Uncle Tom's Cabin (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels)

I have a love / hate relationship with the novel. Some days, I think that Stowe is unforgivably racist and cares only about preserving the souls of white people who are forfeiting their place in heaven by owning slaves. On other days, I am really impressed by the way that Stowe is working within many of the discourses of her time and creating a radical message about why slavery is unchristian, unpatriotic and unwomanly. Of course, everyone knows that Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling book of its time, outselling even the Bible. It sold over 1,000,000 copies, and, for every copy sold, about 10 people read the book. For every person who read the book, about 50 saw a dramatic adaptation (possibly one of the versions by Aiken or Conway, which took away much of Stowe's message and retained mostly the melodrama and racial stereotypes). Nineteenth century America was steeped in Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was the first book to have spin-off products that are common for films today - actions figures, tea sets, dolls, board games, card games, sheet music. Uncle Tom's Cabin permeated American culture. It is speciously reported that, upon meeting Stowe during the Civil War, President Lincoln said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that caused this great war." There are so many things to fault Stowe for. In our politically correct culture, all of the faults of Stowe's novel are incredibly salient: she co-opts many racial stereotypes from the minstrel stage. Influenced by romantic racialism, she sees all blacks as simple, docile, childlike, and innately Christian. She sees people who are bi-racial, on the other hand, as intelligent and discontent with their position in slavery because of the "Anglo-Saxon blood" that is flowing through their veins. But I think that what is important to focus on in Uncle Tom's Cabin is the way that Stowe created an inherently domestic attack on slavery by associating slavery with the public sphere of economy and capitalism and slaves with the domestic sphere of womanhood and Christianity. Stowe was writing during the time of the cult of true womanhood. In the nineteenth century, women were supposed to be (sexually) pure, (religiously) pious, domestic (staying in the house / kitchen), and submissive (to men). Stowe believed in these prescriptive categories for women (as you can see through the characters of Mrs. Shelby and Mrs. Bird). To her, the best people in the world are mothers and Christians, and Christ himself is a mother-figure; he is pure, pious, domestic, and submissive. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Eva and Uncle Tom are both Christ figures and mother figures because mother and Christ are interchangeable. They are the best type of people in the world. The Quaker Settlement, where Rachel Halliday gentle nudges her family to work in harmony in a Christian matriarchy is Stowe's vision of a millennial utopia. Slavery is evil for Stowe because it is the opposite of Christianity. Christianity is domestic and spiritual, and slavery is a part of the public sphere; it is mundane. Appealing to white Northern women, Stowe shows how slavery creates problems for women: it separates mothers from their children and wives from their husbands. It is bad for the slaveholders because it corrupts them morally. Stowe also attacks the North for their culpability in Slavery. Through the character of Miss Ophelia, she shows that Northerners, while the want slaves to be free, do not want to come near black people with a ten foot pole. They have a visceral reaction to blackness. Through the Fugitive Slave Law, Northerners are helping Southerners to return blacks to slavery. Lobbying for the inclusion of Uncle Tom's Cabin in the literary canon, Jane Tompkins says of the novel in Sensational Design, that it "retells the culture's central religious myth - the story of the crucifixion - in terms of the nation's greatest political conflict - slavery - and of its most cherished social beliefs - the sanctity of motherhood and the family." I have read several editions of this novel, and I would highly recommend the Norton Critical edition, edited by Elizabeth Ammons (Tufts University) or the new Annotated edition, edited and annotated by Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. (Harvard University). Like all Norton editions, Ammons's version includes important contextual information as well as some of the seminal scholarly essays about the novel. In the annotated version, Gates gives two lengthy introductions and useful annotations. One thing that he mentions throughout the annotations is the way that Stowe depicts Tom's relationship with Chloe. According to Gates he seem not to be very affected by their separation; when he reminisces about the past, he thinks about the white children that he misses, George Shelby and Eva St. Clare.

