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Preface of uncle tom's cabin
Preface of uncle tom's cabin
Preface of uncle tom's cabin
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What makes a good novel? Is it the title? Could it be the unusual or stylish cover? The author’s accredited reputation? Is it the number of copies sold? It could be the memorial characters of the novel? Maybe it is the length of the novel? The familiarity the novel illuminates to its readers? Or it may be the thrilling or contradictory plot? The influence it has upon the readers? It could be the criticism surrounding the novel? Whatever the criterion for a good novel is Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe may well be one of the critical controversial novel of its time.
Regarding Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I collected sources about the critical controversy about the novel. In my findings, there is Norton Critical Edition, A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on the novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet B. Stowe, lastly “The Little Cabin of Uncle Tom” by Egbert Oliver. I classified each source from best to worse base upon author credentials, origin, amount of detail/reading level, and purpose. The best source was the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by H.B. Stowe. By reading the novel first, I was able to freely criticize it without the involvement of any other critic’s view to influence my interpretation. The author of the novel is reputable H.B. Stowe. As the author she has the best credentials of anyone because she had firsthand experience since she lived during the time of slavery. The novel, by itself, is a primary source of criticism regarding the public recognition to the horrific circumstances of slavery in the Southern states. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was first published weekly in an abolitionist newspaper called National Era then was published in a two volume book set published by John P. Jewett and Company (Rosenthal 9). The novel was wr...
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Works Cited
"Norton History | W. W. Norton & Company." W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. W. W. Norton & Company,Inc.Web.23Jan.2012..
Oliver, Egbert S. "The Little Cabin of Uncle Tom.” National Council of Teachers of English. 26.5 (1965): 355-361. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. .
Stowe, Harriet B. A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ed. Debra J. Rosenthal. New York and London: Routledge, 2004. Print.
Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle Tom's Cabin: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010.Norton Critical Editions. Print.
Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Or, Life Among The Lowly. Reader's Digest Association, 1969. Print.
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811. Her father was Lyman Beecher, pastor of the Congregational Church in Harriet’s hometown of Litchfield, Connecticut. Harriet’s brother was Henry Ward Beecher who became pastor of Brooklyn’s Plymouth Church. The religious background of Harriet’s family and of New England taught Harriet several traits typical of a New Englander: theological insight, piety, and a desire to improve humanity (Columbia Electronic Library; “Biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe”).
Tom's Cabin: A Norton Critical Edition by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. New York: Norton, 1994.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin." Literary Themes for Students: Race and Prejudice. Ed. Anne Marie Hatch. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 484-98. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. .
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852. This anti-slavery book was the most popular book of the 19th century, and the 2nd most sold book in the century, following only the Bible. It was said that this novel “led to the civil war”, or “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. After one year, 300,000 copies were sold in the U.S., and over 1 million were sold in Britain.
Uncle Tom’s cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It is an anti-slavery book that shows the reader the many sufferings endured by slaves in the period before the civil war. To the people of the modern day generation, these acts of slavery are unbelievable but the reader has to realize the fact that in those years, people suffered, to the point where they were just treated as property, where owners can do whatever they like and be disposed of or traded as if they were just material possessions and not even human. The book talks about the relationship between slaves and their masters as well as the role of women. As slavery was practiced during such times, Stowe tries to expose the difficult life people had in the past and how their faith in God helped them to endure all there hardships.
Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Battle for America is written by David S. Reynolds. Reynolds is a Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In this book, the author analyzes and discusses the effect of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in society. American history has been influenced through different works. However, as Reynolds claims, Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped shape the world’s public opinion about slavery and religion in more than one way. Therefore, no book could have more powerfully molded American history than Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, has had a tremendous impact on American culture, both then and now. It is still considered a controversial novel, and many secondary schools have banned it from their libraries. What makes it such a controversial novel? One reason would have been that the novel is full of melodrama, and many people considered it a caricature of the truth. Others said that she did not show the horror of slavery enough, that she showed the softer side of it throughout most of her novel. Regardless of the varying opinions of its readers, it is obvious that its impact was large.
It also teaches Christian values as well as family values. At the time of its publication, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was an immediate success and one of biggest sellers of all time. Despite the fact that Stowe induces her own personal opinions, with the very little experience she has had with slaves, she delivers a magnificent novel which is still enjoyed by many modern readers today. The time of her novel’s publication was very important. It was published at the peak of the abolitionist movement, in the 1850’s.
Even today, with literature constantly crossing more lines and becoming more shocking, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin remains one of the most scandalous, controversial, and powerful literary works ever spilled onto a set of blank pages. Not only does this novel examine the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery, but it introduces us to the hearts, minds and souls of several remarkable and unprecedented characters.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ed. Philip van Doren Stern. New York: Paul S. Eriksson, 1964.
It is extremely difficult for the modern reader to understand and appreciate Uncle Tom’s Cabin because Harriet Beecher Stowe was writing for an audience very different from us. We don’t share the cultural values and myths of Stowe’s time, so her novel doesn’t affect us the way it affected its original readers. For this reason, Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been heavily scrutinized by the modern critic. However, the aspects of the novel that are criticized now are the same aspects that held so much appeal for its original audience.
The novel is based around the life of Tom, who was a middle-aged slave and his strong spiritual beliefs. This novel was a driving force towards the Civil War. The spiritual theme of this novel has led many literary historians to associate this with the Transcendentalist literary movement. However, other scholars view the novel as part of the Realist movement due to the actuality of events. Tom’s unwavering belief in the existence of his individual situation and the novel’s theme of antislavery are the only reasons why this novel is believed to be an example of Transcendentalism. There is more reason to believe that Uncle Tom’s Cabin fits under the literary time era of Realism since it was the driving force towards the Civil War. Ten years after the novel was published and during the early stages of the Civil War, President Lincoln, upon meeting Stowe, greeted her by saying “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war”(http://www.ushistory.org/us/28d.asp). This quote is one that has left its mark on history and exemplifies the importance of this novel. A person who believes in Transcendentalism could fully support this novel based upon the self-reliant theme and strong independent development by the protagonist. The greatness of this novel is that it transcends different thoughts and can be
Despite the few negative reviews, Uncle Tom’s Cabin undeniably made an impact on many individuals. In the words of Pulitzer prize-winning author Jane Smiley, “Stowe’s words changed the world” (harrietbeecherstowe.org). Today, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is known as a classic that is often used in classes to review “literature, history, and issues of race and gender”
Overall Uncle Tom’s Cabin is filled with religious overtones of martyrdom, imposed religion, and genuine piety of the slaves in bondage. Harriet Beecher Stowe shows the divide between how the slaveholders see religion as a whip to keep slaves in line and how slaves see the same religion as a balm for the wounds inflicted on them by the whites.
I had read it once before, but never really understood the importance of the context in which it was written. The surrounding events of the period bore heavy consequences on both the creation and reaction to the novel, and I now can appreciate the value of such a “document” in the scheme of American history. The “little lady who made the big war,” then, surely did not realize that her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, would heavily reverberate into the dawn of the 21st century. Bibliography:.. Stowe, Harriet.