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Uncle Tom's Cabin Religious Analysis

690 Words3 Pages

The anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written at a time when slavery was a largely common practice among Americans. Stowe was a Christian who believe that religion would be a major factor in the abolishment of slavery. The point of the story is to reach out to white America to abolish the slavery, but she could not do it alone. Stowe knew that the only way to get at the people who shielded the idea of abolishment out was to go to the highest power ever known at the time, God. Stowe’s use of religion reinforces the pursuit of abolishment in America. She tries to play with the nerve that most people are irritated with. In a conversation with Eliza and George, George says “I ain’t a Christian like you, why does God side with those who have it easy?” Eliza proceeds to tell George to have faith in God even though bad things …show more content…

Again, the main theme of religious combat to fight slavery is used to further reinforce the idea of abolition. Stowe also uses a character by the name of Legree to portray the morally corrupt non-religious being. His presence in the story highlights the evil and ungodliness of slavery. Tom’s Christ like characteristics are shown throughout the story; In one instance, he states that he will not leave until his family is free. Tom sacrifices his life and is ultimately whipped to death by his late master Legree. This is something that might sound familiar with Christians today. As Jesus was being crucified, he forgave the people that were persecuting them. Tom does the same as Jesus and in turn the two men that beat him become Christian shortly after. Stowe’s use of characters and faith show why there is such an incompatibility between slavery and Christianity. Those whom own slaves, Stowe believes, should not be able to claim that they are Christians because it is so immoral and

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This book became known as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. It highlighted the everyday horrors and injustices of slavery. The author Harriet Beecher Stowe took it upon herself to write this call for justice when reading a letter from her sister in Boston. Her sister had wrote of the terrible things she’d seen happen to African Americans during the time of the Fugitive Slave Act. She described “slave catchers prowling the streets, pouncing on African Americans without warning, breaking into their houses, destroying their shops and carrying them off.”

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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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Although he was taught about Christianity by his mother when he was young, he didn’t become a master with love and tolerance. He has a terrible temper. He drank a lot in order to avoid the reality because he thought he is guilty to persuade his slaves and believe that God will punish him someday. Stowe showed the readers about the contradiction of the Christianity and slavery through this character. The contradiction not only appears in the latter story, but actually throughout the novel.

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I read the book《 Uncle Tom’s Cabin 》by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and I found Stowe utilizes several different techniques to illustrate the incompatibility of slavery with the Christian ethics of love and tolerance, she utilizes the characters in the story ,use their action ,conversation to show this incompatibility clearly. Beginning with the characters in the story, Stowe utilizes multiple characters to demonstrate that slavery and Christianity’s ethics of love and tolerance are not compatible. For example, this is clearly seen in chapter nine. In this chapter, Senator Bird and Mrs. Bird discuss the issue of runaway slaves.

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Harriet Beecher Stowe’s concern was slavery. Both she and her husband were abolitionists, supported the Underground Railroad, and even housed several fugitive slaves in their home. Harriet Beecher Stowe published the bestselling novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852, depicting the harsh life African-Americans suffered under slavery. In 1829, Harriet Beecher Stowe met several African-Americans who were victims of attack by Irish, who were trying to drive competitors out of Cincinnati.

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In a conversation with a former employer of George’s, George says that to quote the bible verses that condone slavery makes someone in his position want to give up the religion all together and that he would go to God himself and ask why is it wrong to seek his freedom, in such a horrible system(UT66). Showing again that the system of slavery within America pushed, the people in the position of the oppressed, to want to get away from a religion that supported the practice. Throughout the book, Stowe continues to reference slavery as a sin that Gods against the way of God. In the being of the story, Mrs. Shelby, the wife of Tom’s First owner says, “This is God’s curse on slavery!

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The story starts with a slave owner who is compelled to sell two of his slaves due to financial tribulations. The plot then follows the two slaves; Uncle Tom and Harry through their stories of long suffering and persecution. A quote by Harriet Beecher Stowe sums up the general message in her book perfectly, “Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!”.

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In addition, it shows us how the 19th century people think about slavery. One of the thoughts that the writer used it is how the people deal with slaves in different ways. For example, Mr. Shelby and Mrs. Shelby deal with slaves in a good way. Unlike Mr. Haley who deals with them badly. Moreover, she shows us how Tom is faithful.

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Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin caused controversy between Northern abolitionists and Southern slaveholders when it was published in 1852. Stowe had a bit of life experience with slavery when writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. At age 21, she moved with her family to Cincinnati. Cincinnati, being across the Ohio River from Kentucky which is a slave state, Stowe was exposed to slavery. The connection only runs deeper.

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Stowe appeals to our emotions and relies on our hearts to express to our heads how wrong the violence of slavery is by making readers empathize with her characters, still acknowledging that although violence is a tool used by those who are evil, it can also be used when necessary for freedom. Both equate slaves taking violence back to use for their own defense as justified, reasonable, and necessary in the fight for freedom and self-ownership. Each display violence as a tool of oppression slaveholders take pleasure in using to keep slaves down and stop them from asserting their rights, intelligence, or power. Although through different means, each appeal to readers to sympathize with the slave and take

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Uncle Tom's Cabin Thesis

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was written to invalidate the myth that all blacks were happy as slaves. The story starts out with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby who has a large amount of debt and is faced with the possibility of losing everything he owns. To pay off some of the debt, Shelby decides to sell two of their slaves to a slave trader named Mr. Haley. The two slaves are Uncle Tom, a man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Eliza, Mrs. Shelby’s maid. Mrs. Shelby is in dismay after finding out because she promised Eliza that her son would not be sold.

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Uncle Tom's Cabin, By Harriet Beecher Stowe

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(Ch. 40, pg. 410) If there were one thing that I could include to the novel since it seemed like it was left out, would have to be the perspective of all those prejudice characters such as Simon Legree and Marie. Just so that we, as the reader, know why they have so much hate for African slaves. Since Stowe did not include there perspective in the novel, the reader does not know if Simon Legree, as an example, saw an African slave murder his family as a child or if Marie was raped by a slave when she were young. Stories like that would cause the reader to slightly sympathize with them as well rather then just

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Uncle Tom's Cabin Thesis

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Even when the cruel and vicious owner Legree beats his and vows to destroy his faith, Tom still reads the Bible and comforts other slaves. At the end, Tom is brutally beaten to death after he refused to tell Legree where two runaway slaves have gone. As he dies, he still forgives the men who beat him and these men are so humbled they become Christians. Tom’s sacrifice allows the two runaways, Cassy and Emmeline, to escape on a boat to their freedom. Essentially, Tom truly embodied Christ as he suffered and died for others.

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