Stowe and Slave Narratives

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Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a very realistic novel about slavery. She had a vivid, heartfelt and gruesome imagination. Her thoughts and were confirmed in the real life accounts of slavery written by Equiano, Jacob and Douglass. The main point in Stowe's novel was the lack of regard for family unity by the masters and mistresses of the slaves. This is one of the most difficult, and gut wrenching issues to imagine as Equiano, Jacob and Douglass discuss their first hand encounters. Although the slaves are handed such a miserable life their faith in religion is unbelievably strong. Stowe makes several attempts to show how much the slaves relied on their religion. Equiano, Jacob and Douglass tell the reader how important God is in their lives and he is the reason they are able to endure the misery. Lastly, Stowe differs from the other writers because of her ability to illustrate detail. The other writers attempt to shelter the reader.

Motherhood is a part of the family unit that is completely torn apart during the time of slavery. Masters and Mistresses are "emotionless", when dealing with the slave families (Bookrags). Family togetherness and motherhood are two important elements in life, "Slavery is an institution that twists those ideas into something hardly recognizable" (bookrags). Mothers are known to do anything for their children. In all the stories mothers are forced to part with their children or run for their lives to prevent this hellish fate. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe makes numerous references to the lengths a mother will go to protect and be with her child. Eliza risks everything to be with her son Harry, she leaves behind "every familiar object" (774). When Stowe discusses Eliza's leap across the river, the reader is jumping with her and the only thought is that mother is with child:

."..with one wild cry and flying leap, she vaulted sheer over the turbid current by the shore on to the raft of ice beyond. It was a desperate leap-impossible to anything but madness and despair;... The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and creaked as her weight came on it, but she staid there not a moment. With wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake;-stumbling-leaping-slipping-springing upwards again! Her shoes are gone-her stockings cut from her feet-while blood marked every step; but she saw nothing, felt nothing, till dimly, as in a dream, she saw the Ohio side.

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