Patriarchy as the Basis of Antebellum Household - Research Paper Example

Patriarchy as the basis of antebellum household (by using the example of Uncle Tom’s Cabin) In antebellum American literature, the importance of the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin is crucial. In the book, its author Harriet Breecher Stowe managed to not only create a catching story but also represent the numerous details that can serve for contemporary scholars as the evidence of life in nineteenth century. Moreover, the subject of the story is problematic for antebellum society, since Stowe widely discusses moral authority of slavery, family values, gender roles, religious element and the future of the whole nation. In short, the author goes from domestic households and the short stories of several slaves to the overall patriarchy which operated in every sphere of American society. In Brown’s words, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin attacks not only the patriarchal institution, but nineteenth-century patriarchy: not only slave traders, but the system and men that maintain “the one great market” upon which trade depends” (511). In its essence, a study of patriarchy in the households of Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe reveals that black race has the exclusive moral authority to transform antebellum American society in a humanistic and fair way. In order to defend this thesis, the presented essay describes the peculiarities of all the mentioned households in the novel and raises the moral question in each of them in terms of its contradiction with legal system and connection of the real moral authority with family values, prominent role of women, Christian virtue and national development. Within the analysis of households mentioned in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there exist unique peculiarities in each type of them. As Fluck draws on this complexity, it changes from “still patriarchal and relatively mind forms of slavery” in Kentucky to Southern “aristocratic plantation… with its alternating rhythm of fastidiousness and cruel neglect” and ending in Louisiana with its full extent of household cruelty (321). Because of this, it is important to start the current analysis with the description of concrete household details from the text’s plot for the further investigation on the meaning of these features. In general, Fluck refers to the specific “sentimentality” in Stowe’s imaging of different households throughout the content; in this context, scholar finds it illustrative that contrast appears between not only different parts but also diverse social classes of America. In other words, Stowe frequently uses certain narratives in different parts of the book in order to strengthen the impression of flaws within domestic antebellum lives. Thus, the physical conditions mean nothing without the interpersonal relations that actually form each household. In short, Harriet Beecher Stowe incorporates in text some clues to the deeper understanding of different types of maintaining the household in antebellum period, which should be acknowledged here. Concerning the concrete images of households in the novel, Stowe discusses in the detail five types of them. Their owners are Mr. Shelby, St..Clare, Quakers and Simon Legree, and there also exists a typical black household. Firstly, the household in Kentucky appears in a favorable light. In the episode with small Harry singing and dancing for two gentlemen the overall atmosphere is warm and friendly, even though the song was “wild grotesque [and] common among the negroes” (Stowe 45). In this context, this scene creates an impression that Mr. Shelby’s household is full of comfort, joy, and family warmth. Moreover, the title of first chapter, “The Man of Humanity,” and the facts of deeply interconnected childhoods of all the people living there illustratively refer to human equality and family values. Hence, it may lead to the conclusion that Northern states have created a basis for happy family life. Nevertheless, the critical author’s claims constantly supplement Kentucky story by referring to the importance of law over the basic human rights (Stowe 51-52). Finally, Mr .Shelby’s money debt broke the families, since it forced Tom to change the master and encouraged Eliza to escape with her child. Furthermore, the list of antebellum households enlarges. While referring to Uncle Tom’s life in aristocratic plantation owned by St. Clare, it is evident that it is similar to the gilded cage. In this episode, Tom meets extraordinary girl Eva, her progressively thinking father St. Clare, his pedant sister Miss Ophelia and constantly irritated wife. Even though Tom’s life is not hard and he made friends with his new masters, he dreamt of coming back home. Similarly, Eliza and George found the shelter at Quaker’s family, but they cannot gain patience and real freedom there. In both the new places, it turns evident how deep old conservative forms of housekeeping are in the minds of even the most progressive Americans in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Because of this, all the slaves found themselves again depended on the