La Cabaña del tio Tom

Por Harriet Beecher

Protagonizada por un esclavo negro, el tío Tom, esta novela muestra crudamente cómo eran tratados los esclavos en Estados Unidos antes de la Guerra de Secesión. El poder absoluto que los amos tenían sobre ellos, la cruel separación de sus familias y los duros trabajos a que eran sometidos, aparecen en toda su humillante condición. La obra tuvo una profunda influencia en su época y sirvió para apoyar la causa abolicionista que desembocaría en la cruenta guerra civil que enfrentó a dos maneras de pensar sobre la condición humana.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Zig-Zag
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 3 mar 2016
• ISBN: 9789561221611

Vista previa del libro

portadilla_tom

e-book I.S.B.N.: 978-956-12-2161-1

1ª edición: marzo de 2016.

Versión abreviada de Jaime Valdivieso.

Gerente Editorial: Alejandra Schmidt Urzúa.

Editora: Camila Domínguez Ureta.

Director de Arte: Juan Manuel Neira Lorca.

Diseñadora: Mirela Tomicic Petric.

© 1989 por Empresa Editora Zig-Zag, S.A.

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Derechos reservados de la presente versión.

Editado por Empresa Editora Zig–Zag, S.A.

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Índice de contenido

Palabras preliminares

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Un hombre de sentimientos humanitarios

La madre

El marido y el padre

Reunión en la cabaña del tío Tom

Cuando se cambia de dueño

Descubrimientos

La lucha de la madre

Un complot

Un senador sólo es un hombre

Toma de posesión

En una hostería de Kentucky

Incidente en un comercio autorizado

En la morada de los cuáqueros

Evangelina

Los nuevos amos de Tom

La patrona de Tom y sus opiniones

¡Luchamos por nuestra libertad!

Opiniones de la señorita Ofelia

Topsy

Kentucky

La hierba se seca, la flor se marchita

Enrique

Presagios sombríos

El pequeño evangelista

La muerte

Dolor

La reunión

Los débiles sin amparo

El mercado de esclavos

La travesía

Lugares tenebrosos

Cassy

Historia de la cuarterona

Las prendas del cariño

Emelina y Cassy

Libertad

La victoria

La estrategia

El mártir

El amo joven

Una historia de aparecidos

Resultados

El libertador

Palabras preliminares

Harriet Beecher Stowe

beecher

Retrato de Harriet Beecher del artista Francis Holl.

La escritora estadounidense Harriet Beecher Stowe nació en Litchfield, Connecticut, en 1811 y murió en Hartford, Connecticut, en 1896. Nacida y criada en un medio puritano, su padre, el pastor calvinista Lyman Beecher, le dio una educación muy estricta y rigurosa.

En 1832 el pastor se trasladó con su familia a Cincinatti, Ohio, una ciudad que era fervientemente partidaria de la abolición de la esclavitud. Allí Lyman Beecher fundó el Seminario Teológico de Lane, transformándose en su primer presidente. Fue en ese lugar donde Harriet tuvo conocimiento de cómo vivían los esclavos afroamericanos. Y donde la horrorizó la ley de 1850 que obligaba a denunciar a las autoridades a los esclavos fugitivos, incluso en los Estados donde ya se había decretado su liberación. La honda impresión que todo ello le produjo la motivó a escribir La cabaña del tío Tom (Uncle Tom’s Cabin). Como generalmente se hacía en aquellos años, la novela fue publicada primeramente por entregas durante 1851 y 1852 en un periódico abolicionista: The National Era. En el mismo año 1852 se publicó como libro. La obra por entregas no tuvo mayor resonancia, pero sí el libro, que obtuvo un enorme e inmediato éxito y que, según sus coetáneos, se vendía tanto como la Biblia.

El libro fue un duro golpe para los partidarios de la esclavitud, ayudó a cristalizar los sentimientos en contra de ésta en los estados del Norte y aceleró el estallido de la Guerra de Secesión (1861-1865). La obra fue también un éxito en América y en Europa y se tradujo a muchas lenguas.

El protagonista de la novela es un esclavo afroamericano: el tío Tom. Éste tiene unos amos muy benévolos, que lo quieren y aprecian tanto a él como a su familia, pero que debido a malos negocios se ven obligados a venderlo. Desde ese momento el tío Tom será vendido una y otra vez, y su familia, desarticulada, sufrirá toda clase de dolores y persecuciones. A estos personajes se suman otros muchos que muestran dramáticamente el trato que se daba a los esclavos de las más distintas edades, desde la niñez hasta la ancianidad.

Cuando Harriet escribió La cabaña del tío Tom no había estado nunca en los Estados esclavistas del sur de los Estados Unidos. La gran acogida que tuvo el libro y la polémica que suscitó, la llevó a documentarse a fondo sobre la situación de los esclavos y a publicar Una clave para la cabaña del tío Tom (A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1853). Aunque esta obra entregaba una enorme cantidad de documentos que respaldaban su posición antiesclavista, no tuvo el éxito de la anterior. En 1856, Harriet volvió a la carga contra los detractores de sus obras e insistió sobre el tema de la abolición de la esclavitud con su segunda novela: Dred: relato de la gran ciénaga deprimente (Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp).

A las obras ya citadas hay que agregar otra buena cantidad de libros, ya que entre 1862 y 1884 la escritora publicó casi un libro por año. Entre éstos sobresale su novela romántica El galanteo del ministro (The Minister’s Wooing, 1859).

Harriet se había iniciado en las letras escribiendo algunos cuentos y novelas cortas. Su primer libro fue El Mayflower o Apuntes de escenas y personajes entre los descendientes de los peregrinos (The Mayflower or Sketches of Scenes and Characters Among the Descendants of the Pilgrims, 1834). Posteriormente, en 1835, publicó A Plea for the West, basada en un pretendido complot papal para convertir al catolicismo a Estados Unidos.

En 1836 Harriet contrajo matrimonio con Calvin Stowe, un pastor viudo, profesor de literatura bíblica y ardoroso luchador contra la esclavitud. Ella se había apartado ya del calvinismo ortodoxo de su padre.

La pareja tuvo siete hijos, cuatro de los cuales fallecieron a temprana edad.

Sus primogénitas, mellizas, habían nacido en 1836.

