Uncle Tom's Cabin: A Book Review By Erika Norris

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Books are literally our friends; they teach us about things we would not otherwise know, they take us to times and places as if we had a magic carpet, we see life through the eyes of other peoples and cultures. We can gain knowledge, skills, inspiration, compassion and respect through books. It was very difficult for me to choose one friend to represent, and at first I hesitated to talk about Uncle Tom’s Cabin because it is a very American book, but since I just read it for the fourth time, I must choose it now!

Uncle Tom's Cabin  is about the worst chapter of American history, when slavery was common in the southern part of our country. It is somewhat difficult for an average American to follow the story, so I'm not necessarily feeling everyone needs to read it, but here is a summary of why I find it inspiring.

The author, Harrient Beecher Stowe, was the daughter of an American pastor. She had 10 siblings who all went out to change the world. She was horrified by the realities of slavery in her own country, and the passage of a law called “The Fugitive Slave Act” in 1850. She was incensed by this law which stated that a northerner would be punished for helping any runaway slave to escape further north. One of her brothers said, if I had your writing skill I would put it to work here...

And so, at age 40, a wife and mother with a good education and excellent writing skills, she undertook the task of educating her own people. This is a carefully crafted piece of literature that will pierce the heart of the reader. When Abraham Lincoln, the president who presided over America during the Civil War which resulted in the end of slavery, met her, he said "So you're the little woman that started this great war!” In fact, she did not start the war, but her book was influential.

In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe uses personal experiences and newspaper articles and history to craft an engaging tale. This is the story of a kind, hardworking God-fearing man who is a slave to a wealthy family that actually cares for him and his family. However, financial difficulties lead the man of the house to sell his most valuable slaves to resolve a debt. His wife and the rest of the plantation are grieved, but because of pride the man completes the sale. Most of the book is the story of Uncle Tom as he perseveres through good times and bad, and the impact of his faith on those around him to his very last day. Uncle Tom is always diligent and fair, and his quality of character puts his oppressors to shame. 

Also sold at the same time, is the young child of a beautiful young black woman in the plantation home, whom they have raised like a family member. The mama would rather face death than see her child traded away, so a parallel story is the harrowing adventure of Eliza and her little Harry, as well as her handsome and talented husband from a nearby plantation. Through clever disguises, bitterness and gratitude, they persist in believing they can have a life together in freedom.

Just as important is the thread of a child Evangeline (a name which means “gospel”), little daughter of St Claire, the kind, wealthy but morally sleepy white father who buys Uncle Tom because Evangeline instinctively loves him. Evangline and Uncle Tom have a common bond in loving the Lord and the people around them, and symbolize sweet fellowship of black and white in a broken world. Evangeline is basically an angel on earth, and too good for this world, and dies very young, pointing the household to Jesus as she passes, with Uncle Tom the only witness to the moment she goes to heaven.

Ms Stowe does a masterful job of characterizing all the attitudes present in America in that day. Well represented are the Quakers, a Christian sect that aided the escape of slaves from the oppressive south to the more hopeful north and even Canada (the Underground Railroad). 

Although enslaved people are mostly portrayed with compassion and warmth, there are a few rascals honestly shown as having become so self-interested that they would even mistreat their own people for their personal gain, and there are some of the black characters who have completely given up hope of feeling human.

White people come in all shades of morality, from the absolutely disgusting slave traders who seem to have lost their souls to the profiting off fellow humans, to the warm-hearted wealthy who see the injustice under their noses but are slow and uncertain in their reaction to it, sometimes with deadly consequences. Often it is white mothers who will stand for kindness and justice, which was the target audience of Ms Stowe.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a best-seller, selling 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week; 300,000 in the first year; In the 19th century, the only book to outsell Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the Bible. 

The North was educated about the truth in the south, the south hated it, and books were published to counteract the image presented in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ms Stowe published a second book called the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin to list her sources of information in great detail, to show she wasn't making things up.

More modern critics of this book complain that it depicts black people as serving white people and never standing up for the rights they deserve. An Uncle Tom became a derogatory term for a passive black man. These people have completely missed the whole point of the book; the people in slavery had no ability to rise up and claim their freedom, they needed their white brothers and sisters to stand with them. This book called them to do so. Uncle Tom appears as a Christlike figure who always has peace in his soul even though he loses his life defending the lives of others, not exactly a pathetic character. At the end of the book the reader absolutely must stand up and salute him.

This book, along with many others, has shown me the value of compassion in action. The Lord calls us to defend the defenseless, lift up the oppressed, and bring hope where there is none.  We can be inspired by this book and this author, that as we go through life we should look to see if we have the privilege and opportunity to speak up on behalf of someone or a group of people in need of support or defense.