Biography
Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, her father the eminent
minister Lyman Beecher, Stowe grew up in an orthodox Calvinist
family. She attended Sarah Pierce's girls' academy, one of
the first institutions to educate young women, and later
taught at a school founded by two of her sisters. She became
a supporter of abolitionism after hearing her brothers' sermons
against the Fugitive Slave Act, reading antislavery literature,
and losing her infant son, whose death inspired her deep
sympathy for slave mothers whose children were sold. Understanding
that forging emotional links between people is an effective
strategy for achieving social change, in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
Stowe attempted to engage her readers' hearts by depicting
the suffering and oppression slaves endured. The novel was
enormously popular, selling 350,000 copies during the first
year and prompting some thirty anti-Uncle Tom novels in reaction.
Stowe's other works include the nonfiction A Key to Uncle
Tom's Cabin (1853), which provided case histories to
document the novel; Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal
Swamp (1856), and regional writing such as Oldtown
Folks (1869)
Explorations
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a "big" book by any measure,
a smash best-seller that is credited with having a major
impact on Americans' public opinion of slavery. We need to
understand why this novel had such a lasting and deep effect
and why the canon has opened only lately to admit (after
a long lapse) a book which plays by so many of the rules
of popular fiction. 1. Read about the Hoe Rotary Press and the development
of the American railroad system in the late 1840s. These
innovations had enormous impact on the printing and marketing
of books. How did these technological changes alter the
potential market for a novel about race slavery in the
United States?
2. How does Uncle Tom's Cabin work within and
against the popular romantic or sentimental narrative?
Can you draw on your own experience with popular novels
to discuss the ways in which these representative chapters
both exploit and resist a reader's expectations?
3. Where does the moral fire of this novel come from? Uncle
Tom's Cabin can be read as a point of arrival in
a long American quest to evolve a morality out of the
Puritan heritage, the words of the chartering documents
of the Republic, the ethos of the Enlightenment, and
the values of Transcendentalism. Where does Stowe's moral
fervor seem to be based? In latter-day Calvinism? In Franklinian rationalism
and self-reliance? In Concord-style ethics? Or in some
fusion of all these sources?
4. Consider the characterization of Tom, who has been
variously admired and vilified for his temperament. This
may be a complex topic: you may have personal experiences
with "Uncle Tom" as an epithet and may be surprised and
bothered by the way that Stowe lauds him in this novel.
Consider why this kind of character is placed in the foreground
at this particular historical moment.
5. The final chapters of Uncle Tom's Cabin contrast
the stoic and saintly Tom with the Satanic Simon Legree.
But earlier in the novel, Stowe spends a great deal of
time developing other white characters. Why does she pay
so much attention to genteel whites who carry no whips
and do no violence themselves? Think particularly about
Shelby, St. Clare, Marie, and Miss Ophelia. How do such
characterizations advance major themes in the novel?
Other sites to consult:
Stowe
resource page.
Another
Stowe resource page, from "A Celebration
of Women Writers" site, edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom.
Yet
another Stowe resource page, part of the
San Antonio College LitWeb project.
A
discussion of The New Housekeeper's Manual by
Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe in
1873: part of an exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania
Library called "Household Words: Women Write
from and for the Kitchen," curated by Janet Theophano.
"Uncle
Tom's Cabin: From Newspaper to Book to Play
to Image," an impressive holding of
materials from the San Francisco Performing Arts
Library.
"Will
the Real Aunt Jemima Please Stand Up: Observations
on Mammy and Aunt Jemima Images in American Popular
Culture," a provocative essay by art
historian Tina Oldknow exploring the link between
Aunt Chloe in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Aunt Jemima.
http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org:
The Web site of the Harriet Beecher Stowe center, with biography
and general resources.
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