I recently read Uncle Tom's Cabin for the first time after hearing remarks in passing on NPR that Uncle Tom was a very different character from the stereotype that currently exists. Harriet Beecher Stowe is an excellent writer. She is vehemently anti-slavery and sprinkles her story with editorial pleas to the reader. But I tried to understand who Uncle Tom was, and found my thoughts evolving as I went along. The book contained characters who were "Uncle Toms" but he was not one of them. At first I thought he was just a simple minded person who "went with the flow." But as the story evolved, I could see that he was more than that. He was kind and thoughtful to whites, and tried to see the best in them. But he was also kind and thoughtful to blacks, and tried to see the best in them as well. He was, I realized, kind and thoughtful to other human beings in general. But as I read further, I came to see that the key to Uncle Tom was his powerful faith in redemption through Christ. He believed that whites, blacks, slaveholders and slaves should reach out and accept the Grace of God through Christ. Interestingly, although Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery philippic, Uncle Tom himself does not denounce slavery. He would like to be free, but even more important is the embrace of Christ. Once Christ has been truly embraced, slavery becomes a non-sequitur that fades like mist before Christ's shining light. My view of "Uncle Tom" had undergone quite an interesting conceptual evolution. However, the transfiguration was not yet complete. Thinking further about the course of events, I realized that Uncle Tom was worthy of beatification, if not canonization. His profound faith converted and saved unrepentant sinners who were on the tortuous road to Hell. At the end of the novel, he fell into the clutches of a slaveholder who was the devil incarnate. The devil tempted him as he had tempted Christ in the desert, but here, rather than mastery of the world, the promise was of better treatment (if you become my overseer you can drink whiskey with me and lord over the other slaves.) As with Christ in the wilderness, Uncle Tom replied, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" For this, he was delivered up to Satan's minions where he suffered abuse, torture and death. In death, Uncle Tom imparts his final grace. His injuries were cared for by a slave woman who had been horribly abused by Satan, lost all faith and turned to the path of darkness. She risked her life to do this and in the process rediscovered her faith and her salvation. In effect, she was reborn. The minions who delivered the blows cowered before his grace and were converted, like the Roman soldiers at the foot of the Cross. Finally, Uncle Tom was found on death's door by the son of the kind master who was forced to sell him "down the river" at the beginning of the book. He had come to purchase Uncle Tom back and return him to his slave wife and children, back at home. In Uncle Tom's dying words, this young man came to see that even kindly treatment in slavery is wrong. He freed all the remaining slaves on his return home, and set upon a new path of Christian righteousness. Uncle Tom's Cabin is a remarkable book that can be read and interpreted on many different levels. The book should serve as an important touchstone for discussions of race and religion even today.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an epic book to say the least. It just goes to show how words can truly impact a nation…and maybe even the world. Some have said that the character of Uncle Tom is portrayed as too soft or wimpy. I beg to differ. I love how no matter what came his way, he refused to give in to the biggest oppressor: hate. When we are introduced to Tom we see that he is in good hands, with a good owner and has a lovely wife (Chloe) and children. Everything falls apart when his owner in order to clear and pay debts has to sell him along with Eliza and her son. Eliza overhears her mistress and husband talking about selling her son and decides to run away. He warns Uncle Tom of his fate to be sold ‘down south’ and suggests that he also run for freedom. But he refuses, because he understands that if he runs then he would seal the fate of the other slaves that belong to his master to fate that may be even crueler. On a steam boat on the way to New Orleans Tom meets a kinder fate than he expected in his despair. He meets the St. Clares. Namely he meets a little precious girl with a heart full of love named Evangeline (or later known as Little Eva), at her insistence her father Augustine St. Clare purchases Tom and for a while things look good. At one point it even looks like Tom may gain his freedom. But as often is in life, tragedy strikes multiple times and once again Tom is sold before that prize: freedom, is obtained. This time his fate is cruel. A plantation owner by the name of Simon Legree purchases him. He is a man with no fear for God and no mercy for those enslaved by him. What I find amazing when we get to this point in the story is how people of the oppressed race also join in and become oppressors---perhaps even worse oppressors than the originals. Still it is outstanding the love Tom displays, the self-sacrifice. This book brought me to tears often, but even more it showed me how our country fought against itself, against its own cruelty. It also showed me how one book can impact a nation.

