Uncle Tom's Cabin - Fiction as a Catalyst for Fact
The Origins of a Living Document

Stage Night

North and South Polarized: Critics Respond

The Abolitionist Debates

The Tom Caricature

The Greatest Impact

The Origins of a Living Document

In her own words, Harriet Beecher Stowe was compelled to pen Uncle Tom's Cabin "....because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity -because as a lover of my country, I trembled at the coming day of wrath."1 Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 14th, 1811. Her strong moral convictions may be attributed to the fact that she was raised as the daughter of a well-known Congregationalist minister, Lyman Beecher.

Harriet was the seventh of nine children, which certainly implies an instilled sense of tolerance, fairness and sharing throughout her upbringing. Her brother Henry was also a popular…...

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Works Cited

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. "Uncle Tom's Cabin at 150.  http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/programs/uncle.shtml 

Women in History. "Harriet Beecher Stowe biography." Lakewood Public Library. Friday, 17 January 2003. http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/stow-har.htm

Jeanne Boydston, Mary Kelley, Anne Margolis. "The Limits of Sisterhood: the Beecher sisters on women's rights and women's sphere." 1988

University of Virginia, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities; "Reviewing Uncle Tom Onstage.  http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc/onstage/revus/rvhp.html

Stowe (2005) decided to change all of that.
Stowe (2005) shows what appears to be romantic racialism in that all black people are portrayed as docile, simple, childlike, and very Christian. On the other hand, anyone who is mixed race is not like that at all. He or she is very intelligent, but also very discontented with the position that he or she has in slavery, allegedly because of the white man's blood that flows through his or her veins. What is more important than that, though, is what is truly important to focus on when looking at Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe (2005) created an attack on slavery that was basically domestic, because she found a way to associate slavery in the public sphere with capitalism and economy. The slaves themselves she associated with Christianity and womanhood.

During the time in which she was writing the book, the culture was one…...

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Bibliography

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. (2005). Uncle Tom's Cabin. Dover Publications.

hether a character is imprisoned by his own inability to shake loose from discomfort, or enslaved through none of his own doing, the universal human sentiment is to set the character free. Meanwhile I disagree with Hochman when she writes that the book's "direct attack on the peculiar institution subverted its claim to timelessness" and adds that because it "critiqued a social evil in a particular historical period" it failed to "transcend its own cultural moment." ith the strength of novel's characters and their interaction, and the poignant and graphic depictions of the era of cruelty, how can Hochman make the absurd claim that it is not timeless? For one thing, the differences on issues of ethnicity are still with us. Racism did not disappeared along with Jim Crow laws -- it is alive in 2010. Cruelty is still unfortunately part of our society (re: the psychological and sexual abuse…...

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Works Cited

Hochman, Barbara (2008). Sentiment without Tears: Uncle Tom's Cabin as History in the 1890s.

New Directions in American Reception Study. Eds. P. Goldstein and J. Machor. New York:

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. (1994). Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Norton & Company.

Uncle Tom's Cabin -- Character Analysis
Eva St. Claire, also known as Little Eva, is an important character in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She enters the life of Uncle Tom, the main character who is a slave, when he saves her from drowning in the Mississippi River. Eva convinces her father to buy Tom and he heads back to the St. Claire plantation, where holds the role of head coachman. Eva is important to the story because she is the character that Tom befriends at the plantation.

From the beginning of the story, it is easy to see why everyone is so enamored with Eva -- she is angelic in nature. Although she is a young girl, she is wise beyond her years and demonstrates an unfailing good nature. She is always talking about God and love and forgiveness. Her influence is most apparent when she convinces a bitter slave girl named Topsy…...

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Bibliography

Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. N.Y.: Norton 1994.

Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe and "Sociology of the South," and "Cannibals All" by Charles Fitzhugh. Specifically it will contrast and compare the two authors' feelings, beliefs, and attitudes regarding the role of the master in the society of slavery. Is the master a fatherly figure or only there to keep the slaves in line? It will also look at the role of the overseer. Were overseers "fatherly" as owners were or were they more brutal and cruel to slaves? These three very different works take two very diverse looks at slavery, one through the eyes of a slave-owner committed to the practice, and one through the eyes of an abolitionist, and they come to quite differing conclusions. Ultimately, history shows, from many other slave narratives and accounts, that the cruelty endured by most slaves was monumental, and their masters were sometimes cruel and inhuman. These two…...

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References

Fitzhugh, George. Ante-Bellum Writings of George Fitzhugh and Hinton Rowan Helper on Slavery. Ed. Wish, Harvey. New York: Capricorn Books, 1960.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin Or, Life among the Lowly. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1897.

When she is not utilizing dialogue, she uses vivid descriptions to make even minor characters jump from the page. Later she writes, "Great, tall, raw-boned Kentuckians, attired in hunting-shirts, and trailing their loose joints over a vast extent of territory" (Stowe 124). The rough men become real as they gather around the firelight, and that is because of Stowe's skill with characterization and description. Stowe's depiction and dialogue is vital to the book and the depth of the plot, and is one of the elements combined to create fine writing.
Stowe's reasons for writing this novel are abundantly clear. She was an ardent abolitionist and had witnessed great misery in the black community. She felt an immense need to bring it to the public and show them just a few of the cruelties and humiliation slaves endured. Newspapers and books were the only real media of the day to reach…...

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References

Diller, Christopher. "Sentimental Types and Social Reform in Uncle Tom's Cabin." Studies in American Fiction 32.1 (2004): 21+.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.

Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe [...] character of Simon Legree and his great cruelty toward the slaves he managed. Simon Legree is certainly the villain in this story about a gentle black slave and his life. In fact, the name Simon Legree has come to mean cruelty and bitter hatred in our society. Legree's character may be a larger-than-life villain, but he represents many of the most cruel and inhumane slave owners of the time. He may seem "over the top" now, but when "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written in the 1850s, Simon Legrees were quite common, which makes the character all the more chilling. Legree serves an important purpose in the novel. He is a metaphor for the atrocities some slaves had to endure, and why they hoped so passionately for freedom, and in addition, he represents the devil, or ultimate evil in the world.
There is…...

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References

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.

Uncle Tom
Although President Lincoln might have overstated the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin as being a singular cause for the war, the statement does capture the fact that literature serves as a reflection for social values and norms. Abolitionism did become a major political force in the antebellum years, which is why Lincoln and the Union were willing to wage war for so many years and sacrifice so many lives. Of course, there were economic motives for the war (Tindall). Unionists were still mostly whites with racist beliefs, and their impetus for fighting was based as much on the need to retain access to Southern wealth and resources. Abolitionist views provided a convenient political foundation for the policies shaping Union efforts to prevent Southern cession. Read as a representation of abolitionism, Uncle Tom's Cabin serves almost as a piece of political propaganda.

"The little woman who wrote the book that started…...

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Works Cited

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Retrieved online:  http://web.archive.org/web/20080913231136/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/StoCabi.html 

Tindall, George Brown. America: A Narrative History. W.W. Norton.

It is entirely through such efforts that the larger impact of the novel is made.
One scene in particular is meant as an especially compelling emotional allegory, and is very effective at making the undeniable and intimate nature of human feelings as a basis for moral decisions-making abundantly clear. When Mrs. Bird catches her two sons tormenting defenseless kittens, she berates them and ultimately succumbs to tears at the plight and pain of the cats and, perhaps even more so, at the cruelty of her own children. It seems to be in man's nature -- and specifically in man's nature as opposed to woman's -- to practice cruelty, yet even the practitioners can usually be made to recognize that their cruelty is wrong simply by dint of being cruel, and for no other logical or deduced reason. Their mother's tears more than her stern admonitions cause the boys to understand…...

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References

Ammons, Elizabeth. "Heroines in Uncle Tom's Cabin." American Literature 49.2 (1977): 161-179.

