ipl-logo

An Analysis Of Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe

1752 Words8 Pages

John Gokey
Mr. O’Connor
American Literature H
27 February 2017
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a novel written by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. This novel shows the harsh reality of slavery and the living conditions of slaves, which eventually led to the Civil War. Uncle Tom is a beloved slave by his owners on the Shelby plantation. He lives a content life in his own cabin with his wife and children, until the Shelby family becomes engulfed in debt, and are forced to sell Tom along with another slave to Haley, who eventually sells them to Mr. St. Clare. Tom becomes close with his new master, who promises Tom his freedom if he were to pass away. Mr. St. Clare unexpectedly dies, leaving Tom’s fate in Marie’s, his wife, …show more content…

All of the slaves hope to be granted their freedom, and would do just about anything in order to reach that goal. They are willing to escape their plantations, with the risk of being brutally tortured or killed if caught by their owners. Eliza could not live with herself if she had to leave her son, so she ran away to a nearby slave-harboring house to be free from her future master. But there are also some owners, such as Mr. St. Clare, that is willing to grant some of his slaves their freedom once he has passed away. Owners like Mr. St. Clare and others such as Miss Ophelia feel that slavery is horrendous, and should no longer exist, in order to better the nation and moral. But these people are afraid to take action, due to the fact that they do not know what it would be like without slaves. Or the concept of what the slaves would do or where they would go. The end goal for everyone is to have a stronger and more sound nation, where people can live in charity and goodness, and raise their own families in peace. But without the abolishment of slavery this cannot …show more content…

Slaves were mainly used for harvesting tobacco, and later cotton, for the mass markets in Europe. This was the early foundation of the American economy. In the early 1800’s, the Missouri Compromise banned slavery in all western territories. Many of the southern states saw this as a threat to their lively-hood. A few years later, the Dred Scott Decision said that all slaves did not have American citizenship. This meant that if any slave were to escape, they would not be allowed to be free, but they would have to be returned to their rightful owner. This decision made many Northerners upset, causing them to being the powerful movement we know today as the Abolition Movement. When Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, as a member of the anti-slavery Republic party, he proclaimed that slavery would soon end in the south as it already ha din the north. This led to the Civil War, and the eventual abolishment of slavery in

Show More
Related
788 Words | 4 Pages

Her family’s abolitionists beliefs and activity in the “ Underground Railroad” directed her to where she was in 1852 when she wrote a novel telling the stories of three slaves that would split the country into controversy. Uncle Tom’s Cabin told the stories of Uncle Tom, Eliza, and George. In her book Harriet displayed the struggles of runaway slaves and the troubles black slaves had to face everyday with slavery. In only two weeks it’s popularity had grew and it became the outbreak of the nation.

Read More
952 Words | 4 Pages

For the people who were against slavery, they wanted for all men to be treated equally and have freedom. During the war, African Americans could not fight for this cause due to individuals who discriminated them based on the color of their skin. Until January of 1863, President Lincoln signed and put the Emancipation Proclamation into order. This order stated “that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states, are, and henceforward shall be free” (National Archives). This order freed a few people but naturally the states in rebellion did not act on President Lincoln's orders.

Read More
986 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass once said, “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” As one of the most powerful speakers of the antislavery movement, Frederick Douglass describes that we had to fight to end slavery. The Antislavery Movement was first mentioned by Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin, who deeply opposed slavery. They were in agreement with the Declaration of Independence, which stated, “that all men are created equal.” This eventually led to the reforming impulse of the 1800s that spurred a vigorous new effort to end slavery.

Read More
678 Words | 3 Pages

Abolishment of Slavery During the 19th Century slavery was at large and making the economy prosper but keeping slaves, African Americans at bay. Many did not agree with the idea of keeping slaves those people were called abolitionist who wanted to stop slavery there were many activists who did something for the cause, people like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Some of the abolishers went through the troubles and knew what it meant to be a slave. After being freed they started to work toward abolishing slavery ending for once and all, both of these abolitionist were educated Frederick Douglass was fortunate to learn literacy skills as a young man and Harriet Beecher Stowe had a sister who had strong feelings

Read More
1216 Words | 5 Pages

Abolitionism was a well-known movement around the time of the Civil War and its aim was to put an end to slavery. The people of the early nineteenth century viewed the elimination of slavery in numerous ways. Some fought against the end of slavery, some appeared to mildly support the cause and yet others wholeheartedly supported the ending of slavery until their dying day. Charles Finney was a religious leader who promoted social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. He also fought for equality in education for women as well as for African Americans.

