So today my U key fell off of my keyboard. How does that even happen?! I have to poke a pen into the U slot for them to type. Haha I just really needed to share. Hopefully they are all in the proper places! On to our reading...
I believe that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a very different text than the others we have studied so far this semester. Stowe did not concern herself with hiding the societal issues of the time period, but instead she chose to make them the center point of her text. I think that the theories of children being symbolic of hope and potential are still very evident in this text, although not in the way they are presented in other texts like The Wide, Wide World or The Lamplighter. Stowe used the child to symbolize the hope and potential for a future of freedom and peace for Eliza and her husband. The threat of losing her only child prompts Eliza to decide to risk everything and fight for freedom for her family, “the bare thought of putting him out of her arms made her shudder” (pg. 243). This compassion was a common feeling in mothers to young salve children. Throughout chapter eight there are examples given by Haley, Tom Loker, and his partner Marks of women being torn apart from their children. Marks described a women who “lopped around half as if she’d lost every friend she had.” (pg. 260). Children were seen as potential in both the slave owner’s eyes and their mother’s eyes. Their mothers could hold on to the glimmer of hope for a future of freedom. Slave owner’s viewed the young children as easy profit and good labor.
The message of slavery is anything but “good,” although Stowe did use this social issue to produce a “good” message common to children’s literature. I believe the “good” in this text is the rallying of the slaves. Sam told Haley, “I’d rather be ‘clined to ‘magine that Lizy’d take de dirt road…” (pg. 251), trying effortlessly to put as much space between the two parties as possible. I feel like Uncle Tom’s Cabin brings a very real and negative issue to the forefront that is difficult to read today; I can only imagine the response this text received in the time of its publication.
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I completely agree with your argument because Stowe used the horrific aspects of slavery to show "good" morals and a good message that is present in children's literature. I think this novel is so important because of what you said in your last paragraph. The negative but real issues of slavery are addressed while still maintaining the idea of good prevailing over evil and other theories we have looked at.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned that Stowe didn't concern herself with sticking with societal norms. She really didn't concern herself with them and in fact, made a statement of her own when she confronted them! Slavery is not good...but the response that came from this novel and the events that followed the publication were not initially good but provided for much much good!
ReplyDeleteThe issue of slavery was used to show how unethical it was. You proved that the situation was supposed to be interpreted that way becuase of the rebellion by the slaves is where the good came in. I agree that the children were the hope in the novel and offered a future in the parents eyes.
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