Historical Themes of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

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 explain why they are important.

The overall theme in Uncle Tom's Cabin has to be the evil and immorality of slavery. Throughout the novel, the author tells of all the terrible things that happened to slaves such as: families being separated, slaves being abused, slaves being killed, slaves being "sold down the river", and slaves being hunted down if

they ever escaped. 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 17)

Another big theme in Uncle Tom's Cabin is the moral authority of motherhood. Throughout the novel, Stowe writes about mothers being separated from their children. One brief part of the novel tells of Hagar, the 60 year old woman who is separated from the only son she has left, a 14 year old boy who is

bought by Haley at an auction. She begs and begs Haley to buy her also but he cruelly refuses. Another cruel separation happens when Haley and the slaves he is trading are sailing on a boat to the south. A woman named Lucy who is on the boat with her baby is going down south with Haley to be traded onto a plantation. She thinks she's going to take her baby with her, but Haley doesn't tell her that he's sold her son to someone else on the boat. When the boat makes a stop and Lucy isn't paying attention, Haley has the person he sold the baby to take the baby and leave