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Uncle Tom's Cabin Literary Criticism

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The Civil War sharply interrupted American literary activity. No longer could Americans look to the future with optimism; the events surrounding the Civil War prompted them to assess their world directly and honestly. The attack on Fort Sumter didn’t start the Civil War in 1861; the war began 10 years earlier, with the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” At least, that’s what Abraham Lincoln claimed, when he met Stowe in 1862 and reportedly greeted her as “the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Many scholars maintain that no book has ever had a more direct and powerful influence on American history than Stowe’s novel, which inflamed opposition to slavery in the North and
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Even with Eva’s death in the previous chapters of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the end of this book has been more impacting than any chapters so far. The treatment of slaves, and yet the kind and Christian actions of Tom, have touched me. I am grateful for this book and the truths about my own country that it has revealed to me. At first, we see Tom with his new slaveholder, Legree, who proves himself to be a cruel and unforgiving man towards his slaves. Tom and Emmeline are taken back to his home, where even the slaves are mean to one another.

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Prior to the civil war american s had illusions of innocence and isolation from the forces of history. After studying literature from the period known as realism, we know that these writers used their words to portray realistically america’s various social issues and struggles such as states rights, slavery, and death. These writers portrayed social issues and the struggles of ordinary people. No longer did the literature contain the supernatural of the romantic period. On the contrary, works such as “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, “War is Kind” and “ Letter to Son” changed america’s idea of innocence and isolation from the horrors of history because the civil war was the only war where every death was American.

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1) Uncle Tom is a very heroic and courageous man. He always prays to God and finds a way to keep his faith. As the novel goes on, the cruel treatment that Tom suffers makes him question his belief in a God, but Tom keeps holding on to his faith. 2) Uncle Tom represents all the African Americans that were forced to be slaves. Uncle Tom was meant to be a generalization, of how poorly the slaves were treated.

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758 Words | 4 Pages

Upton Sinclair was a revered writer and social crusader who in the process of trying to alert the public of the many issues in America became an “accidental muckraker”. Muckrakers were journalist devoted to exposing the social and political corruption In America. At the tender age of five, Upton Sinclair wrote his first book. It described a pig that ate a pin that appeared in a family’s sausage.

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Many politicians also supported abolition of slavery. In the South, people began to defend slavery even more than before, writing novels, letters, articles, etc… that showed slavery as a blessing to African American slaves. This caused a sharp divide between the North and South’s views and relationships. In document G, William Lloyd Garrison compliments Stowe on her book and explains the logic and truth of it. In document D, the white men show the positive of slavery, and the laws that protect slavery.

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The Abolition Movement had happened between the years of 1830s through 1860s. The main reason for the Abolition Movement was to end slavery. Abolitionist who had believed that slavery had been wrong or a sin had been overpowering those who didn’t agree at the time, because of escapes. One way thousands of slaves had escaped slavery was because of safe houses and the underground railroad. Also, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass were apart of the abolition movement, because Harriet had wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to show what really goes on being a slave, and Frederick had fought for their rights.

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Shirley Jackson's 'the lottery' demonstrates the dangers of traditions because the villagers' actions highlight the harmful consequences of following a tradition without understanding its purpose. The tradition of the village was to sacrifice someone from the village to be able to get good crops the next year. In danger of tradition there traditions were passed down but they where wrong they did it because they saw there mother do it. In the story 'The Lottery' the small village was a village with a very weird tradition.

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From 1845-1861, Northerners greatest worries regarding the growth of “slave power” were due in part to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Election of 1852 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In February of 1848, both the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Norton, 347). This treaty gave the United States California, New Mexico and present day Nevada, Utah, Arizona, parts of Colorado, and Wyoming (Norton, 347). The acquisition of such a vast amount of land increased Northern fear of slavery expansion. The northerners believed that President Polk had started the war with Mexico for the sole purpose of acquiring vast, new slave territory.

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In Mightier than the Sword, David S. Reynolds a historian and an American literacy argues for the worldwide influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe's writings in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, shaping America civilization and democracy. Originally published in 1852, enlightened Americans to a civilization of morality that "No book in American history molded public opinion more powerfully than Uncle Tom's Cabin," (Pg. 64). Reynolds impels his debate by introducing president Abraham Lincoln’s outlook of Stowe, "Is this the little woman who made this great war?"(pg. 48). This modern movement led on to a widespread northern cultural affinity of anti-slavery favoring a candidate like Lincoln, along with the nation-changing decisions he made during his

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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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639 Words | 3 Pages

Harriet Beecher Stowe created a story written to bring attention to the cruelty of slavery during her time not only made a vast impact on America, but affected those across the globe. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” strongly appealed to human emotions and Christian faith, which lead to the novel being read roughly 300,000 times after its release. Not long after, the story began to be modified into plays, starting off in theatres such as Baltimore and New York. However it was quickly discovered that many of these shows would not live up to Stowe’s remarkable novel. In fact, most directors hardly attempted to stay true to the story at all.

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One major life lesson I acquired from this unit is that emotions can sometimes get in the way and play a big part in the decisions people make. One case was when Harriet Tubman finally escaped slavery, but instead of fleeing farther away, she went back to the South to help others, including her family, escape via the Underground Railroad (WebQuest #3 - Slave Resistance). So someone, who had just barely gotten a taste of freedom herself, risked everything she had just worked hard for by going back to the South to save others. She could have just walked away and not looked back, but she knew what slavery was like and decided to help everyone still stuck in the system. Another case was when Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to portray what slavery was actually like (WebQuest #4).

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Stowe’s radical novel spread like wildfire throughout the country. In the advertisement for Uncle Tom’s Cabin in writes “The Greatest Book of the Age” “270,000 Volumes sold” these descriptions would later turn into “The Book That Made This Great War”. However, this impassioned novel was not the only straw that broke the great union. Two years later, in 1854, an act would be

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942 Words | 4 Pages

Nicholas Hornung Section 013 Cave Oct 5, 2015 Uncle Tom's Cabin During the time of slavery, if you were a slave there wasn’t much you could look forward to in life. Being owned by a slave owner meant that you were their property, and in the the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, by Harriet Stowe, you get a closer representation of what life was like for a slave who lived on a plantation. In the novel you meet Uncle Tom, a man of religion who wants the best for his people and goes a long way to get what he believed in.

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Did you know that the Mayans were the ones to invent the complex calendar system, while the Olmecs were the ones to leave behind the colossal stone head? The Mayans and Olmecs are some of the greatest ancient civilizations in history. They have both created different and amazing innovations that now help us today. They are really similar but at the same time very different. The Mayans and Olmecs lived in different places, had other forms of government, and worshiped different gods.

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