Brown, Gillian. "Getting in the Kitchen with Dinah: Domestic Politics in Uncle Tom's Cabin." American Quarterly 36.4 (1984): 503-523.

Camfield, Gregg. "The Moral Aesthetics of Sentimentality: A Missing Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin." Nineteenth-Century Literature 43.3 (1988): 319-345.

Noble, Marianne. "The ecstasies of sentimental wounding in Uncle Tom's cabin." The Yale journal of criticism 10.2 (1997): 295-320.

" Steinbeck's novel was written in a much different style, much more modern, and so it is easier for modern readers to relate to it. Each of the novels places the characters in poor situations, so they all compare to each other in this regard. The reader becomes sympathetic to them because of their plight, and they want them to win. Unfortunately, because of society at the time, for most of the characters, that is not possible. Steinbeck's account of the Joads leaves them in a terrible situation by the end of the book, yet they somehow remain hopeful. Steinbeck is looking at the American people as a whole, and how, when the times are the worst, they still hang on to hope.
As for social impetus, the books did spark change. "The Jungle" actually helped form the first department in Washington to deal with food safety, the Federal Department of…...

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References

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 2002.

net to acquire background information on the infamous Astor Place Riots in the early 19th Century. B. Do the same with Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin. C. Read the play, Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Astor Place Riots: hat happened? (Approximately one page) In what respects was the Astor Place Riots a continuation of the themes found in the play, The Contrast? (Approximately one page) Uncle Tom's Cabin: Discuss two themes in the play. Also, do you find the play still relevant? Did it move you? (Approximately two pages)
The Astor Place riots: hat happened?

The Astor Place riots were a result of the professional rivalry between two great tragedians, that of the American actor Edwin Forrest vs. The Englishman illiam Charles Macready. The two actors had offered the theater-going public of New York their contrasting interpretations of Hamlet, and when both actors were scheduled to play Macbeth on the…...

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Works Cited

The Contrast. The Metropolitan Playhouse. 2011. [23 May 2012]

http://www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/contrastessay

Turney, Wayne. "The Astor Place Riots." A Glimpse of Theater History. [23 May 2012]

http://www.wayneturney.20m.com/astorplaceriot.htm

Sentimental vs. Realistic Techniques: Modern African-American Questions Addressed in Contemporary and 19th Century American Fiction
Despite critical caveats about literary quality, the use of sentimental techniques in novels that attempt to precipitate social change are ultimately more persuasive than the use of modernist techniques in similarly motivated social activist novels. Therefore, sentimental strategies that encourage readers to identify with idealized characters and familiar, even formulaic plots allow sentimental novels to act as more popularly persuasive vehicles for social change than modernist novels that deploy realistic techniques through less obvious strategies of identifying with protagonists and which present more morally complex scenarios.

One of the greatest strengths of the sentimental novel is its ability to elicit empathy. Although a literary critic may blanch and the use of such devices as stock characters and idealized moral scenarios in sentimental novels, as deployed most vividly in such works as Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher…...

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Works Cited

Faucet, Jessie Redmon. Plum Bun. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999.

Larsen, Nella. Passing. New York: Anchor Books, 2001.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. 1852. Complete e-text available at The University of Virginia.   [18 Jun 2005]http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/uncletom/utfihbsa11t.html 

It is due to inadequate "civilized amenities," meaning, that people are subjected to drinking water that is contaminated by feces. It can also be treated with lots of fluids and electrolytes, but these countries do not have the knowledge or resources to save people from dying from cholera.
8. John Updike Down the River In what respectis Uncle Tom's Cabin superior to Huckleberry Finn?

Because the black man, Jim, in Twain's story, is a more realistic person. He is responsible, and has dreams of buying his deaf daughter's freedom, while experiencing his freedom on the raft. Uncle Tom is not a genuine character.

9. Elizabeth Kolbert Dead Reckoning Why have the Turks refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide?

The Turks are afraid of losing their identity as a nation. They do not want to admit that their existence as a nation is the result of war crimes.

