American Literature - Essay Example

For instance, he uses his own life experience to show the inhuman treatment that slaves were subjected to while Stowe use a fictional story with depiction of the lives of slaves as it was.With reference to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” done by Stowe Harriet Beecher and “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” done by Douglass Frederick this paper aims at how civil war and slavery were of influence to writings by these writers. If you take a closer look at “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” you will notice the extent to which Harriet Beecher Stowe wants to bring to light the various effects that slavery has to the lives and families of those affected.

Slavery affected many families as they had to be separated as a result of some family members running away and others being sold. The emphasis is made on the family because of the fact that it is the basic social unit. When Eliza overhears her master and his wife talking about selling her son Harry she is forced by maternal love to plot an escape so that her son would not be sold. Shelby, who is Eliza’s master, decides to sell a number of slaves so that he could clear the debt. Even after the escape all does not settle for Eliza and her son (Stowe 21).

Some slave hunters are on their pursuit and thus they have to always be on the run. Reading through Stowe’s work you will notice that she depicts some of the slavery acts as idyllic. This can be advocated to the fact that she had never had a personal experience. Douglass having had an experience about living as a slave had nothing positive to say about the manner in which slaves were treated. For instance, the treatment that Tom is given at St. Clare is one that was impractical during those times.

The fact that she depicts the Shelbys as kind people is also contradictive because they are willing to separate Eliza from