José Manuel Zañartu.

figura_1

Grabado del libro publicado el año 1852 en Boston, Estados Unidos.

Un hombre de sentimientos humanitarios

Una tarde de febrero, en la ciudad de P., en Kentucky, conversaban dos caballeros en un elegante comedor, frente a una botella de vino. Los sirvientes ya se habían retirado.

Uno era un hombre pequeño y rechoncho, de rostro vulgar; de su chaleco pendía una pesada cadena de oro que agitaba ruidosamente. El señor Shelby, en cambio, parecía un gentleman. Ambos discutían animadamente.

–Deseo que el asunto se arregle así –dijo Shelby.

–Pero yo no puedo cerrar así ningún negocio –respondió el otro, levantando su copa.

–Sin embargo, Haley, mi Tom vale esa suma: es inteligente, activo, tranquilo y honesto.

–¡Tan honesto como puede serlo un negro!

∫–Le he confiado cuanto poseo: dinero, casa, caballos, y siempre me ha respondido fielmente.

–Hay gente que no cree en la fidelidad de los negros–dijo Haley–. ¡Yo miro la fidelidad en un negro como algo precioso si es sincera, pero no hay que equivocarse!

–Tom es muy fiel –respondió Shelby–. Siento mucho tener que separarme de él. Usted debería quedarse con él para saldar la deuda completa si tuviera un poco más de conciencia.

–Tengo mucha, pero usted me pide demasiado. ¿No tiene algún negrito o negrita que pueda cubrir la diferencia?

–Ninguno del que quiera desprenderme.

Un niño cuarterón¹ de unos cinco años entró en la sala. Era hermoso y su carita expresaba alegría.

–Bribonzuelo, ven acá –dijo el señor Shelby pasándole un racimo de uvas y acariciándolo–. ¡Ahora, Enrique, demuéstrale al señor que sabes bailar y cantar!

El niño empezó a cantar con voz clara, acompañándose de cómicos movimientos.

–¡Bravo! –gritó Haley, tirándole una naranja.

–Eso no es todo. Enrique, camina como el viejo Cudjoe.

Inmediatamente el niño deformó sus miembros y se puso a cojear apoyado en el bastón de su amo y escupiendo a derecha e izquierda.

–¡Bravo! –exclamó Haley–. Déme usted a ese picaruelo y cerremos trato.

Se abrió la puerta y entró una hermosa cuarterona de veinticinco años; sin duda la madre del niño. La perfección de sus formas no escapó al ojo experto del comerciante.

–¿Qué hay, Elisa? –preguntó su amo al verla cohibida.

–Busco a Enriquito, señor.

–Pues bien, llévatelo.

–¡Por Júpiter! –exclamó el gordo mientras la joven se llevaba a su hijo–. ¡He aquí una magnífica mercancía! ¿Cuánto pide usted por esa muchacha?

–No tengo intención de venderla. Además, mi esposa no se separaría de ella aunque le pagaran su peso en oro.

–Las mujeres siempre dicen eso porque no saben de cálculos.

–No insista, Haley.

–Entonces usted me dará al pequeño.

–¿Para qué quiere usted a ese niño?

–Tengo un amigo que busca niños hermosos y los educa para venderlos a las familias ricas. Artículos de fantasía.

–Me repugna separar a un hijo de su madre.

–Lo entiendo perfectamente. Siempre he detestado sus gritos. Generalmente alejo a las madres y vendo a los hijos sin que ellas lo sepan. Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente. No son como las blancas, que han sido educadas en la esperanza de conservar a sus hijos. Los negros, si se los educa bien, no tienen ninguna esperanza.

–Entonces temo que mis esclavos no hayan sido bien educados.

–Eso mismo creo yo; ustedes, los de Kentucky, hacen un flaco favor a los negros tratándolos bien. Cuando cambian de dueño echan de menos los buenos tratos. En fin, cada uno cree que su método es el mejor. Y bien –añadió Haley–, ¿qué responde usted a mi proposición?

–Quiero meditarlo y conversar con mi mujer. Vuelva hoy a las siete y le daré mi respuesta.

El comerciante se despidió.

¡Cómo me habría gustado obligar a ese miserable a bajar la escalera a puntapiés –se dijo el colono–. Pero el canalla conoce sus ventajas. Si alguien me hubiese predicho que yo vendería a Tom le habría respondido: ¿Acaso mi esclavo es un perro?... Y, sin embargo, es preciso que lo venda. Mi mujer me hará una escena.

El señor Shelby era un hombre bueno. Sin embargo, lanzado en arriesgadas especulaciones, había contraído grandes deudas. Sus pagarés habían ido a parar a manos de Haley.

Elisa hubiera deseado quedarse junto a la puerta para escuchar, pero su ama la llamaba. Creía haber oído que el negrero quería comprar a su hijo y estrechó al niño con vehemencia.

–Hija, ¿qué te pasa hoy? –le preguntó el ama cuando a Elisa se le cayeron el jarro de agua y luego el costurero.

–¡Oh, amita...! –respondió la esclava bañada en lágrimas–. Un comerciante está abajo hablando con el amo.

–¿Y qué te importa eso, tontuela?

–¿Cree usted, señora, que el amo quiera vender a mi Enriquito?

–No, locuela. ¿Acaso crees que todo el mundo está loco por él? Trénzame los cabellos como te enseñé y no escuches tras las puertas.

Elisa, tranquilizada, terminó de arreglarla con rapidez.

La señora Shelby unía a su inteligencia una elevada moral. Y como ignoraba las dificultades pecuniarias de su marido, no se preocupó más del asunto.

La

Comentarios para La Cabaña del tio Tom

[velmeran · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A very interesting and informative description of dark times that most of us might prefer to go through life not 'knowing' but must learn about in detail not in a glossed over history book.

[pzmiller_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I have to admit that I only just read it for the first time. All I can say is that this book is amazing -- and that Harriet Beecher Stowe must have been a genius because of the way she manipulated the story to "preach" for her without preaching.

[laphenix · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I loved this! Beautiful and heartbreaking though some of my emotional bonds were stronger with side characters. It's fascinating to see how our perspectives of Uncle Tom have evolved throughout history.

[eadieb-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is a powerful story of the ills of slavery. The characters come alive and make you feel like you are a part of the story. I really enjoyed the strong females in the book and the portrayal of slavery and its effects on families and individuals. I found this book to be a compelling story and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.