circumstances, since both St. Clare and Eva unexpectedly died and chasers revealed Eliza and George’s shelter. In the case of last plantation owned by Simon Legree, all the above-mentioned peculiarities of antebellum household showed their darkest sides. Even though critics title this part of the story as “diabolical tragedy” (Snoup 100), “if… not a deliberate travesty, it improperly generalized from isolated particulars” (Duvall 13) or simply the story which is slightly possible to appear frequently, this plantation revealed all the dangers of maintaining slavery. At Legree’s place, cruelty, atrocities, mutual suspicion, alcohol and fear are the key elements that form this kind of household. In Hovet’s terms, this life means “the death force of the machine,” which appears after the breakdown of “organic society” (515). In the details, Legree’s people live separately and have no chance to build a family, and they simply work, sleep, and die. In this context, Askeland stresses on the “kitchenless” of Simon Legree’s house, which means that this place is “utterly materialistic ‘anti-home’” (788). Consequently, this is the place of Uncle Tom’s death and dangerous escape of his friend Cassy who appeared to be Eliza’s mother. Finally, the escaped Eliza and George form the typical black household in Canada, France, and Liberia. In this part, Stowe already mentions certain manifestations of such a housekeeping in previous places, like at Uncle Tom’s cabin or at Dinah’s kitchen. In all the provided instances, the family is the most crucial value in this type of household; the supplementary elements that form it are mutual respect, motherlove, mutual help, and enjoying of freedom. Among the other types of household, only this one evokes solely positive emotions in the novel’s readers. In all these different situations within Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe refers to the problem of weak morality in antebellum society. In its essence, it means that antebellum household had turned black people into things. However, Fluck acknowledges the key role of “moral sentiment” in fixing the injustice of the households. In other words, the novel does not divide all the households in “good” and “bad” groups, but reveals their complexity. While showing both positive and negative sides of each household, Stowe shows a paradox in thinking of society in antebellum America. Thus, each part of the story provides evidence for both defenders and opponents to slavery. Precisely, stable living in Kentucky is broken by debt, luxurious existence at St. Clare’s reveals its insecurity with the series of masters’ rapid deaths, and the atrocities at Simon’s plantation revealed the true virtues in main characters and enabled their family to reunite. Moreover, stable lives at Quaker’s and beyond American borders is the result of external dangers, which inevitably poison patient life. Notwithstanding all this dualities, emotionally Stowe surely takes the slaves’ part. Thus, Snoup summarizes the moral lesson of this story in three sentences, “The possibility of brutality under any institution is sufficient cause of its abolition. Slavery is such an institution. Therefore it ought to be abolished” (101). Correspondingly, Jowsick thinks of the frequent misunderstandings in the novel to happen “because one form of social power sanctioned by the moral values… severely limits the development of characters and the options for political actions” (256). Therefore, the purpose of household’s discussion in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is to solve risen by Stowe moral dilemmas in all its spheres. As for the first element, Stowe raises a crucial question of morality within patriarchy. The closer look to the attitudes towards black slaves in general and Tom in particular reveals that “within the dominant cultural convention, blackness may have held connotation of various possibilities, but not that of genuine morality” (Fluck 326). In other words, the patriarchy of antebellum household goes far beyond family relations between sons and fathers by touching social hierarchy. In this context, moral authority also supports division of races within American society. Nevertheless, Stowe points up on the patriarchy within black community too. Due to such an attitude on her main characters, scholars claim that the author seeks for the black hero to appear in America. In particular, Stowe encourages her readers to sympathize the slaves, as “our reading is controlled chiefly by the slave’s frame of reference–not the patriarch’s–and Mrs. Stowe’s insistent focus… of slave’s equivalent humanity” (Duvall 5). In other words, the necessity of the new moral authority is crucial in the current lack of justice and equality. As it comes evident from the book’s content, the reliance on law in judgements over the people in current patriarchy leads to despair and injustice, meaning “endless succession of fractures, covering the land with the homeless, the lonely, and the unidentified” (Duvall 12). Thus, only the person who acknowledges this flaw in current system has the moral right to have patriarch power; in this situation, this person can by only black representative. In