ipl-logo

Gender Roles In Uncle Tom's Cabin

1100 Words5 Pages

Gender Roles in Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s great American classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin is so renowned for its progressive views on race and its deeply humanitarian portrayal of slaves that what can be easily overlooked is how divided the characters are by gender as well. It is undeniable that race – specifically the treatment of African Americans in the United States during 19th Century – is the central force of the plot. However, what Stowe may have inadvertently provided in her careful treatment of the relationship between all characters, is an emerging commentary on women’s role during this time as well. There is no indication that Stowe intended her masterpiece to be interpreted as a subversively feminist critique.. …show more content…

Shelby also highlights the difficulties women with strong political beliefs had with asserting influence. Mrs. Shelby had no say in the sale of her slaves, she was completely helpless when it came to money management in her household, and her only resource to enact her will was to plea to her husband. To infer that Mrs. Shelby had any other resources available to her would not only be completely inaccurate, but it would arguably be the one of the most outlandish thoughts of the novel. Nearly 100 years later, scholarly articles were still so oblivious to the unequal power structure, that it was not even considered. An article entitled “Shall We Teach Gender?” from 1922 was so aloof to the inequality that it states, “Gender is a matter of very little importance; it could be entirely omitted from our grammars without any loss” (Phillips, p 27). While this statement is ignorant enough to induce involuntary eye rolling, it illustrates perfectly the historic difficulties generations of American women endured. Their plight was one so often overlooked some did not believe it was ever …show more content…

To think that a young girl would maintain such influence over her father as to which slave he purchased, valued, and intended to set free betrays some of the limitations established by Mrs. Shelby. Eva may be the most overly influential female of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in this way, but the suspension of belief allows for great characterization and pathos to take place. Just as it was said, “The truth is that if there had not been a slave in America, Uncle Tom’s Cabin would have [still] taken hold upon the hearts of men” (Shoup 89) is true of Eva’s emotional, if not logical, addition to the novel. She is a tenacious, intelligent, and heartfelt character who brings out the best in Tom and is a gentle mediator between the reader and some of the more difficult concepts of the story for early readers of this novel to

Show More
Related
1059 Words | 5 Pages

The South’s Secession The south seceding was a big turning point in history. It marked a new chapter, and not a very good one. The south seceded with a number of “grievances”. These “grievances” included a number of disagreements on major issues.

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

Anyone who has ever worked hard has heard the saying, “It builds character.” For example, say someone went to college. They worked hard to graduate with a degree, and finally got their dream job. Two months in they get laid off. Their first job is gone, but still must move on.

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

DBQ Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in 1851-1852. The author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a white abolitionist who believed in the anti-slavery movement. Her name was Harriet Beecher Stowe. From when Harriet Beecher Stowe was in her twenties she became familiar with stories about slaves and runaways passing through the area. She had hoped it would convince the South and the North that slavery was wrong, but sadly more people supported slavery then against.

Read More
842 Words | 4 Pages

This book tells about slavery in America, which is a period that should never be forgotten. It is definitely a black eye in our nation’s history, and once again the easiest way to not let history repeat itself is by never letting the events be forgotten in the first place. By saving this book and retelling it to others, it would be helping people understand our nation’s history better and more fully, as it describes in great detail the brutal mistreatment put upon slaves during the time it was written. Uncle Tom’s Cabin also features heart-wrenching emotional appeal. Similar to what Elie Wiesel did with Night, Stowe is able to draw an almost personal connection between the reader and the characters in the book.

Read More
616 Words | 3 Pages

Sally Hemings was a slave on the Monticello plantation in the late 18th century, and her experience helps us to understand that her gender aided the way she was treated versus if they went by the color of her skin (Dilkes Mullins). {Woman during this era were thought of as property, they were objectified, they were treated poorly and had no choice. Their husbands were liable for anything that they did} [Being a female during this era outweighed what one 's social status was. It did not matter what race you were, but if you were a woman, you were treated as such] (Dilkes Mullins). Ms. Hemings was a beautiful sixteen-year-old enslaved girl (Gordon-Reed, 102) who was more than just a slave on the Monticello plantation.