[jordanf150 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Initially published in installments, from 1851 to 1852, this American classic is a work of power. Stowe herself disclaimed authorship, attributing the book to God’s hand; and, it isn’t hard to understand why. Uncle Tom’s Cabin would be a wonderful read if only because of Stowe’s excellent skill as a writer, but the true power of the story lies much deeper than literary skill. With bold passion, Stowe calls an entire nation (North and South alike) to carry it’s ways before the great throne of God. She urges humans to feel for the humanity of others, often breaking the “fourth wall” to challenge the reader, “Now, how would you feel if it were you?” She tries her society in the great court of God’s impending judgment, as she writes of one slave-master, “His Master’ll be sending for him, and then see how he’ll look!” Or, again from the closing sentence, “Not surer is the eternal law by which the millstone sinks in the ocean, than that stranger law by which injustice and cruelty shall bring on nations the wrath of Almighty God!” The whole of the book is an unrelenting challenge to see the world through the eyes of Heaven. And, above all else, it is a proclamation of living Gospel. If Stowe believes the world has any hope at all, she believes it is the Gospel of Christ, which she places at the very core of this book. She offers two Christ-figures, one white and one black, in the persons of young Evangeline (a play on the Greek word for “gospel”) and Uncle Tom. The score of characters who find salvation through the life, love, and death of these two figures is the point of the book, as Stowe essentially asserts that man’s only hope against the darkest evils of this world is the Gospel of Christ, received and lived by those who will fully lay down their lives for Him. As a side note, it is terribly unfortunate that “Uncle Tom” has become a derogatory label in our society, as Stowe’s Uncle Tom was the most powerful, Christlike character in the book. It is my understanding that later theatrical adaptations of Uncle Tom cast him in a different light, but to misunderstand Stowe’s Uncle Tom as a weak man is to misunderstand the Gospel of Christ. The true Uncle Tom broke racism on an incredible scale; he did not further it’s cause.

[kristelh_15 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin is an antislavery book. It is a story written in supplements like Dicken's wrote his stories and the stories of various characters revolve around Uncle Tom, a longsuffering, godly man. It was the best selling novel of the 19th century, second to the Bible. The characters can be called stereotypes and this book gets much criticism in this day and age. I read this after reading The Underground Railroad and am glad to have done so. What I liked in the story is that the author not only shows the evil of slavery in south she also shows the bigotry of the Northern people in their treatment of blacks. It is unfortunate to only criticize the book for its stereotypes and fail to acknowledge the impact of the book during the time in which it was written.

Rating 3.85

[siok-76276 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Another book that I cried buckets over, over the fate of Evangeline and Tom. I came away from the book with a renewed conviction in God. Although fictional, if Tom can love and trust in God in spite of all that had befallen him, what more I, in my situation?

[varwenea · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I spent two months reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, not for the complexity of prose but for the subject matter. At times, reading no more than two pages, putting it down, digesting the words (or trying to forget the words) for days before picking it up again. I don’t know how many tissues I went through reading this book. My reading speed picked up when the precocious little Eva entered the pages. Oh, how I fell in love with Eva St. Clare. She was the joy and sunshine in a dark, oppressive tale who reminded the reader how innocence, love, and kindness can radiate to all. I needed her to carry me through this difficult story. (In 1852, 300 babies in Boston alone were named Eva.)

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” traced the story of the pious Uncle Tom and a related/parallel story of escaping slaves, George, Eliza, and Harry Harris. Tragedy strikes throughout UTC, with deaths on both the blacks and the whites. The book was based on the life of Josiah Henson, an escaped slave who fled to Canada with his wife and children in the 1830s. The tragic tales (the suicides, the torture of slaves) and the amazing feat of jumping an icy river were leveraged from real life tales.

Published in 1852, Stowe was inspired to write UTC partly due to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law prohibiting assistance to fugitives. Stowe and her husband were both abolitionist and had supported the Underground Tunnel. A goal of the book was to educate northerners of the realistic horrors of the slave trade happening in the South and also to increase (or initiate) empathy towards slaves for the southerners. This book became a best seller, leading up to the apocryphal that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." However, this text was never in print until 1896. It would have been a good story if true.

Needless to say, the book was condemned in the South during the same era and even in recent history. Interestingly, as African-Americans became educated and were reading the book for the first time, they too criticized the book for its stereotyping of blacks – obsequious and toadying. While I can understand this perspective, the book had served its purpose in 1852.

4 stars for the book itself (a bit wordy). 0.5 stars for the highly affective emotional tugs without feeling overwrought. 0.5 stars for the significant historical footprint it left.

Favorite character: Hands down, Eva St. Clare
Least favorite character: It could have been Haley, the slave trader, or Legree, the cruel plantation owner, but it was Marie Benoir/St. Clare – the most obnoxious, self-centered, tyrannical being who tormented Mammy and refused Tom’s freedom just for the money, even though she doesn’t need it. I wanted to strangle her.

Things I learned: 1. The tragic baby/slave making that women were forced to do. 2. The vulnerability of slaves upon the master’s death.

Some Quotes:

On beauty and old age:
"Her hair, partially silvered by age, was parted smoothly back from a high placid forehead, on which time had written no inscription, except peace on earth, good will to men, and beneath shone a large pair of clear, honest, loving brown eyes; you only needed to look straight into them, to feel that you saw to the bottom of a heart as good and true as ever throbbed in woman's bosom. So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?"

On God:
"’Is there a God to trust in?’ said George, in such a tone of bitter despair as arrested the old gentleman's words. ‘O, I've seen things all my life that made me feel that there can't be a God. You Christians don't know how these look to us. There's a God for you, but is there any for us?’"

On racism, from St. Clare:
You = Northerners. “You loathe them as you would a snake or a toad, yet you are indignant at their wrongs. You would not have them abused; but you don’t want to have anything to do with them yourselves. You would send them to Africa, out of your sight and smell, and then send a missionary or two to do up all the self-denial of elevating them compendiously.”

On religion, from St. Clare:
"Religion! Is what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath."

On slavery, from St. Clare:
“It’s all nonsense to talk to me about slaves enjoying all this! … Tell me that any man living wants to work all his days, from day-dawn till dark, under the constant eye of a master, without the power of putting forth one irresponsible volition, on the same dreary, monotonous, unchanging toil, and all for two pairs of pantaloons and a pair of shoes a year, with enough food shelter to keep him in working order!”