addition, the novel constantly refers to the contradiction of morality with law that enters each household. Among the most illustrative instances, the division of opinions between Mr. and Mrs. Shelby show the different perceptions of slavery: the wife all the time rejects to play her “white” social role and relies on “black” Christianity and mutual respect in her attitude. In Jowsick’s words, the model of behavior Mrs. Shelby defends takes as the basis “effective social bonds… [which] are neither laws nor identifying social roles; true communal bonds consist in the mutual feelings that express interpersonal relatedness” (263). Likewise, Brown concentrates on the example St. Clare and Miss Ophelia’s efforts to arrange Dinah’s kitchen as a metaphor of inability to destroy real feelings by spiritless “logic and reason” (505). In the given circumstances of sincerity, the operating patriarchy does not let the black morality to develop. In other words, people lack defense when “it is too easy for anyone to be legally nominated as owner” (Riss 531). At the same time, this situation destroys the moral ground of being a patriarch in the antebellum social system. In the current state, patriarchy burdens both the sides of conflict: “the one [black] is humiliated and physically violated, the other [white] morally and spiritually brutalized. The center could not hold” (Duvall 12). Thus, necessity of black patriarch has moral reasoning, since “the slave’s only “right” under the law is his or her economic value, and the “justice” of the law promotes only the owner’s self-interest” (Jowsick 258). In this context, the gradations within the black race (meaning numerous mulattoes, quadroons and octoroons) are almost neglected in such a moral aspect (Levy 272). The more important is that morality and law are in a deep contradiction, and the story of relations between both “black” Tom with Simon and “mulatto” George with his master prove this statement. Concerning the meaning of being truly moral, Stowe refers to numerous blurring but “self-evident” values (Jowsick 263) like family, love, or fairness. In this respect, Stowe does not limit patriarchy of antebellum household only to the common relations between family members or white masters and black slaves; in a more comprehensive manner, she shows the means of respect within the truly equal but lacking basic human rights black community. In this context, Stowe’s black hero should use his patriarch power in order to re-build America to become truly humanistic and fair (Riss 515). In order to justify this claim in the novel, Stowe refers to her main characters: Uncle Tom and George Harris. In their personalities, Stowe reflected her own construction of a man whose emotional and moral life is centered not on domination or competition but on the self-conscious, vigorous exercise of communal love–a man who unites the virtues of “kindliness and benevolence” with dignity and a “broad-chested” and “powerfully made” physique (Wolff 609). In order to justify these expectations, she starts with a highly respectful characteristic for the personality of Tom, Uncle Tom was a sort of patriarch in religious matters in the neighborhood. Having, naturally, a greater breadth and cultivation of mind than his companions, he was looked up to with great respect, as a sort of minister among them; and the simple, hearty, sincere style of his exhortation might have edified even better educated persons” (Stowe 80). Correspondingly, Riss noticed both George’s legal ownership over his wife Eliza and his children and Legree’s fake ownership over Tom’s soul in the novel. In his opinion, it means that Stowe does not attack the real patriarchs in the society and family but provides accurate criteria to distinguish them among the others (Riss 531). Similarly, Wolff evaluates the role of black man as the actor of “admirable behavior” in terms of non-individualistic attitude and capability to save numerous lives by non-violent opposition (609). In sum, the moral authority within the novel contradicts with law system among all on racial basis, since black race inevitably includes humanistic ideal in its structure. Furthermore, household patriarchy has family relations as the filed for its construction. The significance of relative relations in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is easily seen even from the title. In Zwarg’s opinion, Tom plays the social role of uncle not father, because his patriarchic power “is somehow measured by its conflict with the larger patriarchy of the slaveholders (282). Throughout the content, Tom is an “uncle” not only for his biological family but to all the people he cares about throughout the content of the novel. In addition, he lives in luxurious plantation inhabited by mostly kind people but cannot help dreaming of his small accommodation in Kentucky, which is his real “home” (Zwarg 276). In this context, Duvall reveals the dual role of white people (both “filial and patriarchal), as Uncle Tom is like father for the children of his masters, George Shelby and Eva St. Clare (8). Likewise, on the Simon’s plantation he became a close friend of his master’s mistress, Cassy. Because of this, Fluck