Read More
1066 Words | 5 Pages

Hayden Carey “Freedom is as essential to man as air”. For centuries, slavery has long been the subject of intense controversy and the primary victim of sectionalism that separated the North and the South in the United States. Following the American Revolution, the new union was divided between the south, which was economically reliant on slavery and the north, where slavery was not important. Abraham Lincoln summed up his prediction of possible consequences of the current state of the union as he said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." In the south, slavery became a distinctive way of well being and a strong source of prosperity.

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

Harriet Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to show the American people how terrible slavery was (H. Stowe and Yellin xi). Stowe offered to provide the Washington DC National Era, the editor of which was “an old friend”, a succession of “sketches” (H. Stowe and Yellin xiv). The stories that would become Uncle Tom’s Cabin appeared in the National Era, as an ongoing column, from June 3, 1851 to April 2, 1952 (H. Stowe and Yellin xx). In March 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published as a book (H. Stowe and Yellin xx).

Read More
134 Words | 1 Pages

During the early 1800 's, the American society common to the time period was radically changed. These changes took place primarily after the War of 1812. These changes occurred in the form of political rights, multiple reform movements, and religious revivals. During this time, women were still the “submerged sex.” As the decades unfolded, women increasingly surfaced to the breathe the air of freedom and self-determination (Kennedy, 305).

Read More
615 Words | 3 Pages

First Generations: Women of Colonial America, written by Carol Berkin, is a novel that took ten years to make. Carol Berkin received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has worked as a consultant on PBS and History Channel documentaries. Berkin has written several books on the topic of women in America. Some of her publications include: Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (2004) and Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant (2009).

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

When Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin because she wanted to stir up an anti-slavery statement. Slavery was already the unpopular choice for Northerners, but Harriet Beecher Stowe made the Northerners even more opposed to slavery. Slavery even became less popular in the Southern states. The novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin made many Northerners realize how unjust slavery was for the first time, and increased the differences between the North and the South.

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

Racism and discrimination takes a big part in this novel with the town people and the black people. This book was written in the time of the great depression in the 1960s, which was a huge deal when this book was first published because it was so influential to so many people. During this book there was a social structure of 5 different categories, such as, the Finches, Cunninghams, Ewells, blacks, whites, and lastly the mixed. An example of discrimination against women in this novel would be with Aunt Alexandra and how she fits in with the other women and has a husband, and does what women back then were suppose to do. But Miss Maudi who believed she could take care of herself, and didn 't need a man in her life to do so for her; however, both women are equal with all the same rights, they just have different views as women.

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, is set in the 1960’s, a time when men and women had specific and restrictive roles in society. Men were the ones to work and earn money for their families and women were expected to a caring and obedient homemakers. In many ways, those gender stereotypes are still very present today. The contrasting opinions of Atticus Finch and Aunt Alexandra provide the reader with the different views on how men and women should be raised, which in turn, affects the readers thoughts and opinions on the gender expectations and roles that are present in today’s society.

Read More
1843 Words | 8 Pages

The white people viewed slaves as sub-human, and a black woman who was mentally superior was not something they would have encountered before. Dana explains what Margaret, Tom’s wife, may have been feeling; “I don’t think Margaret likes educated slaves any better than her husband does…. He can barely read and write. And she’s not much better” (Butler 82).

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

In the title of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, gender roles play a big part in the time that the book was written. There are many examples of people being told what they could and couldn’t do based on their gender, and insults thrown around that are gender-based. One example of gender roles in the book are Jem’s comments on Scout’s behavior, especially when Jem and Dill are about to break into the radley’s. As they are discussing it, and Scout comes up and starts pestering them about what they are doing, Jem remarks that Scout is “gettin’ more like a girl every day!” pg.

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

Ever since human existence was known, women weren’t treated the same as a man. They were told to stay inside, care for the kids, and look pretty, as a paying man’s job was considered “too hard” for them to accomplish. But, during the years leading up to 1920, women had enough of this, they rallied and marched with a simple message, to be treated equal to a man. Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird, set in a 1930’s Alabama, covers women issues at various lengths. From Scout’s tomboyish attitude, gender inequality, and gender roles, Harper Lee’s novel

Read More

More about Gender Roles In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Related Topics

Open Document