[lindalou924 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

“The way of the wicked is as darkness; he knoweth not at what he stumbleth.”

Written in 1852, this book continues today as a classic novel about slavery, racism, hope and the Christian faith. It was written to educate as well as to remind future generations. It was a best-seller, selling 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week; 300,000 in the first year. It also sold then, and still sells today, in the international market. It has been on banned book lists since its publication. Today, many school districts and/or states ban it due to language, racism, and/or Christianity.

Mrs. Stowe was from the Northeast United States. The United States Congress passed the Compromise of 1850. It was intended to address the concerns of slave holding and free states, yet it helped galvanize the abolition movement. Mrs. Stowe formed her stance on slavery because of this law. Among the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 were the end of the slave trade, but not slavery, and the creation of a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. Helping runaways had been illegal since 1793, but the 1850 law required that everyone help catch fugitives. This law erased any protection that a fugitive had had. Anyone on the street could be picked up and accused of being a fugitive from slavery. Thus free Blacks were often picked up and sent into slavery.

She was angry, believing her country was now requiring her to comply with a system that she believed was unjust and immoral. While she and her husband, Calvin Stowe, were living in Maine, she disobeyed the law by hiding runaways. Mrs. Stowe lived in Connecticut, Ohio, and Maine, yet she knew slavery through several avenues. While in Ohio, she and her husband were a part of the Underground Railroad. Her brother met a plantation owner who was cruel and evil as the book’s Simon Legree. She traveled to Kentucky where she visited plantations with slaves. She felt the message of slavery needed to be espoused clearly and loudly. She shared her frustrations and feelings of powerlessness with her family. It was then that her sister-in-law suggested she do more: “…if I could use a pen as you can, Hatty, I would write something that would make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is.” This letter touched Mrs. Stowe to the heart. She was determined to write “if [she] lived.”

The story follows two lines. One is Tom who chooses to stay with his family rather than run away once he finds that he is to be sold to pay debts of the plantation owner. He hoped that his family would be able to stay together if he did not run. The second is Eliza who finds that her young son, Harry, is also to be sold for these debts. Eliza chooses to run away with Harry.

We follow Eliza and Harry as they wind their way on escape routes, running just ahead of slave hunters, being protected by Quakers missionaries along the way to arrive safely in Canada. We also follow Tom from plantation owners who treat their slaves gently and kindly to being sold to a harsh slave trader who then sells Tom to other plantation owners. The final one is the cruel and violent Simon Legree.

Slavery and the slave trade separated families, husbands from wives, mothers from children. Punishments, fierce and gruesome, showed that slaves were treated as less than human. Freedom came for some; others received promises of freedom, but when the master died suddenly or he racked up a lot of debt, those slaves were sold “down the river.”

There are moments in the story filled with hope and love, people desiring to help others. There are times filled with cruelty and fear, people filled with hatred. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is fiction yet is based on a conglomerate portrait of slaves, owners, families, and abolitionists. It has the genuine mixture of story/subject, characters, settings, and emotions to make it a classic and a bestseller. It is an excellent story, although so hard and harsh at times, yet carried along with hope and love.

Author

Harriet Beecher was born June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, CT to the Rev. Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) and Roxanna Foote Beecher (1775- 1816); the sixth of 11 children. The Beechers expected their children to make a difference in the world, and they truly did:

All seven sons became ministers (the most effective way to influence society in that period)
Oldest daughter, Catharine pioneered education for women
Youngest daughter, Isabella was a founder of the National Women’s Suffrage Association
Harriet believed her purpose in life was to write. Her most famous work exposed the truth about the greatest social injustice of her day – human slavery

Stowe began her formal education at Sarah Pierce’s academy, one of the earliest to encourage girls to study academic subjects and not simply ornamental arts. In 1824, she became a student and then a teacher at Hartford Female Seminary, which was founded by her sister Catharine.

In 1851, The National Era’s publisher contracted with Stowe for a story that would “paint a word picture of slavery” and that would run in installments. Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among the Lowly turned out to be more than 40 installments before it was published into a book.

In all, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s writing career spanned 51 years, during which time she published 30 books and countless short stories, poems, articles, and hymns.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This has been a book I have wanted to read for years and years. I finally decided it would fit into my library of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon, two excellent non-fiction books.

This book is 496 pages. I joined in Sue Jackson’s “Big Book Summer Challenge” @ Book By Book (as this book was over the 400 page minimum).

[krista.rutherford · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Although the character Uncle Tom has been criticized for being too meek and utterly subservient, and too gentle and religious when maybe a real person would have been bitter and rebellious instead, that's hardly the point of this book.

Stowe, the daughter of a preacher, opposed slavery on the grounds of her faith. That is evident throughout the book, and regardless of the reader's religious persuasion, the truth about slavery and its inherent injustice is brought to light and boldly condemned.

In this book, she represented an entire range of slaves and slave-owners, from the persistent superlative meekness and gentleness of Uncle Tom to the desperate rebellion of others, and from the kindness of one slave-owner to the insane cruelty of Simon Legree. She draws special attention to the tragedy of mothers and children being separated and the inability of slaves to protect themselves or their families, and even the futility of a kind master's good intentions.

[kakadoo202 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

interesting and eye opening account on slavery. but the fact that constantly new people were brought into the story confused me. i started to loose track of characters. and not so much was actually taking place in the " cabin".
for sure a classic considering when it was written.

[librarycin · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

3.5 stars.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in 1852. Tom and Eliza are slaves owned by Mr. Shelby, who is a kind master and treats his slaves well. However, when he has money problems, he must sell a couple of them to a slave trader - Tom, and Eliza's young son Harry, are sold. The book follows Tom one direction after he is sold, and Eliza and Harry in another direction as they run to escape Harry's unknown fate once the trader sells him; they are trying to reach Canada.

I was surprised that this was much easier to read than I expected. I don't normally like books written in the 19th century (at least the few that I've attempted to read), so I wasn't sure how this would go. I actually quite liked the book.

[lesliegnelson · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Hauntlngly beautiful.

I avoided reading this book for many years because I was afraid it would be too painful. Now that I have read it though, I regret that I waited so long.

