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daniel1132 's review for:
Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling book of the entire 19th Century, apart from the Bible. When Harriet Beecher Stowe met Abraham Lincoln, he is reported to have said, "So this is the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war." It was originally published in newspapers serially, and then in book form, though the book was banned in the South. In the book Stowe aimed to show the evils of slavery, and in my opinion she succeeded. No less than W.E.B. Du Bois said this: "Uncle Tom's Cabin had a mission to perform. It did it well" ("A comment Charles Gilpin and Uncle Tom's Cabin" (July 4, 1926). Du Bois also remarked "I regard the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom's Cabin an unusually fair presentation of a great social problem" ("Letter from W. E. B. Du Bois to Romeo B. Garrett" September 26, 1946).
I will make a confession: I really enjoyed this book. I know the book was written by a white northern woman, and thus contains a deeply racialized view of Black people all its own. Even in her attempt to highlight the evils of slavery, she depicted Black people through her own white lens according to her own stereotypes. I guess I will have to take refuge with my friend Du Bois in my appreciation for it.
As a story, the book is riveting, with multiple plots, lots of suspense, deeply relatable characters, and even humor. I laughed out loud at some points. In terms of exposing and picking apart the slave system, Stowe is a master of this.
One last point of bewilderment for me -- how is it that "uncle tom" became an insult to Black people who are too cozy within white institutions? In the book, Tom so intractably resists the unjust system, that he becomes a victim at the hands of two fellow slaves who were vying for their master's favors. How did Uncle Tom turn into "uncle tom"? I guess that's a linguistic trail to chase sometime. In this book, though, devoted to demolishing the slave system, Tom is a Christ figure, the most righteous and just man in the entire story. It's interesting that I was reading Albert Raboteau's [b:Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South|178473|Slave Religion The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South|Albert J. Raboteau|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348113965l/178473._SY75_.jpg|172413] at the same time (I just finished it yesterday), and Tom is a great example of the kind of religious expression among enslaved people that found hope in the suffering savior over against their so-called white christian masters. The two books resonated in harmony, not discord.
I'd recommend this book for any number of reasons, caveats noted.
I will make a confession: I really enjoyed this book. I know the book was written by a white northern woman, and thus contains a deeply racialized view of Black people all its own. Even in her attempt to highlight the evils of slavery, she depicted Black people through her own white lens according to her own stereotypes. I guess I will have to take refuge with my friend Du Bois in my appreciation for it.
As a story, the book is riveting, with multiple plots, lots of suspense, deeply relatable characters, and even humor. I laughed out loud at some points. In terms of exposing and picking apart the slave system, Stowe is a master of this.
One last point of bewilderment for me -- how is it that "uncle tom" became an insult to Black people who are too cozy within white institutions? In the book, Tom so intractably resists the unjust system, that he becomes a victim at the hands of two fellow slaves who were vying for their master's favors. How did Uncle Tom turn into "uncle tom"? I guess that's a linguistic trail to chase sometime. In this book, though, devoted to demolishing the slave system, Tom is a Christ figure, the most righteous and just man in the entire story. It's interesting that I was reading Albert Raboteau's [b:Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South|178473|Slave Religion The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South|Albert J. Raboteau|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348113965l/178473._SY75_.jpg|172413] at the same time (I just finished it yesterday), and Tom is a great example of the kind of religious expression among enslaved people that found hope in the suffering savior over against their so-called white christian masters. The two books resonated in harmony, not discord.
I'd recommend this book for any number of reasons, caveats noted.