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Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the most popular books of its time; second only to the Bible, this novel helped fuel the civil war and changed American history as we know it. In this novel, Harriet Beecher Stowe writes about the lives of slaves and their relationships to their slave owners and other slaves. Stowe intended to reveal the inhumanity behind slave ownership and push political boundaries against slavery. This essay discusses the historical significance of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and why it should be taught and recognized in American schools today. After its publication in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was extremely controversial for its time. The novel exposed the realities of slavery and the cruel treatment of African American slaves. The novel …show more content…

The majority of America’s success was carried out on the backs of slavery and other minority groups that helped secure a foundation for present-day America. It is critical for books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin to be acknowledged and taught not only because of their historical significance but because in doing otherwise would be disrespectful towards African American history. The teaching of slavery in American public schools is often overlooked in an effort to “soften” hard history but in doing so students are left with fragments of American history and cannot understand the impact African Americans had on creating a successful America. Consequently, students cannot effectively learn and understand the feats African Americans accomplished after the abolishment of slavery. For that reason, a novel like Uncle Tom’s Cabin should be taught in classrooms across America in order to help students comprehend the meaning behind slavery (white supremacy) and evidently the majority of American …show more content…

Prior to the novel’s publication, pre-civil war America had already been facing tensions between the north and the south since the Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. A later turning point of the time was the Compromise of 1850 preventing further expansion of slavery to new American territories but fortifying the Fugitive Slave Act making fugitive slaves return to the south. When Uncle Tom’s Cabin was initially published in 1852 the American public had finally become aware of the horrors behind slavery and incidentally, demanded its abolition in the north while protesting the novel as slanderous in the south. Understanding the history surrounding the novel will help students to better grasp Stowe’s intentions for writing the novel (to uncover the truth behind slavery) while also putting themselves into the perspective of american citizens at the time who read the book for the first time and why it was so

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It brought a feeling of pity and outrage onto whites, whose experiences had never fell close to those of slaves. On the contrary, southerners were deeply offended by how slavery was depicted in the book. “They feared that the novel could lead to slave rebellions.” (Reynolds 151) They even went as far as attempting to have it banned. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was an important event in history leading up to the Civil War.

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This book is what gives us the background knowledge needed to really understand the content we receive in the course. One of the ways it aligns with the content is that education on slavery in the south side is always given but we tend to forget that slavery existed in the north as well. We hear about southern plantation owners, southern slavery and everything happening there but we do not often hear about the slavery that existed in the north. This is also the time in which the “seasoning” period was seen. The “seasoning” period was seen as a time in which the slaves who were seen as “the best” were sent off to the Caribbean where here they were traded with sugar, and tobacco.

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Known as the “peculiar institution” in the South, slavery was perhaps the most divisive issue America faced during its early days. Rapid westward expansion encouraged by the American idea of manifest destiny highlighted the issues that came with protecting the institution of slavery, resulting in various compromises drawn up by the government in an effort to qualm the intensifying division in the country. Moreover, movements like the Second Great Awakening revitalized America’s moral conscience, revealing the ugly injustice and dehumanization hidden in the institution of slavery. In the decades leading up to the civil war, economic and moral arguments were what fueled the growing opposition to slavery. Analyzing the differences between the

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but her book ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ had immediate social and political repercussions. She reenergised anti-slavery forces in the North, propelling the US towards civil war and

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The examination of textbooks and sources in the sixteen states he based his article on show that in many cases the status and progression of African-Americans from the shackles of slavery had been sanitised and was not a true reflection of reality. He argues many of the narratives portrayed the Negro freedman as “shiftless, sometimes vicious, and easily led into corruption”. Moreover he believed many of the textbooks defended the treatment that the South enacted on African-American slaves.

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There is still such a false concept floating around about slavery, even in the twenty-first century. I enjoy reading articles and documents, like the ones provided for this essay, to properly give me an idea of what slavery was like when our ancestors were around. Slavery, even today in schools, is not taught how it should be. Many people, especially in the South, try to ignore slavery as if it never existed, when it is definitely a part of our history. I think there is a falseness, on both ends of slavery, that many people do not talk about; these documents showed me just that.

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In the book “Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tome’s Cabin and the Battle for America” by David S. Reynolds, he debated for the unprecedented impact of the Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe over the American’s democracy, society, and culture. David S. Reynolds graduated from the University of California, and received a Ph.D. in English Literature. Also, he is an author of fifteen books, in which have altered general supposition and along these lines have profoundly affected numerous parts of American life. The Book indicates that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was redefined American’s democracy on a more equitable basis. Also, the book indicated that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin was fundamental which reclassified American’s democracy on the basis of

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This book would be an important addition to history classes since most focus on the oppression of the slaves, but most did not realize that the subjugation went further up the chain of command. Most people believed that women in the south had the perfect lives, living in a charming mansion, with the perfect husband, and slaves to complete all her chores. By recommending this book to others, their eyes will be opened to a piece of history that has been lost, it contributes everything one would need to know the extent of the situation, leaving nothing to the

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Written in direct response to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Stowe depicted slavery as a crime against home, family and Christian values, with slavery destroying familial relationships and morality among slaves. Additionally, it is depicted as the major threat to the homes of all American people, whether they dwell in the South or the North. Yet, in the modern era, Stowe’s antislavery argument has been viewed as an attack on “masculine” values, of individualism, competition and the economic marketplace, as well as more “feministic” values of community, love and domesticity. Additionally, rather than Tom being the model of Christian values, with his steadfast faith in God, the modern audience generally views Tom as a symbolic model of African-American

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It’s 1852, an anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which created such a stir when it was published in 1852 that Abraham Lincoln reportedly called Stowe "the little lady who made this great war!”. It has set sales records. In addition, it is the second-best-selling book in America However, after decades of legislative conflict the novel has widened the division between North and South recently, such popularity has brought the issue of slavery to life for those few who remained unmoved. In the North, many people are scared, anti-slavery reformers, that were once disunited, has jumped aboard the "Uncle Tom" movement. So did politicians, which also ignited more controversy in Congress, lead by slavery's opponents and by its supporters.

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Learning about slavery throughout the years in middle school and high school was very equivalent to each other. I remember learning about how the slaves were captured and brought over to the new world to be tortured and used. There was not one good thing said about slavery and what they did to the black people was cruel, until I read the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. There’s so much happening behind the story and it shows a different slide to slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher, Stowe.

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1636 Words | 7 Pages

Just Versus Unjust Violence: A Rhetorical Analysis of Violence in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Uncle Tom’s Cabin Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe present slavery in vastly distinct ways. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, author Frederick Douglass dives into a grisly world filled with bloodshed and in the middle of it a man willing to do what it takes to be educated and in control of his own person, narrated with the voice of reason. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, author Harriet Beecher Stowe depicts a variety of characters, their struggle with slavery and religion, their personal relationships, and their deep inner feelings, with no small degree of emotion and sentimentality. Douglass and Stowe’s use of

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From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

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It is without a doubt that black slavery is one of the most sensitive political issues during Harriett Beecher Stowe’s time. Her anti-slavery campaign brought immense reaction from different sectors. That is why I am deeply disappointed on how Disney Production portrayed (Mickey’s Mellerdrammer; 1933) the adaptation of her book. It was too…comical and the stereotyping went off the roof. Mickey and his gang (minus Pluto and Donald) staged a play wherein they chose the Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

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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.

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