Uncle Tom's Cabin
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 03/26/2010 04:47 AM
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Rarely does one work of literature change a society or instigate it towards disastrous controversy. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin quickly transformed into one of those works. Stowe describes her own experiences or ones that she had witnessed through the text in her novel. She grew up in Cincinnati where she had a close look at slavery. Some of the novel originated after she read abolitionist books and the rest came from her own observations of real slaves. She uses the characters to symbolize popular ideas of her time. Because Uncle Tom's Cabin contradicted slavery entirely, the novel turned into a factor in the clash between the North and South. Both the content and the sale of the book shocked thousands of people because of Stowe’s courage to publish a book that expressed her personal opinions of a highly notorious topic during that time period. When Stowe met President Abraham Lincoln, he said to her, “So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war.”
Furthermore, this story had a great influence on its readers and went on to play a large part in our nation's politics. Henry Clay, a speaker who represented Kentucky in both the House and the Senate and well-known for his ability to bring others to agreement, had success in negotiating compromises on the slavery issue. He died on June 29, 1852, while the political parties had accepted all the measures of the Compromise of 1850. Therefore, Clay died with the satisfaction that his efforts had protected the country. However, on March 20, 1852, Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Both Henry Clay and the political conventions did not recognize the significance of the event, which tested the nation’s conscience.
The Compromise of 1850, a series of controversial bills aimed at resolving the slavery issues, did not satisfy the North or the South. Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin basically as a protest against this compromise. The admission of...
Rarely does one work of literature change a society or instigate it towards disastrous controversy. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin quickly transformed into one of those works. Stowe describes her own experiences or ones that she had witnessed through the text in her novel. She grew up in Cincinnati where she had a close look at slavery. Some of the novel originated after she read abolitionist books and the rest came from her own observations of real slaves. She uses the characters to symbolize popular ideas of her time. Because Uncle Tom's Cabin contradicted slavery entirely, the novel turned into a factor in the clash between the North and South. Both the content and the sale of the book shocked thousands of people because of Stowe’s courage to publish a book that expressed her personal opinions of a highly notorious topic during that time period. When Stowe met President Abraham Lincoln, he said to her, “So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war.”
Furthermore, this story had a great influence on its readers and went on to play a large part in our nation's politics. Henry Clay, a speaker who represented Kentucky in both the House and the Senate and well-known for his ability to bring others to agreement, had success in negotiating compromises on the slavery issue. He died on June 29, 1852, while the political parties had accepted all the measures of the Compromise of 1850. Therefore, Clay died with the satisfaction that his efforts had protected the country. However, on March 20, 1852, Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Both Henry Clay and the political conventions did not recognize the significance of the event, which tested the nation’s conscience.
The Compromise of 1850, a series of controversial bills aimed at resolving the slavery issues, did not satisfy the North or the South. Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin basically as a protest against this compromise. The admission of...