Published in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a classic, anti-slavery novel by American author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. Setting the story at the height of tensions in America over the practice of slavery, Stowe unveils the cruelty of the institution and demonstrates that even the most compassionate individuals cannot escape the horrors produced by organized servitude. Stowe accurately depicts slavery as a cruel and inhuman institution, and no matter how compassionate the master, slaves were considered chattel and subject to their owner. Stowe highlights the evil that exists in everyone and shows how slavery brought evil out in the most benevolent of people and exacerbated the evil within malicious individuals. Uncle Tom’s Cabin exposes the truth about slavery and accurately illustrates that slavery is morally and ethically evil. In the opening chapters, a wealthy landowner forces Mr. Shelby to sell two of his slaves, Tom and Harry, or face greater financial loss. Mr. Shelby is a slave owning white man who is kind and compassionate to his black slaves. As a benevolent slave owner, Mr. Shelby provides a good quality of life for his slaves and many of his slaves are happy working for him. Although Mr. Shelby is reluctant to sell Tom and Harry, financial troubles force him to sell two of his most valued slaves. Later that evening, Mr. Shelby explains to his wife “there is no choice between selling these two and selling everything” (Stowe, 30). Looking after his own personal interest, Mr. Shelby is a pawn in the institution of slavery selling off his most valuable slaves saving himself from financial ruin. Mr. Shelby knows that Tom and Harry will be sold at auction and more than likely be purchased by a harsh master. Complicating Mr. Shelby’s benevolent nature, selling Tom and Harry demonstrates that even a kindhearted slave owner perceives his slaves as property that can be traded and exchanged. The bottom line, business is business, and slaves come and go. Shifting the narrative from the Shelby plantation, Tom is shackled and chained together with other slaves and transported to New Orleans like human cargo where he will be sold at auction. While reroute, Tom rescues a young girl named Eva who fell overboard. In gratitude, Tom is sold to another master named St. Clare. St. Clare is a kind man and takes good care of Tom. St. Clare provides Tom with nice clothes, a good home, and gives him the gentle duty of marketing for the St. Clare family. Tom also drives Eva around in a carriage every once in awhile and Eva and Tom form a special bond. While St. Clare is a good man and treats Tom well, the institution of slavery unveils the evil within St. Clare. St. Clare does nothing to prevent or stop slavery; he is part of the system using slaves to his benefit as a means to get the work done. St. Clare’s lassiez-faire attitude and participation in slavery makes him weak and brings out the evil within an otherwise compassionate man. St. Clare’s casual outlook of letting slavery take its own course demonstrates that at the end of the day, similar to the actions of Mr. Shelby, business is business and slavery is an institution that is too large for one man to escape. Two years pass and it is apparent that Eva is dying. Eva’s dying wish is that Tom be released of his service and St. Clare agrees. Unfortunately, Eva passes away and St. Clare is fatally wounded breaking up a bar fight and there is no written record of Tom’s freedom (Stowe, 270). Mrs. St. Clare sees nothing wrong with slavery and sends Tom off to auction exclaiming to Ophelia that “Tom is one of the most valuable servants on the [plantation]” (Stowe, 275). While at the slave auction, Tom is treated harshly. His mouth is forced open, and his clothes ripped from his body so that he could be inspected, similar to the purchase of cattle before the slaughter. Seeking fortune in the slave trade and cotton production, Tom is purchased by a harsh man named Legree. This is important because even with the death of St Clare Tom is not considered free. Tom is the property of St. Clare’s wife and is sold back into slavery, reiterating that slaves are considered chattel that can be bought and sold. Comparatively well off under Mr. Shelby and St. Clare, Tom slips from a decent life to an abusive one under his third and final master, Legree. From the moment we meet Legree we know that he is a harsh man. Knowing that Tom is religious, Legree yells at Tom demanding Tom give up his religion saying, “I’m your church now! You understand, you’ve got to be as I say” (Stowe, 286). A broad and domineering man, Legree