They want the genocide to be thought…...

In the cinema, women were often sexual, powerful vamps and flappers, portrayed by actresses like Louise Brooks and Clara Bow. Flappers cut off their long hair and shed their long skirts for a more athletic and empowered appearance. However, although the flapper was culturally significant in terms of her image and power, her time in the limelight was relatively brief. Born of the prosperity of the Roaring 20s, during the Great Depression, women faced more sober circumstances. Still, many women continued to work, often because they were now the primary breadwinners for impoverished households. But working away from the home and female independence was less idealized. Films such as The Gold Diggers of 1933 showed women looking to marriage as a way of relieving their economic despair.

Katherine Hepburn: The Next New oman

hile some of the stars to emerge during the 1930s were decorous and feminine, others, such as Katherine Hepburn,…...

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Works Cited

Adam's Rib. Directed by George Cukor. 1949.

Ali, Atka. "Lesson 10: Separate Spheres. " Women's history." July 12, 2010.

http://students.depaul.edu/~aali/lesson10.html

The Gold Diggers of 1933. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. 1933

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Slavery was one, but not the only, cause of the Civil War. In fact, the institution of slavery represents a combination of social, political, and economic forces at play throughout the United States. For one, Westward expansion and the principle of Manifest Destiny gave rise to the important issue of whether to allow slavery in new territories or to leave the question of slavery up to the residents in the new territory or state. he Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, the formation of the new Republican party and the election of Lincoln, the Nat urner rebellion, the introduction of Uncle om's Cabin into popular culture, and especially Westward expansion were among the most important events that led up to the outbreak of the Civil War.

he Compromise of 1850 was disastrous in that it accomplished nothing to promote human rights and civil…...

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The Compromise of 1850 was disastrous in that it accomplished nothing to promote human rights and civil liberties. California was admitted to the union as a free state. In exchange, other new lands gained in the Mexican War had no restrictions on whether slavery was or was not permitted. The slave trade was being phased out, but the practice slavery itself was preserved in the District of Columbia. The fugitive slave laws were enhanced too. So disastrous was the Compromise of 1850 that northerners did not take the Fugitive Slave Law seriously and did not enforce it. Another disastrous piece of legislation that preceded the Civil War, and helped spark it, was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Act overturned the Missouri Compromise and divided Kansas and Missouri into two states: one slave and one free. As Brinkley states, "No other piece of legislation in American history produced so many immediate, sweeping, and ominous political consequences," (327). Significant regarding the build-up to the Civil war, the Kansas-Nebraska Act caused the creation of the new Republican Party. Also, the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to the "bleeding Kansas" episode during which abolitionist and pro-enslavement advocates battled in pre-Civil War skirmishes.

Both the Nat Turner Rebellion and the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin represented the darker sides of slavery and promoted the politics of liberation. However, no other event in American history illustrates so well the way racism has permeated American politics as the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision. The Supreme Court took a strong racist stance that bolstered the pro-slavery cause immediately prior to the Civil War. Clearly, the nation was divided. On the one hand, decisions like Dred Scott showed that racist Americans served in positions of power at the federal level and could forever impact the quality of the country. On the other hand, abolitionists saw the necessity for a swift end to slavery in order to preserve the Constitutional rights and ideals upon which the nation was founded. The southerners could not foresee a means to have a viable economy without free and forced labor; the northerners did.

Even Democrats were divided, leading to the eventual election of the Republican candidate for President in 1860. Lincoln, who was "not an abolitionist" but who also believed that "slavery was morally wrong" steered the United States in a direction different from what most Southern whites wanted (Brinkley 332). After Lincoln was elected, the Southern states viewed the federal government as being illegitimate and decided one by one to cede from the union. The differences between slave-owning and free states were too great to overcome at the time. The economy and lifestyle of the south depended on slavery, whereas the Northern point-of-view favored sanity and genuine freedom.