Uncle Tom's Cabin Historical Themes

The purpose of this essay is to explain the main historical themes posed in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel is an anti-slavery novel by the American author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, which was published in 1852. The novel had such a profound effect on the attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the United States that it is believed to have intensified the conflict leading to the civil war. Among the many themes of the novel, the three main themes that seemed to recur were the evil and immorality of slavery, the moral authority of motherhood, and the redeeming possibilities of Christianity. Throughout the novel, Stowe emphasizes the connections between the three themes and the horrors of slavery. This essay will analyze those themes and
The majority of the slave masters in the novel, such as Shelby and St. Clare, seemed to treat their slaves very well. They gave them lots of freedom to do what they wanted to do, almost as if they were their children. There were some slaves like George, for example, who weren't so lucky. George was an intelligent man with a very cruel master. Apparently George's master didn't like the fact that George was smart and knew of better and faster ways to do his work, so he forced George to do all the dirtiest tasks on the property. He thought this would bring George down and force him to become humble like the rest of the slaves. George didn't like the idea of having his cruel master as his master because he felt that he was so much better than him. He felt as though he was a better man than his master, he knew more business than his master, he was a better manager than his master, he could read better than his master and he had better handwriting than his master. The way George's master treated him caused him to run away, using Canada as his destination, so that he could escape the evils of slavery and become a free man. (Stowe
Eliza is so set on protecting her son that she doesn't eat or sleep. Her son asks her why she won't eat or sleep and she tells him that she can't do either until she knows he is safe. At one point, Eliza is hiding in a tavern with her son while he sleeps. Haley, Sam, and Andy are out looking for Eliza and her son. Sam sees Eliza looking outside as they're about to pass by the tavern. Sam makes it look like the wind blew his hat off and makes loud noises to get Eliza's attention and to distract Haley so that he doesn't see Eliza. Haley sees Eliza, so she grabs her son and runs out of the tavern, to the river, and ends up jumping across the icy river just so Haley couldn't get to her son. She ended up cutting her feet on the ice, which shows how far she'll go to protect her son. (Stowe 137, 146 – 149, 55 – 57,