Read More
842 Words | 4 Pages

From the time we first became a country to 1865, slavery was a major issue that was lingering over the United States. The fight for abolition was a long struggle requiring a great deal of endurance and effort from many selfless individuals and groups fighting for the freedom of African Americans. Eventually, the government began making attempts at dealing with the issue of slavery, but not all of these were as successful as the government hoped they would be. These efforts made by various people and federal government shaped the history of our country, and the rights of freedom for all.

Read More
868 Words | 4 Pages

The idea of abolishment started within the chugs in the 1830. The purpose of abolishment was to liberate all slaves and the end of racial prejudice in hope to stop the spreading of slavery further west. Abolishment would bring equality to all from African slaves to Indian slave trade. Abraham Lincoln was the voice of the abolishment movement he detested the idea of slavery and felt that these actions would bring hypocrisy to the nation, since it was base on equality and liberty. The issue of abolishment along with the Dread Scott decision would lead up to the Civil War.

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

When people talk about slavery they more or less tend to label the good ones who were against slavery into the North and then the monsters as being the Southerners. Stowe showed the readers that this isn’t true, and that you can’t just point and blame that easily. Through Tom’s owners, Mr. Shelby and St. Clare, Stowe showed us the reality of kindness that some Southern slave owners possessed. Both of these slave owners believed it wrong to harm their slaves and to treat them with any type of cruelty. St. Clare tended to share his opinions on slavery, and Stowe used this character to show how many Southerners thought slavery to be an act of iniquity, but were too stubborn to try and change the ways of their society.

Read More
994 Words | 4 Pages

Before the American Civil War there were many acts and movements made to end slavery and to obtain equality for African-Americans. This mainly started with The Second Great Awakening which initially began making people realize the wrongness in slavery and sparked a want to create a change. These people became known as abolitionists and did things like establish anti-slavery societies, publicly circulated moral suasion, sent hundreds of petitions up to Congress, and even created the Liberty Party in efforts to politically involve themselves. More and more slaves started to run away which caused Congress to pass the Fugitive Slave Act following the Compromise of 1850. The Fugitive Slave Act allowed and encouraged the capture and southern return

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

The fight to end slavery was not only made up of African-Americans but whites and women groups. Women gathered and collected signatures on anti-slavery memorials. “Much of the actual burden of gathering signatures for anti-slavery memorials was taken up by the social-minded female”(taken from document 5b) A second example of how individuals and groups efforts deal with institution is that the Southerners feared that with an increased number of antislavery states, the abolitionists would have a majority in the Senate and would be able to outlaw slavery so, some people did not abide by the Fugitive Slave Law. It took hard-working and selfless individuals and groups to fight for the freedom of African Americans.

Read More
275 Words | 2 Pages

The abolition of slavery, or the banishment of slavery didn’t come for years later, unfortunately. The beginning of the abolishment of slavery started because of a man named Abraham Lincoln. He had seen through the public’s goggles

Read More
620 Words | 3 Pages

Abolitionism and the Civil War Abolitionists, both black and white, had different philosophies and tactics in trying to end slavery. Frederick Douglass was one that believed in sparking revolution through the media and political platforms. Through these platforms, he spread messages of awareness and rebellion, believing that the end of slavery had to be done by force (Zinn 167). In 1857, Douglass spoke to the masses stating that “if there is no struggle, there is no progress… Power concedes nothing without demand” (Zinn 167).

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1850’s, one of the most controversial novels were to be written— Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there is a journey of a slave named Tom along his journey of the slave experience during the time period. The novel greatly affected the nation when it was published and it also heavily divided the North and the South. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe to convey what the conditions were like for slaves in different parts of the United States.

Read More
575 Words | 3 Pages

The novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was the most influential in starting the Civil War. Stowe’s anti-slavery novel was an attention grabbing book that also delivered a political point. After it was published, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was both praised and laid into as false and counterfactual. The novel opened the eyes of northern states to the horrors of slavery and triggered the Civil War. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is an anti-slavery novel that was written from 1850 to 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Brunswick Maine, U.S.A. Stowe’s most famous book was published in 1852 and a whopping 300,000 copies were sold within 3 months.

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout Harriet Beecher Stowe’s writing, she inserted Christianity in almost every character. In “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, all the characters who believe in Christianity have show how their thoughts conflict with those slavery laws. Their thinking of Christian Ethics are not for but against slavery. Also, all the Christian characters reflected that the Bible was changed for justify white people’s sin at that time. Elisa is a female slave in Mr. Shelby’s plantation, and she was converted to Christian.

Read More

More about An Analysis Of Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe

Related Topics

Open Document