READING UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
For the last few weeks, we've been reading texts that engage politics in various and somewhat subtle ways. Our text for this week engages politics much more directly. As we read, we’ll be considering various contexts that will help us to unfold the complexities of Stowe’s novel.First, Stowe claimed that she wrote this novel in response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. This law, part of the Compromise of 1850, required federal agents to return escaped slaves to their owners. The Compromise of 1850, as you may recall, was viewed by many as a last-ditch effort to keep the Union from coming apart. Its provisions included the admission of California as a free state, the abolition of the slave trade in Washington, DC, the organization of the New Mexico and Utah territories without prohibiting slavery; and the Fugitive Slave law.
Initially, the novel appeared in serial form over a ten-month period. When it first appeared in book form, it sold 50,000 copies in eight weeks and 300,000 copies in a year. It became, as Eric Sundquist argues, "a touchstone for antislavery sentiment." And as the blurb on the back of the Signet edition informs us, when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, he is reputed to have said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war."
In the course of the next week-and-a-half, I’d like us to consider several issues together. First, I’d like us to consider how Stowe might have envisioned her novel working in the context of nineteenth-century ideas about women and women’s roles. We’ll be looking at excerpts from Catherine E. Beecher’s Treatise on Domestic Economy. (For those of you who want an advance look, I’ve posted the excerpts on the web.) As you read, consider the relationships between women and men in this novel. How do women attempt to shape the moral character of their domestic spheres, and to what extent does slavery undercut their attempts? What strategies do women use to oppose the evils of slavery (when they do oppose them)? Think about the domestic settings of the novel. Also, consider chapter 9, "In Which It Appears that a Senator Is But a Man," very carefully. What does this chapter suggest about the techniques Stowe uses within the novel?
More broadly, what issues does Stowe emphasize? How does she treat the impact of slavery on families? How does she treat the relationship between the north and the south? How does Christianity enter into her account?
Consider more traditional literary issues as well. How does Stowe manipulate literary conventions? For example, how does the gothic setting of the Legree plantation figure in Cassie’s escape plot? What might this suggest about the power of storytelling? How does Stowe exploit the figure of Little Eva?
At the same time, be attentive to the problems that this novel raises. First, many critics have noted that Stowe uses stereotypical representations of African-American characters. What stereotypes do you notice as you read? How problematic are they? In addition, consider carefully the status of the various African-American characters at the end of the novel. Who is left alive, and where do they go? What are the implications of this?