Uncle Tom's Cabin follows the story of Tom, a slave who has lived most of his life on a plantation with a kind master. He is much loved by the other slaves who call him "Uncle Tom". As the story begins we find that Tom his being sold so his master can cover some debts. Many other deeply rich characters are woven into the narrative, but the main character throughout is Tom.

This book is known, rightly, for it's anti-slavery message, but it is much more than that. It is a story about the strength of the human spirit to survive the unthinkable and it's a story about faith in Christ. I am a Christian, and still I am in awe that the slaves could find and hold onto faith while living in slavery. Because of my own life experiences, I felt I could relate much better to Cassie (a female slave introduced late in the book, who is understandably angry and hardened by life.) Tom's faith and testimony moved me.

Once in a while you find a book that leaves you a different person, a better person for having read it . . . Uncle Tom's Cabin did that for me.

[mariecasillas · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Uncle Toms Cabin

Character: Tom, The Shelbys, Eliza, Harry, Simon Legree, Topay, Ophelia, St. Clare, Tom Loker
Setting: Planation in Kentucky
Theme: Prejudices of the South and enduring faith
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: The story begins on a planation in Kentucky where the family is having financial issues and have no other choice but to sell some of their slaves. Once Eliza finds out her son is one of the slaves they escape. She is soon met by her husband who had escaped some time before. The family is being hunted by a slave hurter who her husband pushed off a cliff only to leave him at a Quakers home nearby. The family makes it to Canada where they become freedmen. Other slaves on the planation are not so lucky. Tom is to be sold. He is sent on a riverboat to Mississippi. On his way he meets a young girl named Eva. Eva’s father Tom decides purchase Tom and take him to his planation in New Orleans. Eva grows sick and dies but before she does has a vision of heaven. Inspired by her death her father decides he is going to sent Tom free but is killed before he had the chance. Eva’s mother sells Tom to Simon Legree who beats him and tries to break his spirit because he refused to whip another slave. Tom is beaten by another slave and dies. Shortly after Tom’s death, George Shelby arrives to buy Tom’s freedom but he is too late. Cassy escapes and arrives in Canada where she discovers Eliza is her lost daughter who was sold as a child.
Audience: Middle/High School
Curriculum ties: Slavery, Civil War
Personal response: I believe this is a must read when studying slavery. It gives a clear picture of the life of a slave and the harsh treatment they endured. It also shows that not all slave owners are cruel. I believe this book could be used at all grade levels if excerpts are used and vocabulary is explained.

[benuathanasia · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Such a beautiful story. I adored the realism of the characters. Stowe did a wonderful job balancing out personalities. No race was glorified or demonized, nor were genders shown in disproportionate light; the first few chapters, all the women were nigh-on saints, but Mrs. St. Clare more than makes up for it (I wanted to strangle that b!tch. Even if it weren't for her views on slavery).

I was a bit dismayed at the deus ex machina nature of the happily ever after (the reunions at the end), but I thoroughly enjoyed the "epilogues" and the end note.

[maggieflo_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I decided to read this as I am making my way through "Team of rivals" which is a biography of Abraham Lincoln.
I was not sure what to expect but once I got used to the archaic language and the dialogue, I found this to be a very enlightening text. I found the author's story and characters to be very compelling. I also learned a great deal about the economics of the slave trade and the treatment of slaves at the hands of their masters. I expected the character of Tom to be obsequious and subservient, aiming to please to get ahead. Tom is a highly principled, very deeply religious person who has a positive impact on those around him. In particular, at his last home, he brings hope to his fellow slaves. The denouement has a happy ending for many of the main characters who find a happier life outside the US.
I really enjoyed the book, the characters and the social commentary of this time in US history. if you have not read this, you should.
I downloaded this from the
Gutenberg library collection

[bookcrazed_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

It is reported that when President Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he said, “So you’re the little lady who caused this big war.” Uncle Tom’s Cabin may not have caused the war, but it certainly stirred anti-slavery sentiments internationally. I first read it more than 30 years ago and remembered it only as a great story, a real page turner. Recently, while researching the concept of evil, there were two things that repeatedly appeared in my reading: the Holocaust and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A re-reading was in order.

Even though she furnished adequate proof that her characters were drawn from real life [see The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1854)], Stowe’s emotional presentation, typical of novels of the period, was distracting to me until, again, I was drawn into the story: a kind slaveowner finds himself in financial straits and must sell property to keep from losing everything. Rather than part with acreage, he sells his most valuable slave, Uncle Tom, along with Harry, the young son of his wife’s chamber maid Eliza. Thus, Tom is separated from his wife and children, and Eliza runs away in the night with little Harry.

A key character is St. Clare, Uncle Tom’s new master, who assuages his guilt at being a slaveowner by indulging his human property and foregoing the whippings that are common among his peers. Indeed, he metes out no discipline at all. St. Clare’s petulant wife is capricious in her treatment of her servants. Their child Eva is a younger, Western version of Siddhartha. When her father attempts to shield her from the truth, she protests: “You want me to live so happy, and never to have pain,—never suffer anything,—not even hear a sad story when other poor creatures have nothing but pain and sorrow, all their lives,—it seems selfish.”

Stowe uses her characters to deliver her orations on the causes and evils of slavery and how good people behave badly when society seems to demand it of them; or as St. Clare says, “It’s pretty generally understood that men don’t aspire after the absolute right, but only to do about as well as the rest of the world.”

St. Clare, too, reflects Stowe’s thoughts on the profit motive behind slavery:
"On this abstract question of slavery there can, as I think, be but one opinion. Planters, who have money to make by it,—clergymen, who have planters to please,—politicians, who want to rule by it,—may warp and bend language and ethics to a degree that shall astonish the world at their ingenuity; they can press nature and the Bible, and nobody knows what else, into the service." (p. 189)

Mr. Shelby’s speeches present the case of the genteel, kind slaveowner; Mrs. Shelby’s speeches provide the practicing Christian viewpoint; and Uncle Tom and George Harris speak of the experience of being treated as a piece of property rather than a man. Other characters reflect the sentiments of the many voices that weigh in on the complex nature of slavery as an economic necessity.

