A Reaction to Uncle Toms Cabin
A Reaction to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin"So this is the little lady who made this big war." Abraham Lincoln's legendary comment upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe demonstrates the significant place her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, holds in American history. Published in book form in 1852, the novel quickly became a national bestseller and stirred up strong emotions in both the North and South. The context in which Uncle Tom's Cabin was written, therefore, is just as significant as the actual content. Among other things, Stowe's publication of her novel was stimulated by the increasing tensions among the nation's citizens and by her fervent belief that slavery was brutally immoral. While she was still young, Harriet's family moved from Hartford, Connecticut to Cincinnati, Ohio. At the time, Cincinnati was a battleground for pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, as well as being a city of religious revivalism, temperance conflicts, and race riots. Her father was a congregationalist minister and her oldest sister, Catherine, was a writer on social reform questions. It is not surprising, therefore, that because of her environment, Harriet became involved in m
The northerners, however, having nothing with which to judge the accuracy of such representations, perhaps viewed the southern reaction as a simply defensive measure. Although it was written over 140 years ago, apparently Uncle Tom's Cabin still is able to invoke a personal reflection on the state of fellow men (and women!). These characters are intended to be paragons of Christian virtue, and are clearly contrasted with the less agreeable characters of Mr. Naturally, the statute broadened the slavery debate by involving the northern states in the apprehension of runaway slaves. In addition, Stowe's approach to the subject was far more adapted to the nation's views of slavery than was abolitionist literature. These characters, although they have flaws, still maintain an element of innate decency, and therefore appear as more authentic representations of the southern population. I do realize, though, that her writing technique was perfectly suitable for a 19th century audience. It is therefore predictable as to whom readers will elect as their favorite and least favorite individuals. Haley was not going to be a friendly character. The "little lady who made the big war," then, surely did not realize that her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, would heavily reverberate into the dawn of the 21st century. For example, it was difficult to recognize the several humorous instances in the book until I had re-read the passages several times. 16)" While employed at the factory, George also invents "a machine for the cleaning of the hemp, (p.
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Acceptance Essays
