...|设计地点 |第二教学楼 | Acknowledgements Many people gave me support and help in the process of writing the paper. I’d like first to give my grate to my dear teacher, Andy, who generously gave me his kindly help and instructions during the whole process of my paper-writing. Then I’d like to give my many thanks to my classmates who helped me a lot with my information collecting and paper-polishing. Most important of all, I want to give my thanks to my mother university and all the teachers in the English Department, who educated and cultivated me to be a qualified graduate in the future. Abstract When Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, the novel was a huge success. It talked about the slavery which was a controversial issue at that time. Many critics made comments on this novel. With the passage of time, attitudes to the book changed considerably. The history of African American in US has always been considered as a bitter story. In recent years, their status...
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...Part I : Summary The book started with two men who are talking. It was Mr. Shelby, the master and a man who lend Mr. Shelby money, named Mr. Haley. They were talking about Mr. Shelby’s debts and how he could pay the man. They came up to the idea that Mr. Shelby will pay the man through his slaves. He will give slaves to Mr. Haley and the man agreed to it. Mr. Shelby decided that he will give Tom, one of his honest slaves and the Harry who was the son of, Eliza and George Harris. Eliza heard what Mr. Shelby said and he planned on escaping with his son because he don’t want to be far from it. She told her plan to her husband hoping that they will reunite in Ohio. Mr. Haley knew this and followed her when she tried escaping. She escaped in Ohio using only a floating ice on the river and that made her escape Mr. Haley. On the other hand, Tom stayed with Mr. Haley because he believes that Mr. Shelby will be disappointed if he will run away. 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...
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...elderly as much as they could. Though everyone struggled, being an enslaved child could have possibly been the worst age to be during this time. Most slave children were torn from their blood families which created a lack of love and affection which every child should have in their younger years of life. Thus, these children were forced into their slave owners homes which created a new family for them, sometimes positive or negative. Most importantly, slave children weren’t given much of a childhood; they were torn from their human rights of freedom, education, equality, and many other civil liberties. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a fictional work by Harriet Beecher Stowe, accurately compares to the real accounts of former slaves on the subject of enslaved children. Along with Stowe’s book, many slave narratives talk about these unfortunate events enslaved children went through. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harry is the first child Stowe introduces to the reader. Even though his story ends up having a happy ending, his family had always been incomplete while they were enslaved. Harry is Eliza and Henry Harris’s son; due to Eliza and Henry being on different farms, Harry would rarely ever see his father. Therefore, Harry and his father could not engage in many bonding experiences white children and their fathers could enjoy. In chapter III, Mr. Harris escapes to Canada because his master is forcing him to marry another woman on his own farm, ultimately, having to abandon Eliza and Harry. His escape...
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...Professor is selfish because he has become extremely dependent on others due to his old age. He requires a lot from those around him and gives nothing back. Simply he is a burden as demonstrated in his own words to Elena “You are quite right, of course. I am not an idiot; I can understand you. You are young and healthy and beautiful, and longing for life, and I am an old dotard, almost a dead man already. Don't I know it? Of course I see that it is foolish for me to live so long, but wait! I shall soon set you all free. My life cannot drag on much longer. (Chekhov)” This does not only apply to Elena but also to Sonya and Vanya. Throughout the years, they looked after the Estate and contributed to the wellbeing of the Professor for nothing. Uncle Vayna said it perfectly “For twenty-five years I have managed this place, and have sent you the returns from it like the most honest of servants, and you have never given me one single word of thanks for my work, not one--neither in my youth nor...
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...In Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’ cabin, both of circumstance and chance play a vital role in promoting the development of the story and illustrating the ideas of slavery. For example, because Miss Ophelia and St Clare have their different background, one lives in the South and one live in North, they would have different ideas about slavery which could only be seen by small details. “‘I’ll go and see to his putting them in’ said Miss Ophelia … ‘My ear Miss Vermont, positively you mustn’t come the Green Mountains over us that way. You must adopt at least a piece of Southern principle, and not walk out under all that load. They’ll take you for a waiting-maid; give them to this fellow; he’ll put them down as if they were eggs, now.’” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin,...
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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 by Harriet Beecher Stowe is a unique historical fiction novel which portrays life during the American Civil War. In this story, Harriet Beecher Stowe tells the tale of Uncle Tom, along with several other slaves, and their journey through the wretchedness of slavery. She combines ethics, redemption, religion, and prejudice; and illuminates the hard truths about the sordid business by having characters alleviate or minimize guilt by comparing themselves to slave owners who treat their slaves far worse than they do. Slave owners vary from Mr. Shelby to Augustine St. Clair to Marie St. Clair to Simon Legree. Slave owners like Shelby and St. Clair imagine themselves as moral owners by treating their slaves in a kind, humane and benevolent way that avoids cruelty like flogging. Despite all the arguments used to justify and rationalize slavery, Stowe mounts great evidence to prove the injustice, cruelty, and evil truths of slavery. Having run up large debts, a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby faces the prospect of losing everything he owns. Though he and his wife, Emily Shelby, have a kindhearted and affectionate relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise money by selling two of his slaves to Mr. Haley, a coarse slave trader. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby value their slaves as faithful employees who deserve respect, civility, and kindness. However, Mr. Shelby views slavery primarily as a business and fails to realize that he is splitting up Tom’s family...
