Scan barcode
A review by zoes_human
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
1.0
As a piece of literature, Uncle Tom's Cabin is appalling. At least half of it is pure, unabated preaching. The dialog is so overwhelmingly didactic that it's absurd to consider a person should ever have spoken that way. This all makes sense though considering that it was written with the intent of being informative on the topic of slavery. However, for the modern reader, much more may be gleaned of the conditions of slavery by reading actual slave narratives - most of which are better written.
Historically it is, nonetheless, still of some interest. (Though I'm not confident that it is of enough interest to actually read it.) While the conditions of slaves and behaviors of slave holders are far better understood via the narratives, this novel reveals, far more than what it was meant to reveal, the racism of white abolitionists. After all, the reason the novel was useful was because it was written by a white person and a piece of fiction written by a white woman based on hearsay carried more weight than the absolute truth as written by a black person with first-hand experience. If you doubt that, I ask you to recall that all slave narratives include a section of dozens of "testimonies" by white men to give credibility to the author.
In short, if you want to know about slavery go read Twelve Years a Slave, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Narrative of Sojourner Truth, etc. If you want to know the manner in which white abolitionists were racist, read this. In fact, you could even read The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada instead of this since his life is the one upon which this is loosely based.
Historically it is, nonetheless, still of some interest. (Though I'm not confident that it is of enough interest to actually read it.) While the conditions of slaves and behaviors of slave holders are far better understood via the narratives, this novel reveals, far more than what it was meant to reveal, the racism of white abolitionists. After all, the reason the novel was useful was because it was written by a white person and a piece of fiction written by a white woman based on hearsay carried more weight than the absolute truth as written by a black person with first-hand experience. If you doubt that, I ask you to recall that all slave narratives include a section of dozens of "testimonies" by white men to give credibility to the author.
In short, if you want to know about slavery go read Twelve Years a Slave, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Narrative of Sojourner Truth, etc. If you want to know the manner in which white abolitionists were racist, read this. In fact, you could even read The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada instead of this since his life is the one upon which this is loosely based.