breaks his slaves quickly letting them know who is boss what to expect. Compared to Mr. Shelby and St. Clare, Legree is an awful human being and a typical slave owner having no respect for his slaves. Legree views slaves as cheap labor meant to be controlled working his slaves to death. Legree dislikes Tom’s mild attitude and hopes to break his spirit before they arrive at the plantation. Tom preserves his honest; kindly manner despite how many times Legree beats him. Of Tom’s three masters, Legree is the most evil. A cruel man, Legree epitomizes the brutality of a slave master and embodies complete control and power over other individuals. Unchecked, Legree’s coarse morals are terrifying and exemplify everything that is wrong with slavery and why the institution needs to be abolished. Tom’s situation goes from bad to worse as he is loaded on a wagon and chained together with other slaves. They travel along a wild and forsaken road through a series of desolate woods towards Legree’s neglected plantation that is stopped up by boards and shutters hanging by a single hinge (Stowe, 290-293). Essentially, Tom is taken to a place where escape is impossible. The remote location and uncomfortable crumbling neglect of Legree’s plantation suggests that Tom is in the hands of a truly evil and cruel master. Legree’s decrepit plantation is an outward manifestation of his inner cruelty. If Legree disregards his home as Stowe descriptively narrates, one can only image how harsh and unjust he will treat his slaves. An efficient laborer, Tom gets caught helping out one of the women by putting extra cotton in her bag by a principal slave in authority and is told to beat her as punishment. Tom refuses and Legree beats Tom saying, “now will ye tell me ye can’t do it?” (Stowe, 302). Tom refuses a second time but is “willin’ to work, night and day, and work while there’s life and breath in me; but this yer thing I can’t feel it right to do” (Stowe, 302). This is significant exhibiting how slave owners used violence to pit slave against slave so that masters would always know what was going on around the plantation. This also expresses the power and authority slave masters, and often times other slaves, had over those working the fields. Slavery is about the influence of power and control over another human being. The greater the power, the greater the control; and increased control over slaves leads to more efficient workers and greater profit. Direct actions from slave owners towards their slaves were evil; however, Stowe brings to light the inhuman disintegration of families caused by slave owners buying and selling their slaves like property. It was common for slave families to be separated, sold off, and to never see each other again. Family separation is an evil caused by the institution of slavery and Stowe provides many examples where families are separated, and would rather die then continue a life of servitude. Seeking freedom, Eliza escapes the horrors of the south with her young child around her neck braving the icy and treacherous water of the Ohio River (Stowe, 51-53). This is a sign that Eliza would rather face death then continue to be enslaved. Committing infanticide, Cassie murders her young child rather than have him live a life of slavery, and a woman who found out that her child was sold to another master, jumps off the side of a boat near Louisville committing suicide rather than live apart from her baby (Stowe, 310-311; 110-111). When Tom is auctioned to Legree, the mother and daughter pair of Susan and Emmeline are separated when Susan’s master is outbid for Susan’s daughter Emmeline (Stowe, 283-284). Creating a sphere of family life was an important way for slaves to cope with the brutality of slavery and many slave families lived in perpetual fear of having their family units broken apart. Breaking up families shows how the institution of slavery leaves parents and children with little hope, and in most circumstances death is preferred over living a life of servitude. Family disintegration is another harsh reality of the evil brought about through slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a comprehensive assessment of American slavery. Stowe argues fundamentally that everyone is a human being; everyone deserves equal rights, and no one should be a slave to someone else. Although slavery existed for many centuries in many civilizations, American slavery was extreme. Exposing the extreme evils of slavery, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a story about the pursuit of respect and freedom inspiring a nation to change and denounce the evils of slavery.

