the reader insight into what life was like as a slave in the south; and through this, it shows how inhumane slavery was. For example, when Uncle
Harriet Beecher Stowe tells stories of different slaveholders apathetic, abusive, and hypocritical actions towards various slaves in her beautifully written novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, during the 19th century in order to help convey the true evil behind slavery- no matter the circumstance. The author allows readers to view slavery from seemingly safe environments to hostile settings, and continually shows the bad in every situation. The reality of slavery is shown to anyone willing to read this novel, and Harriet Beecher Stowe does a good job of combining various stories that tie together in order to complete her goal.
Harriet Beecher Stowe published a novel called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in the year 1857. Selling over 300,000 copies in one year, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” had made an enormous impact on the people who read it. According to the textbook, “Much of its emotional impact came from its portrayal of slavery as a threat to the family and the Cult
Harriet Stowe’s writing style is very narrative and informal. Her famous book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is extremely personal and puts a direct storyline to slavery, which caused it to be very contentious. Those who supported slavery convicted Stowe’s work and said that it was just an overwrought story with an unrealistic model of what slavery was really like. Stowe became notorious all around the world after
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.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which originally was published on March 20, 1852. Under the background that the country had been divided over the issue over slavery, the south states of the country are slaves states, and the north states of the country are slave free states. Different sides of the country have distinct views over slavery system in south. The north, specially abolitionist, views slavery system is villainous and immoral, it takes away the basic right of human which is freedom, and it againsts God which is Christian believes. The theme of the novel based on the abolitionist views. The purpose of the novel is that tell the world what is slave life like, especially for those northerners never been to the south.Their life will be strenuous or comfortable is depend on what kind of slave owner they meet. The book is appeal people to face and deal with the issue of slavery which lasted in the history for a long time.
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 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.
The anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written at a time when slavery was a largely common practice among Americans. It not only helped lay the foundation for the Civil War but also contained many themes that publicized the evil of slavery to all people. The book contains themes such as the moral power of women, human right, and many more. The most important theme Stowe attempts to portray to readers is the incompatibility of slavery and Christianity. She makes it very clear that she does not believe slavery and Christianity can coexist and that slavery is against all Christian morals. She believes no Christian should allow the existence or practice of slavery.
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.