Thus the story I read years ago as an exciting bit of fiction, I now review as a powerful political statement. Knowing now, that even the individual characters, as well as the events, were literally taken from real life, the story has deeper meaning. I was struck by how often some speech or wisp of philosophy seemed hauntingly relevant to today’s society, where the closing of factories and downsizing of businesses do not send workers to the block to be sold, but rather leave them in a limbo, like freed slaves without the tools to make it in this new emerging society.

[lisamaria_c · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I knew a few things about Uncle Tom's Cabin before cracking open the book. From The King and I I knew some characters and scenes like Eliza escaping over the ice floe. I knew that upon meeting author Harriet Beecher Stowe, President Lincoln said she was the "little woman who made this great war"--the American Civil War. And I thought I knew that Stowe had never visited the South. That last turned out to be wrong. According to the introduction, she had once visited slave-holding Kentucky, which is where she initially sets the book. Of course, her limited contact with slavery doesn't mean she didn't know what she was writing about. As the introduction and her note after the novel relates, as part of an abolitionist family, she had known and interviewed ex-slaves and read various first-hand slave narratives, including that of Frederick Douglas. I feared what I'd read would be a minstrel show knowing the reputation of "Uncle Tom," and I'd heard it had a reputation as overly sentimental and anti-slavery propaganda.

Given all that I found the book a surprisingly good read. Sure, it's an old fashioned book. Published in 1852, like many Victorian authors I've read such as Dickens, Alcott and Gaskell, it can strike a reader as sentimental and steeped in religiosity. Were it published today it would be considered "Christian Fiction." Stowe hits very hard on Christian themes and how slavery makes living a Christian life difficult for slave and slaveholder alike. Sometimes it can get unbearably preachy--I found the character of "Little Eva" particularly hard to take seriously. There is also some racial stereotyping, but according to the introduction Stowe was progressive for the period and her purpose was to show the "full humanity" of blacks, and she constantly pressed the reader to put themselves in the shoes of slaves and insisted they felt everything any reader would feel upon being separated from family and home, or used unfairly and cruelly. And Uncle Tom is no Uncle Tom. He does refuse to run away, because he fears it would result in all the slaves in the estate being sold, and he is honest and conscientious in his dealings with his masters--but he's not a sycophant, and openly disobeys orders that would make him act against his conscience. And there are other characters--such as George Harris--willing to defend the liberty of himself and his escaping family by any means necessary--including at gunpoint.

At the same time, Stowe doesn't demonize slaveholders, and Stowe paints a deft portrait of their rationalizations--one could imagine that what came out of her characters' mouths is what Stowe herself must have heard from those sympathetic to slavery. There are scenes among the St Clare family particularly that provided very sharp social commentary--even satire--as Marie St Clare complains of the selfishness of her slaves or Augustine St Clare points out to Miss Ophelia, his abolitionist Northern cousin, her racism and hypocrisy.

I've read modern depictions of slavery by authors such as Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, but Uncle Tom's Cabin reminds me most of a 19th century slave narrative by Harriet Jacobs I read for college. Both books emphasize the moral dimension of slavery--not simply how slavery is cruel or wrong, but how being owned by others means a slave is denied moral agency. And reading Uncle Tom's Cabin I can imagine why this was moral dynamite laid at the very foundations of slavery that would help lead to it being exploded little more than a decade after it was published. This is undeniably one of the most important books ever published in terms of its historical effects and on that basis alone, despite its flaws, deserves to be more widely read today.

[cyderry · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This book, written by a Northern woman, has been read by thousands and reviewed by many. Whether I can add any incite from this book, is hard to believe but here are my thoughts. The men say one thing and do another, i.e. slavery is bad but I'll still own slaves. The majority of the women in this story are the moral backbone of the families that they are members of. There is a strong Christian theme throughout from the slaveholders and the slaves.

There also appears to be a great deal of symbolism in the book - Eliza's leap to freedom, Uncle Tom's Cabin, South as cruelty and North as freedom, Eliza's escape versus Uncle Tom's sale into deeper oppression.

The Christian population of the North, this book ignited a flare against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and slavery in general.

[fuzzy_patters · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I enjoyed reading Uncle Tom's Cabin in many ways, and I found the character of Uncle Tom to be one of the most heroic characters of whom I have read. It should also be pointed out that this was one of the most important novels written in American history because of the influence that it had on opening northern eyes to the horrors of slavery.

However, the book does present some difficulties to the modern reader. For one, Stowe frequently refers to the races in stereotypical terms. To Stowe, people of African decent are all magnanimous, warm-hearted beings, which robs them of the humanity and ability to be unique individuals. I should probably give Stowe a pass for this, but it was difficult to get past as a modern reader.

With that being said, the book was very well-written for a nineteenth century house-wife who was not a writer by trade. Considering her background, I was very impressed with her ability as a writer and am even more impressed with the guts it must have taken for a woman to speak out about injustice in a society that would not allow her the right to vote and have a say in how society was run. For this reason, Stowe's work is something that should still be read and admired by modern readers.

[nicky_too_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

The first time I read this book, I was quite young. I think I was in primary school and it was the children's version.
To be quite honest, I can hardly remember anything, except that I was overwhelmed by the story.

Upon hearing my best friend had never read this classic I advised her to read it, which she did. We got the old fashioned version from the library, and of course that means 'old' English.

My friend, rightfully, noted that it's very very Christian. To the point of (or even past that point) of exaggeration! Personally it doesn't bother me, but that could be the difference in our upbringing. What's more, the writer obviously comes from a very religious family, so it is to be expected.

Even if you strip this book of its Christianity, it's still a very powerful story!
It shows various sides of slavery as the writer has seen it and heard about it (the last chapter is an eye opener as far as that goes!). Obviously it's not really of this time anymore (are we really free of slavery though?), but it is educational. At least it's a wonderful story of people and their struggles, both slave and master. Wonderfully written, hard to put down. Quite rightfully regarded as a classic!

