Uncle Tom’s Cabin goes against many of the theories we’ve learned about Children’s literature. Children in children’s literature are usually seen as the hope for a better future. The books read to children are meaning to raise them with morals and values in order to better the country’s future. Slavery complicated this idea, however, because in depicting black children there is no hope in their future. When talking about an African American child in Uncle Tom’s Cabin it is always out of pity for the hardships and risk of being sold away from loved ones that the children will most likely have to endure. Aunt Chloe tells the baby playing on Uncle Tom’s knee, “Ay, crow away, poor creature!... ye’ll live to see yer husband sold or mebbe be sold yerself” (Stowe 293-294). While stuck in a hopeless situation, the new generation is just a reminder of the system of slavery they and their offspring and stuck in.
Stowe is clearly meaning to evoke sympathy and pity for the African Americans of that time and discourage the support for the slavery system. She does this through depicting a world that is not “good” in any way but in need of many changes in order to uphold the good Christian standing of the time. In The Wide, Wide World and The Lamplighter "good" is depicted through the hope in the future of the individual as well as the country. Ellen was taken care of by her mom and given what she needed to survive and Gerty was taken in by Uncle True and was able to change her life around from a desolate girl out on the streets to eventually a well-raised lady. The only hope Eliza has in saving her boy is getting him to Canada. Stowe is showing the problems in our society and country when America is no longer a place of hope for a better future. Our country was seemingly unfixable, and hence the only way to have a good life was to flee to another country that would uphold good Christian values in their laws. The people depicted as "good" are the one's who disregard the nation's laws for God's laws. Mary says, "I don't know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible... and that Bible I mean to follow" (Stowe 275). In the 19th century literature we've read anything Christian is considered good, and by making the Christian characters against slavery Stowe is attempting to swing the public opinion to think this way.
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I agree with what you said about children not being viewed as a hope for the future, a contrast to what we have read before. Children were only objects who were bought and sold to work. Although it was hard to read, because slavery is such a tough subject, Stowe clearly shows the issues in society. I also like the point you made that anything Christian is good. This is a theme we keep seeing, and people must cling to their beliefs and believe in God to get through anything.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about how the children are not the hope for the future! I really did not think about it to that point that the children really have no hope and that is completely different than anything we have previously read. I also like how you added why she threw in so many Christian ties and that it is good to be a Christian. People really are showing how different the thought processes are, like that back then more people were willing to cling to God.
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