Pros And Cons Of Stoowe

Pro Stowe or No Stowe: The Correct Answer

It is nigh impossible to find a more influential piece of literature in American history than Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It provided one of the first moral arguments against slavery and sold so many copies that the only other book at the time to outsell it was the Bible. It is even considered to have sparked the Civil War. Although the impact that she had is undeniable, Stowe’s effectiveness as an author is questionable. In fact, Harriet Beecher Stowe is an ineffective author. This is due to her improper use of coincidence and breaking the fourth wall. Coincidence, or random lucky occurrences, is a major flaw in her story structure. Breaking the fourth wall is when the text directly

Unfortunately, Stowe does not break her bad habits in this novel’s conclusion, which ends with many convenient revelations. While on a boat crossing the Red River, George Shelby encounters a woman named Madame de Thoux. When George Shelby says that he knew George Harris, Madame de Thoux exclaims, “‘Yes… Mr. Shelby, George Harris is my brother!’” (Stowe 485). Later, while discussing Eliza, Cassy pieces together that Eliza may be her daughter and then faints. “Perhaps, mother, you can tell what she was thinking of! Perhaps you cannot,— but she felt as sure, in that hour, that God had had mercy on her, and that she should see her daughter” (Stowe 486). These four characters, who have little ties to one another, meet on the same boat and reveal Madame de Thoux as George’s sister and Cassy as Eliza’s mother. This is likely the most absurd coincidence in the entire book. Everything works out perfectly by chance, and it feels completely unearned from both an author's and a reader’s standpoint. When these occurrences stack up, it can feel as if the characters cannot win on their own. Representing her enslaved characters like this is especially problematic because it takes away their agency in the story and portrays them as useless. This revelation is yet another case of wondrously good fortune that distracts and annoys

It creates a poorly constructed plot and harms the impact of her story. As author K.M Weiland points out, coincidence makes successes come off as unearned, and this can be seen in the reuniting of the Harris family and the story’s ending. Both of these instances depict characters rewarded by unrealistic circumstances that end up frustrating readers. Stowe’s story structure is inherently flawed, thus making her a very ineffective author.

Structure is one integral part of an author’s storytelling, but style is just as important. However, Stowe fails once again in this aspect because of her use of breaking the fourth wall. Throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she directly addresses the readers in an attempt at connecting to them. This can be seen in Stowe’s failed attempts to connect to a specific group of readers and her attempts to create emotional reactions to the reading, and both of these disconnect audiences from the story and end up confusing