This is a book everybody knows about but not too many people have actually read. The book is not difficult to read but it's not today's typical best seller. Antebellum language was more formal than today's English and the references to specific Christian teachings both in support and condemnation of slavery are frequent. The characters in this novel were based on stories the author either heard directly from former slaves she met in her abolitionist activities in the north or else observed herself in earlier years while living in the slave-holding south. The story follows the life of several enslaved men, women and children, starting in Kentucky, then following down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the slave markets, and into the harsh cotton plantations of the deep south. As it happens, the recent issue of Smithsonian Magazine has an article that describes the most traveled routes of those selling slaves, starting from Virginia west to the Mississippi and down to New Orleans, using historical individuals and written documents detailing very closely the same activities and hardships displayed in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book. I became aware of how little this level of historical detail ever made it into my history books as I was growing up. Stowe portrays the emotional states of the slaves and how this varied so widely by the slaves' type of job, family status, but especially the character and temperament of the owners and overseers. Even in the most favorable home situation, where slaves did not need to fear violence or lack of food or clothing, they always had to fear that death of the owner could result in the breakup of the family through sale and to extremely more harsh physical and psychological circumstances for one or all of them. Uncle Tom's attitude of not lashing out at indignities is explored in greater depth than his stereotype has ever been, and it is just one of many differing ways of coping with life under slavery and establishing a personal ethic that allows one to continue getting out of bed day after day in intolerable conditions.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a pointed reminder of the roots of racial injustice that have anemically improved since slavery but also a stark reminder that we, as a nation, have a long way yet to go in erasing discrimination and injustices. This timeless book should be required reading in all our schools as well as a constant reminder to all Americans that we have a special obligation to recognize the suffering, savageness and abuse that African Americans have endured, and are still enduring. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written before the War Between the States but it is very much punctuates the horrible treatment that people of color continue to suffer in contemporary America. This classic will open your eyes wide to the sordid years in American history when being kidnapped, cruelly transported to a foreign country, subjected to inhumane treatment and enslaved was totally protected by American laws and condoned by most American citizens. In order to arrest racial discrimination we must first recognize and understand its roots — Uncle Tom’s Cabin chronicles what has been and what still needs to be done. Plus, this poignant book is an timely reminder that far too many Americans are still on the wrong side of racial equality and humanitarian history. A great old book and a captivating read that gives you an insight into slavery and discrimination that is absolutely eye opening. Shelby S.

Only by reading books like Uncle Tom's Cabin we can truly understand this country. To understand the present, one must study the past. Slavery has been practiced through out the history, but the unique characteristic of the slavery practice in America was the racial aspect of it. Only Africans were kept as slaves, at least I am not aware of any Native Americans being kept as slaves. I guess they were simply butchered. We as Americans have come a long way. We have an African American president. But I still see and hear lot of prejudice particularly in immigrant communities about African Americans. Immigrants tend to fall into media trap of forming their opinion based on local late night news. Recently I was talking to one of the African American professors in a university. He teaches political science. He mentioned to me that many immigrant taking his class tell him how his/her father came from Lebanon or wherever and started business and how successful they are. Not knowing the history these kids assume that African Americans just don't take the opportunity available to them in this country. They forget that a northern city like Detroit had an ordinance where blacks could not load/unload at the docks on the river and many other examples like these. When reading the book oner must keep in mind that this book was first published in 1852. It is still a great read particularly for immigrants and their kids.

This classic novel, based on many true stories, was more than I expected. The first few chapters were a difficult read for me because of the poor speech of the slaves but it was worth the struggle through it. Ms Stowe is a very intelligent woman and it pours forth in this well written account of slave life. A sad history of our Country that should not be forgotten. A presentation of Truth that should be known by all!