Uncle Tom’s Cabin: an Analysis of Racism

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: an Analysis of Racism

  • Submitted By: lelder2
  • Date Submitted: 10/14/2008 1:56 AM
  • Category: Book Reports
  • Words: 1492
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 2

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: An Analysis of Racism
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is a novel written before the Civil War that mainly follows the journey of three slaves and their experiences in and out of slavery along the way. The novel portrays the impact of slavery on blacks as well as whites. Stowe’s mission was to bring the cruelty of slavery to realization. Understandably, there are many controversial views on whether or not this novel was written on behalf of racist beliefs. Throughout the book Stowe draws in-depth pictures on what African Americans went through and how things really were, including stereotypes, dialect, torture, and inequality. Many people believe that it is a racist novel because they claim that Stowe over exaggerated the harshness of slavery. However, Stowe wrote the novel exactly how slavery was. She wanted people to realize the cruelty of slavery without a candy-coated story behind it. While some people may argue that the book involves many instances of racism, Stowe did not intend for it to be a racist novel. People may depict situations throughout the novel that could inquire racism, however, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not purposely written as a racist novel. Instead, it was Stowe’s intention to prove the fact that it would take more than the passage of a law to put an end to the cruelty, segregation, and general embarrassment associated with slavery.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin without the intention of her novel being racist or stirring up controversy. Instead, it was written in response to the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, which forbade Americans, especially Northerners, to house runaway slaves. Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in hopes of not only abolishing the newly passed law, but putting an end to slavery as well (Students 297). It was her belief that putting an end to slavery was not something that could be accomplished by a law. In an article from Novels for Students, essayist Thomas...

Similar Essays