acknowledges the prevalence of family narrative over other social roles as a powerful writing tool, since “in emphasizing social rather than ethnic aspects of identity, a common emotional bond is thus created in order to encourage the reader to invest emotions which would otherwise be held back” (329). Because of this, the discussion of family patriarchy is crucial for the determination of antebellum household life. In fact, referring to family values is crucial for Stowe in order to defend the above-mentioned moral conclusion in this work. Moreover, deeply antagonistic conditions between the institutions of family and slavery enables the importance of family narrative in antebellum household to appear (Riss 526). In short, Stowe warns her readers from including slavery into the notion of “family,” because it justifies the very appearance of cruelty she writes about. In order to prevent this danger, Stowe frequently separates numerous families throughout the content of this story by auctions or deaths. In fact, this enables to draw the clear line between abstract “Southern family” and emotional “real family” (Riss 528-531). In this perspective, the actors of families’ separation are lonely, merchant, and highly individualistic slaveholders like Haley or Legree, who are incapable to create a household and a family (Hovet 509). Due to the presented ambiguity, the paradox in patriarchal legend emerges, as current state of slavery institution encourages patriarchs to use “exchange” procedure on the regular basis (Duvall 8). In other words, antebellum household that uses slave force lets patriarch to turn into the speculator (Riss 531), no matter is he a good or a bad man. In this context, stories of Mr. Shelby and St. Clare illustratively prove that white masters cannot take their slaves as integral part of their families, even though they comforted them. Moreover, Mr. Shelby cared much more of being “good-natured” than of saving the black people who trusted and nurtured him, when it had come to money matters and “touched his honor” (Stowe 94). Unlike these patriarchs, biological rulers of the real families (like Uncle Tom or George Harris) are the real authorities in terms of family values. To help them, Stowe frequently uses narrative of mother and her children as “the most powerful representation of the kind of ownership entitled by biology,” even though it is not a “legitimate biological relation” (Riss 532). In this context, Stowe imposes the limitation on patriarchal status for white fathers too, as Cassy’s story of endless betrayals from her white husbands reveals. Riss refers to this episode as to manifestation of how “the biological father shows himself to be a mock parent in the case of miscegenation” (533). Due to all the mentioned above, it is evident that the deep and true understanding of patriarch’s responsibilities is open solely for the black fathers of their biological families, once they find an opportunity to create a household in current social patriarchy. In addition, Uncle Tom’s Cabin reveals the specifics in relations between men and women. In the circumstances of antebellum patriarch society, the attitude towards women was similar to the dealing with slaves. In such an environment, the emphasis on the virtue of woman in the novel means that the author “desired to increase the individual power and status of women, mothers in particular, and thereby increase the strength of family by creating a “family state,” that is, a domain as big as the country” (Askeland 786). Because of this, it is reasonable to state that Stowe created a progressive feminist story for her time. In this account, domestic households that appear in Uncle Tom’s Cabin “represent an alternative, moral, feminine organization of life which could radially reform American society” (Brown 507). Beyond striking examples of Chloe and Dinah’s warm kitchens and Rachel Halliday’s Quaker utopia, the way Cassy used the ghost theme in Legree’s “anti-home” also represents the power of woman to restructure domestic household into matriarchal “model home” (Askeland 788). By using the similar arguments, the pleasant illusion of Kentucky’s household was possible when Mrs. Shelby and Chloe were ruling the household and the kitchen accordingly (Hovet 508). Thus, all the female characters, from the main heroine Eliza to the episodic memory of Legree’s mother, are illustrative for the main feminist role that Stowe wants all American women to play as the “peace makers and purveyors of moral wisdom” (Wolff 608). Moreover, Jowsick determines the sense of moral ideal in carrying universal family values. For Hovet, feminine element is vitally important in turning machine world back to organic society (516). Thus, Stowe supports the antebellum vision on American women’s power “to domesticate and Christianize the world” (Brown 509). In this perspective, the very appearance of Dinah’s kitchen in the novel signalizes of “precariousness of the feminine sphere,” which appeared with the institute of slavery (Brown 506). Because of this courageous thinking, critics’ view on the text has always been closely linked to the personality of woman-author, who wrote it “from the woman