Uncle Tom Cabin
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In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published one of the most revolutionary and controversial books of the time, titled Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe’s novel was extremely popular and revolutionary for the time due to author and how it helped to show the horrors of slavery to Northerners who supported, tolerated, or were against slavery in the South. Although many scenes and topics in this book were exaggerated, the book successfully persuaded the North to take a new look and position on the issue of slavery.
Slavery, at the time this book was written, could have been considered a sore issue or the elephant in the room that should not be discussed, for people across the nation. The North and South were in a delicate balance that was only kept due to the many compromises regarding free and slave state admittance. While this balance was kept, the fight over slavery was a constant trouble brewing in the background. Stowe’s novel, some say, toppled this balance and sent the country into what we know today as the Civil War. The North and South each felt the need to grow their influence, but wary of the dangers that it would bring. Slavery affected the Union in many ways, only holding the UNion together with many compromises between the North and the South, and ultimately caused the American Civil War.
The plot of Uncle Tom’s Cabin follows two slaves under their kind master, Arthur Shelby. Shelby, forced to find a way clear some of his debt, decides to sell two of his slaves. One of the slaves he was selling was Uncle Tom. In the novel, Uncle Tom is shown going through different slave owners who treat their slaves in drastically different ways. Uncle Tom is shown as a very devout Christian who holds true to his values despite all of the hardships that he has to suffer through. He spreads his faith to his kind owner, St Claire, before he is sold to the cruel plantation owner by the name of Simon Legree. Legree tries to break Tom of his religious ways and Uncle Tom becomes a martyr for his religion as he is whipped to death by Legree’s overseers. The other slave that was supposed to be sold clear Shelby’s debt is Harry, the only child of Eliza and George Harris. Once Eliza hears that her son is to be sold, she flees with him, and they run with George to Canada in hopes of freedom. Eliza is also a symbol of the values of Christianity, as well as a loving motherly figure that the religious women of the North could relate to. Both the characters of Eliza and Tom are used as religious symbols to show how the values of Christianity conflict with the issue of slavery. For example, in the ninth chapter, the character of Senator Bird is introduced. Senator Bird is one of the people who helped pass the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, but he still assists Eliza and her child in their escape. Tom also serves as a Jesus-type martyr character in death, because as he is dying, he still forgives his killers and saves the souls of Legree’s two overseers.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in an effort to persuade members of the North to help end slavery. She does this in the book by directly asking readers to step into the shoes of certain detailed and relatable characters such as Eliza. Stowe stylistically uses techniques such as forms of irony, plot parallels, and comparisons between