[librisissimo · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Substance: Philosophy, religion, sociology, character-studies, and milieu are all channeled to the single purpose of demonstrating that the enslavement of blacks in America is wrong. One can see why she is credited with raising the abolitionist cause to its zenith, but the story is not sacrificed for the cause, but rather the cause is justified by the story. The book has fallen out of favor, no doubt, because of its forceful demonstration of true Christianity, which formed the backbone of the abolitionist cause in reality. Unexpectedly humorous incidents lighten the tragedy, and the author claims to have eyewitness-warrant for many of the episodes. The full tale is much more complex and extended than its mangled re-tellings would suggest.
Style: Allowing for the conventions of nineteenth-century novelists, and ignoring the painful imposition of dialectical spelling, Stowe is pitch-perfect in representing her characters, milieu, and arguments. Her satire can hardly be called gentle, but it is not strident or vicious. All varieties of good and evil, Christian or pseudo-Christian or atheist, high society and low estate are given full and fair treatment.

[gbill_7 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and of such importance that Abraham Lincoln reportedly said "So this is the little lady who made this big war" upon meeting Stowe.

I think it's unfairly criticized in the 20th century and today for (1) being overly sentimental and dramatic, and (2) for its characters who created or amplified racial stereotypes. As James Baldwin put it in "Everybody's Protest Novel", "Uncle Tom's Cabin is a very bad novel, having, in its self-righteous, virtuous sentimentality, much in common with Little Women".

I can't disagree more. The book is powerful and exposes the extreme cruelty of slavery. I can't understand why critics feel a need to cast it aside in favor of "Huckleberry Finn" as if one needed to decide "either/or" which was superior.

The Norton Critial Edition is well worth it for its ocassional illustrations, articles putting the work in historical context, and for the reviews. Some of this extra material will resonate (for me, George M. Frederickson's, "Uncle Tom and the Anglo-Saxons: Romantic Racialism in the North"), and some of it will not, but most of it will stir a discussion and make you think.

Quotes:
On beauty in old age:
"Her hair, partially silvered by age, was parted smoothly back from a high placid forehead, on which time had written no inscription, except peace on earth, good will to men, and beneath shone a large pair of clear, honest, loving brown eyes; you only needed to look straight into them, to feel that you saw to the bottom of a heart as good and true as ever throbbed in woman's bosom. So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?"

On God:
"Is there a God to trust in?" said George, in such a tone of bitter despair as arrested the old gentleman's words. "O, I've seen things all my life that made me feel that there can't be a God. You Christians don't know how these look to us. There's a God for you, but is there any for us?"

On immortality:
"O with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty, is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man, "Behold! thou hast one more chance! Strive for immortal glory!"

On racism:
"If we emancipate, are you willing to educate?
...
We are the more obvious oppressors of the negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the north is an oppressor almost equally severe."

On religion, powerful words:
"Religion! Is what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath."

[fig2_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This novel must be read in the context of its own time. Looking at the book from present-day eyes, it seems to contain, not characters, but caricatures. The characters in this book became larger than life through time and collected a series of emotion attached to them that were not intended in the beginning.

Beautiful and poignant, it changed history:

Upon meeting the author Abraham Lincoln said, "So you're the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war." She replied, "I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation."

While most of the book is painful to read, it is a sprawling story full of amazing characters and horrific events. It is a true "slice-of-life" that we, as modern readers, can never truly understand. This book makes a huge gesture in that direction and it is well worth the uncomfortable reading, in order to honor those that lived it.

[smaarls · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is a great book for anyone who is inerested in the pre Civil War era and all the issues that accompany slavery. Published in 1852 and written by a woman who lived in a nothern state bordering the south, Harriet Beecher Stowe delivers a powerful story of life in a time of extreme contention. The harshness of cruel masters is depicted as well as the more compassionate individuals that treated their slaves as members of the family. The courage of the characters that decide to risk it all and plan an escape to the northern states and eventually Canada, just to have the right to be treated as a human being is heart wrenching and gloriously uplifting all at the same time.
Anyone who enjoyed Alex Haley's "Roots" or David L Wolper's minseries "North and South", will enjoy this book.

[janemarieprice · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

While I understand the book’s historical importance and appreciate its message, I had a really hard time getting through this for a couple of reasons. First, the religious rhetoric was very difficult for me. The long passages of religious posturing seemed to go on and on without end. Second, the characters are extremely one dimensional and idealized. Even the quite evil Legree is said to somehow see the wrong he is doing and still choose the path of evil. Third, there are entirely too many happy or sad coincidences. Characters randomly happen upon one another by chance. It took me out of the story at times. I am glad I re-read it (it has been years), and I value the importance of the work. However, I don’t think I will be reading again.

Note: Read through DailyLit

[paperbackpirate · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I hear references to Uncle Tom's Cabin all the time but had never read it before now. It took me over a month to read but it was worth it.

The story follows Tom, a slave in Kentucky who is sold after his kind masters hit some hard times and have to settle a debt. He has the opportunity to run away with 2 other slaves, but opts to be sold because it is the will of his master and Tom's mission in life is to do as his master asks. As he is preparing to leave his family and his cabin his wife cooks his favorite breakfast one last time. That entire scene left me crying my eyes out.

I think this is where the phrase, "sold up the river," comes from because he is sold and moves up the river. Good or bad, his story continues from there.

It made me consider what it was truly like to live in the south in the 1850s, when her story was written. In fact, the funnest part of reading it for me (if reading about slavery can be considered fun) was knowing that it was written before the Civil War. I learned that some say this book, which was actually not a book but a serial installment released in a magazine of the time, was like a rattling saber, "starting" the Civil War! Abraham Lincoln met her and said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war"!!! Can you imagine?!

The end of the book gets a little too religious for my taste, but I am able to forgive it considering the time period it was written in.

Harriet Beecher Stowe did a brilliant job exploring every persons' aspect of slavery through her tale, which is partially based on true stories.

[lynnb_64 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is the first time I've read Uncle Tom's Cabin. Like almost everyone, I had heard of it, and was familiar with the characters of Uncle Tom, Topsy, and Simon Legree.

By today's standards, the book would likely be judged too sentimental. The author includes 10-page chapter called "concluding remarks" in which she expresses her own views against slavery, and how it is incompatible with Christianity. This just isn't done in modern novels.

In assessing the book against other literature of the period, though, a different perspective emerges: one of a sweeping tale, encompassing many characters with a strong story of good and evil. Like Dickens' works, it is a scathing assessment of the society in which it is written. In this way, and in the complex blending of good and evil within individual characters, it is a more satisfying than The Book of Negroes.

I am also reading a biography of William Wilberforce, and found Ms. Beecher Stowe's work an enriching complement.

