...examples of slave owners getting away with being cruel to the slaves, and by showing the better lives of slaves experiences on their plantations. Christianity is heavily encouraged for the slaves to follow, and it heavily influences some slaves mindset. In chapter three of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Eliza finds out that her lover, George’s owner wants him to leave Eliza and get married to a different slave. When George is explaining this to Eliza, and tells her how infuriated and worthless he feels, Eliza...
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...Seldom does a one work of literature change a society or start it down the road to cataclysmic conflict. One such catalytic work is Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). It is considered by many, one the most influential American works of fiction ever published. Uncle Tom's Cabin sold more copies than any other previous fiction title. It sold five thousand copies in its first two days, fifty thousand copies in eight weeks, three hundred thousand copies in a year and over a million copies in its first sixteen months. What makes this accomplishment even more amazing is that this book was written by a woman during a time in history women were relegated to domestic duties and child rearing and were not allowed positions of influence or leadership roles in society. Legend holds that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1682 he said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war". The impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin did more to arouse antislavery sentiment in the N orth and provoke angry rebuttals in the south than any other event in antebellum era. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), born Lichfeild, Connecticut, was the daughter, sister, and wife of liberal clergymen and theologians. Her father Lyman and brother Henry Ward were two of the most preeminent theologians of the nineteenth century. This extremely devout Christian upbringing, focusing on the doctrines...
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...The story starts as Mr. Shelby and Haley, a slave trader, exchange offers. Mr. Shelby is in debt, the reason why he I negotiating with Haley to settle it. Mr. Shelby offers Haley to take Tom, a religious and trustworthy man, but Haley insists that Tom is not enough to cover the debt. After a while, a little boy named Jim Crow/Harry enters the room and Haley is impressed because he saw that the young boy is not only talented, but also has a potential to make more money. However, Mr. Shelby asserts that he cannot trade Harry because the boy’s mother, Eliza, would freak out and Mr. Shelby’s wife would not approve of it as well. Eliza overhears a part of the conservation between the two gentlemen and is certain that her son might be the subject of the negotiation of the two. Eliza approaches Mr. Shelby’s wife and tells her about the matter but Mrs. Shelby assures her that her husband would not do such thing because he never means to sell any of his servants if they are good to him. Eliza was raised by Mrs. Shelby who treated her not as a servant but as a child. Eliza got married to George Harris, a worker in a bagging factory who was so intelligent that he invented a machine to make work easier. George Harris seemed more like a gentleman than a slave. Because of this, George was taken away from his work not only because George was too smart and upright, but also because it was claimed that the machine he invented for cleaning hemp was only done so as to save work and labor. Eliza...
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...Uncle Tom's Cabin - change in public opinion of slavery Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book is a realistic but fictional perspective of slavery. The key characters in the story include Uncle Tom, George Harris and Eliza. Uncle Tom is slave that is trustworthy and pious. He does not wrong anybody and only hitherto obeys the master. Being a spiritual person, Uncle Tom does his best to do what is right and obey the Bible. On the other hand, Eliza is a very beautiful slave under the ownership of George Shelby Sr., who formerly owns Tom. George Harris is the husband to Eliza and he lives around the nearby plantation. The brilliance of George caused him to invent a machine that was utilized in the factory where he works. Consequently, his owner became so jealous and decided to demote George from the factory and made him to carry out hard labor at the plantation. The setting of the story is across the Mississippi and Kentucky states (Tang, Research & Education Association 6-20). Rarely does a single work of literature transform the society or sets it on the road to a dreadful conflict. One such catalytic story is Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852). Many consider it as being among the most influential American fictional works ever published. The number of copies that Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold were numerous than any other fictional title to have been published before. Five thousand of its copies were sold within its first two days...
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...from illness, gave them food and clothes. For example, when Ms. Shelby heard that her husband, Mr. Shelby, was going to sell Uncle Tom along with Eliza and Harry to the slave trader Haley in order to save the family from the huge economic pressure, she felt some guilty inside her heart – Uncle Tom was so trustworthy and loyal to their family but they instead sold him as return. She deeply thought that violated her doctrine as a Christian, she should let them go; eventually, though she did not save Uncle Tom from being sold, Ms. Shelby let Eliza and...
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...Racial prejudice is the belief that one group of people is superior and better than those of a different colour or “race”. Many times in history one group of people has dominated and persecuted another group. One example for this is the history of black Americans in the United States. The USA has always suffered from divisions between white and black Americans. Many times white people have stopped black people from being equal citizens. White people thought that Africans were inferior and uncivilised. This idea justified the discrimination and exploitation of black people. But of course these justifications were nonsense: There were important kingdoms and great civilisations in Africa at the same time as people in Britain were living in primitive iron-age huts. Moreover from Egypt came ideas about geometry, arithmetics and astronomy. The proofs of their skills are for example the pyramids which are also one of the seven wonders of the world. Different words have been used to describe black Americans. For a long time they were referred to as negroes and often the word ‘nigger’ was used to insult them. Many whites called them ‘coloured people’. Since the 1960’s the term ‘black’ has become normal, although some people prefer the term ‘Afro-American’ as a reminder of their original roots in Africa. THE BEGINNING OF SLAVERY IN THE US The history of blacks in North America began in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought the first Negro slaves to Virginia. The first imported Africans...
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...Harriet Beecher Stowe believed in the abolition of slavery, for it was a very cruel and sinful institution. Her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, serves to persuade readers that slavery is a horrendous thing that should be stopped. The author’s point is emphasized by the use of different slave stories and the explaining of how slavery negatively affects individual beliefs, family life, and overall physical being. Stowe reveals slavery's grasping impact on the separation of families by sharing the stories of different slaves and their relationships. The book starts off by shedding light on a mother and her son. Their relationship is threatened when their owner, Mr. Shelby, sells the child apart from the mother, Eliza. (pg. 33) This slave trade...
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... Mr. Haley and Tom, traveled. While they were travelling, Tom saved a little girl from drowning which was Little Eva. Augustine St. Clare bought Tom from Mr. Haley to make him the personal servant of Little Eva. Eva and Augustine were both kind, unlike the mother of Eva. Tom and Little Eva became close to each other and comfortable. Eva became ill and when she was about to die he gave something to the servants so that they will remember Little Eva. Augustine promised Tom that he will be freed but even before that happened, Augustine died. Most of the slaves from the house of St. Clare were sold in the auction wherein Tom was included. On the other hand, Eliza and George Harris was reunited with each other and went to Canada. Tom’s new master was an evil man named, Simon Legree. Despite the bad treatment of his new master, Tom still maintained his honest and kind characteristic. Tom was beaten to death when...
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