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...Cassy is one of the slaves in the last few chapters of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She has been there longer than anyone else and was high in command; Cassy has a great story of her life to tell Tom and help him through his hard time being new there at Legees. She when is helping Tom tend to his wounds from Legee she starts to tell him her story of her past masters. Cassy begins to tell tom about how her past master was the father to her children and about how he had died and she and her kids were sold separately. She also starts to say how it wasn't all bad because her new master tried to help her find her children after he had scraped up the money but they never could find her children. Until one day when her new master had passed and...
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...“If the greatness of a novel were based solely upon its popularity and sociological impact, then Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin would undoubtedly be one of the greatest American novels of all time” (Levernier). When it was published, Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold out of its first edition within two days and it generated immediate controversy. This paper works to give insight into Harriet Beecher Stowe’s ideas behind the novel and to explore the reaction by readers in the North, South, and globally. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was born in Litchfield, Connecticut into a prominent family of preachers. Later in life, while living in Cincinnati, Stowe came in contact to actual runaway slaves. Stowe was appalled by the stories she heard...
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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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...Interviewer: What is the motivation of writing you book Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Interviewee:I wrote this book to protest against the fugitive slave law of 1850, the law instituted fine for federal official to limit the freedom of the slaves. This book deminstated the harsh environment of the slaves,and showing the experiences and the different perspective, and let people listen to the hardship of slavery. interviewer:What is your expectation when your readers reading your book? Interviewee:I hope the readers can understand the experience of the African Americans in our society, and be able to to visualize the image of their hardship in their daily life from the book.Even though i don't expect my reader will change their position on slavery after...
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...The Theme of Humanity Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The First Seven Chapters By Shelby Hammonds In the first seven chapters of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe the novel shows slave-owning families who think they are being humane, but in reality, no business with owning human beings is in any way humane. “I was a fool to think I could make anything good out of such a deadly evil...” says Mrs. Shelby. As she said this, she was coming out of her denial, and finally realizing how slavery can destroy families. She continues in saying, “... I thought I could gild over it. I thought by kindness, and care, and instruction, I could make the condition of mine better than freedom. Fool that I was (Stowe, 33)!” It seems that Mrs. Shelby never did think of slavery as being a good, Christian thing to do, rather the opposite. But she never admitted it to herself, until now. The situation is that, Harry, a young slave boy, is being ripped from his mother Eliza and sold to a ruthless trader, Mr. Haley, to pay a large debt. Uncle Tom, the most trusting and loyal slave of the Shelby’s, is also part of the deal. Uncle Tom, the man who held his master Mr. Shelby as a newborn in his arms, is being sold. For Mrs. Shelby, there is nothing to be done, though. As a woman in her time, she has no rights to business decisions. This brings in another situation. Mr. Shelby considers himself to be a humane man. He says it succinctly to Mr. Haley in eight words, “The fact is, sir, I’m a...
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...hett Kimura Clark US History/3A October 8th, 2014 Uncle Toms Cabin On a cold day in February two men, Mr. Shelby, the owner of the house who was a reasonable man; and the other, Mr. Haley a slave trader, were discussing the trade of a slave to pay for a debt. This slave's name was Tom. Mr. Shelby was exceedingly fond of Tom, stating that Tom was a “steady, honest and capable man; a good, sensible, fellow.”Tom was Mr. Shelby’s best slave, but the debt he owed would cause him to lose his land. In order to prevent this he sold both Tom and a small boy named Harry. Eliza, Harry’s mother, overhearing that her son was to be taken away from her decides to run off to Canada with the hopes of being free with her husband George. Mr. Shelby requests...
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...Tensions heightened between the North and South as America drew closer to civil war. The people were beginning to take sides and the public opinion was being swayed by authors and journalists. Two certain literary works of the 1850s, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Hinton R. Helper’s The Impending Crisis of the South, persuaded the people in the middle ground to join the North’s noble cause of defending freedom. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s more emotional story of Uncle Tom’s Cabin became the most effective novel on the American public opinion. Stowe’s work was emotional and vivid. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was widely distributed throughout the world and it energized anti-slavery forces. Helper took a more logical path in criticizing slavery and his book was mostly used by Republican candidates as campaign literature against Southern Democrats. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin used emotional and stirring words and images into her reader’s minds compared to Helper’s use of graphs and charts to get his point across. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin imagery is popularly used and at the time when literacy was uncommon. Images helped readers understand more. Helper uses graphs and charts, which most likely...
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...In chapter two of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” explains how Eliza was to be brought up by her mistress as as a “petted and indulged favorite.” Eliza was very lucky to have Mrs. Shelby as a mistress because she protected Eliza from “those temptations that make beauty so fatal an inheritance to a slave.” Eliza was married to another slave, George Harris, whois also part white. George’s master hired him out as a manufacturer, and then he invented a machine that cleans up hemp. Although George’s master is profiting from George’s skills, he grows jealous because of how much George is being praised. He took George out of the factory and made him do the lowest of work on his farm, to teach George a lesson for being so “Smart”. George felt very smoldered...
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