[julied_425355 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I never knew that it was such a page turner! About halfway through the pace picked up so that I was avidly reading whenever I had a chance to see if George and Eliza would shake off their trackers, Uncle Tom would make it back to his family, what it would take to make Topsy reform and much more. How about that crazy Cassy, hmm? And poor Emmaline ... would someone save her before Simon Legree got his filthy hands on her? Wow!

I never knew that Uncle Tom actually was a Christ-figure, a living saint. No wonder he is misunderstood by so many. They are not getting the whole picture.

I never knew that so many sorts of people were represented throughout the book. The language can be rather stilted due to the style of the times but Stowe did a good job showing many different attitudes toward slavery and how people excused themselves under the flimsiest of excuses. One expects the broadly painted very good and very evil owners but not the more shaded in-between characters.

It was fascinating toward the end of the book to see where many of the slaves wound up. One could discern what Stowe's ideas of a solution for the slavery problem were and, indeed, it was even more interesting to read her afterward where she discusses it specifically.

I thought that Stowe included herself in the book as the maiden aunt from New England who thought she understood the problem until she came up against Topsy who demanded that she put her whole heart and soul into realizing that the slaves were real people. My daughter saw her as Mrs. Shelby, the kindly wife of Uncle Tom's original owner, who as soon as she got a chance absolutely did the right thing.

[cbjames_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe is the book that started the American Civil War, according to Abraham Lincoln who was only being partially facetious when he first made that comment to the author. Starting a war was not Ms. Stowe's goal when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, but ending slavery in America certainly was. Telling a story, creating a work of art, while important, played a secondary role in her ambitions. The story serves an express purpose, exposing the horrors of slavery in order to bring about its end. So, 150 years after it's initial publication, what does Uncle Tom's Cabin have to offer a 21st century reader?


As a historical document, Uncle Tom's Cabin, it must be acknowledge, carries a lot of weight. It was after all, the best selling novel of the 19th century, the second best selling book in the world, second only to the bible. Written as an angry response to the passage of the fugitive slave law, it certainly tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of it's day. Stowe's novel and the wide ranging dramatizations it inspired, some of which were staged before the novel serialization was finished, have entered into the American collective consciousness. (Even Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim referenced the novel; his song "Not Getting Married" includes the line "like Eliza on the ice.") The characters Uncle Tom, Topsy, Eliza, Simon Legree, Little Eva have all taken on a life of their own, often unfortunately so. Stowe's depiction of slavery, while far from comprehensive and probably far from accurate, opened the eyes of contemporary readers, and can still at least raise a few eyebrows today. People tend to forget how horrible things were with the passage of time which makes books like Uncle Tom's Cabin useful reading.


But, in the end, is it a good read? The story begins with high melodrama that does not let up until the very end. In the opening chapters, Uncle Tom, though devoted to his master, Mr Shelby, and his master's family, is sold along with young Harry, Eliza's son. Eliza has already lost her husband to a plantation owner who refuses to let her see him, so she takes her young son and runs away before he can be sold soth. Eliza carries her son across a the broken ice that floats down the Ohio River in order to be free. Uncle Tom is sent to the slave markets in New Orleans on a river boat. While on-board he rescues a young girl, Eva, who insists that her father, Mr. St. Clare, buy him so she can have his company. On the St. Clare plantation Uncle Tom and Little Eva win the hearts of just about everyone but Mrs. St. Clare who sells Tom instead of granting him freedom after the deaths of both Eva and her father. Tom then ends up in the hands of Simon Legree who runs a plantation straight out of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Tom's wife, Aunt Cloe, meanwhile, works and saves her money so she can buy Tom's freedom. In the end, Mr. Shelby, Jr. goes to Legree's plantation to buy Tom back only to find he is dying from the severe beating Legree has given him. Back in Canada Eliza, George and their children decide to emigrate to Liberia to start a new life and to bring Christianity to Africa.


You can see why so many modern reader's have problems with the novel. It's not that the black characters are realized as less than fully human, it's that they are realized as children. Tom and Little Eva are equals, both portrayed as children in a sentimental Victorian melodrama. Both are devoted to each other and to Christianity as only little childre can be. Both believe that God will save them and that everyone should turn to God and all their problems will be solved. The message of the novel is not just that slavery is wrong, but that turning away from God is wrong. We must end slavery as a means of returning to the path of righteousness that God has set out for us to follow. This path, leads the black characters back to Africa, not as a return to the lives their ancestors left, but as missionaries spreading Christianity. Why should they have to go back in the first place? Don't they have as much right to be in America as anyone? Stowe was against slavery, but she is not really arguing for racial equality.


The major problem a modern reader will have with Uncle Tom's Cabin may not be the book's racism, arguing that the 19th century American novel is racist seems moot to me anyway, but that the book is very preachy. Much of the dialogue serves to provide a platform to advance the case against slavery rather than to develop the plot or the characters. Whether two characters are sitting in a parlor or facing each other over the point of a gun, the speeches against slavery continue. Many of them are very good. Case in point, George's reply to the bounty hunters who have cornered his family on a hillside in Ohio:


"I know very well that you've got the law on your side, and the power," said George, bitterly, "You mean to take my wife to sell in New Orleans, and put my boy like a calf in a trader's pen, and send Jim's only mother to the brute that whipped and abused her before, because he couldn't abuse her son. You want to send Jim and me back to be whipped and tortured, and ground down under the heels of them that you call masters; and your laws will bear you out on it,---more shame for you and them! But you haven't got us. We don't own your laws; we don't own your country; we stand here as free, under God's sky, as you are; and, by the great God that made us, we'll fight for our liberty till we die."


George stood out in fair sight, on the top of the rock, as he made his declaration of independence; the glow of dawn gave as flush to his swarthy cheek, and bitter indignation and despair gave fire to his dark eye; and, as if appealing from man to the justice of God, he raised his hand to heaven as he spoke.


If this works for you as a reader, you'll find much to enjoy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. I found it to be tough going for much of the novel. Towards the end of the book, once Tom arrives at Simon Legree's plantation, I found the speeches became less frequent and the narrative pace picked up quite a bit. The book almost became hard to put down for the last 200 pages.
In the end, while interesting and important as a historical document, Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly, by Harriet Beecher Stowe has little to offer the modern reader. I'm giving the book three out of five stars.