nature” (Duvall 20). In Zwarg’s accurate statement, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin is also Stowe’s novel, the space she has “uncled” into existence” (277). Hence, Stowe combines her progressive vision of women with the reliance on masculine patriarchy and moral authority of Uncle Tom and George Harris, even though women behave “as an equal” (Wolff 609) with them. In other words, she used current patriarchic rules in order to represent her virtuous women. Askeland labels this phenomenon as “a trace of Christian father-God” (789) in the novel. In sum, the women’s empowerment in Stowe’s opinion must appear in patriarchal social system. Hence, even though the story has certain feminist features, their power is limited by the social perception of Stowe herself and masculine nature of patriarchy in antebellum vision within American society. Furthermore, the role of religious narrative is crucial for building the patriarchy within Antebellum household in the novel. In this context, Riss supposes that Tom serves for Stowe as black Christ, which is “a passive, nonresistant one” in contrast to “active, rebellious one” for white race (514). The meetings of these two prototypes happened when both “near-white slaves” Eliza and Cassy encouraged Tom to join their fight (Levy 269). In this analogy, Tom’s sacrifice served for the reuniting of Eliza and George’s family in the same manner Jesus’ death created Christian Church (Wolff 602). Moreover, Tom constantly refers to Bible as a moral authority in his life; in fact, he finds his comfort in this book even instead of writing letters to his family (Zwarg 282). At the same time, Stowe is highly critical to the current appearance of Christian values among the white people, since they led Uncle Tom to death and did not manage to help the other black characters of the story to build their family happiness. Because of this, “she advocates colonization rather than naturalization, the removal of American blacks to Africa rather than their amalgamation into the citizenry of the United States” (Riss 515). In fact, she let all the main characters in her novel to escape the United States. Although, the fact that Eliza and George had lived at Quaker’s family relatively peacefully softens such a judgement over society in antebellum America. Nevertheless, both Jowsick and Brown noticed that Stowe does not draw this household in idealistic light, since Eliza and George constantly discuss their future Canadian home in their private conversations in Halliday’s rooms. Moreover, the accusations from St. Clare in Miss Ophelia’s hypocritical attitude towards black slaves found their place in the novel. For instance, he said, I know the feeling among some of you northerners well enough... You loathe them as you would a snake or a toad, yet you are indignant at their wrongs. You would not have them abused; but you don’t want to have anything to do with them yourselves (Stowe 274). Consequently, it is reasonable to state that the overall story ends in Miss Ophelia’s spirit, meaning her loathing attitude towards black Christians by loving them far away from America. In the same manner, Stowe placed all her black characters either aloft or in Canada and Liberia. Hence, it is evident that Negroes are keeping truly Christian character in the novel (Riss 517); among white race, only Eva can think in the same way. Because of this, she is often blamed in racialism, even though she proclaims anti-slavery and feminism in this story (Riss 516). Nevertheless, it is crucial to acknowledge that all these insincere conditions led Stowe to think of Christianity as rather native, or biological, feature of the black race (Riss 519). By doing so, she evokes respect to black slaves in readers by giving moral authority to this race. In other words, the point that only black slaves can fully represent Christian values make them worthier to have moral authority than their white masters. In addition, Stowe combines Christianity of Negroes with their respectful attitude on family values; in fact, “the mother, father, and the child form the circumference of the family; the family, in turn, becomes the center of Christian society” (Hovet 502). This interconnection is especially evident in the case of black mothers and their love to children. In this perspective, it serves as manifestation of “the novel’s highest authority for directing all ethical choices and all communal responsibilities” (Jowsick 259). Due to the all mentioned above, the real patriarchy of black family finds its reflection in the disproportion of Christian beliefs between the main novel’s characters. In addition to the morality and family values, the Christian virtue is also the feature of black slaves rather than their white masters. By expending the political and social background of the story, antebellum household in Stowe’s book represent the peculiarities of its epoch. For instance, Riss discusses the connection between Washington’s portrait in Tom’s cabin and the main hero of this story. In this context, he raises an important issue of Founding Father’s role, because “If Washington is to be Tom’s hero, he must be black like Tom” (Riss 514). In addition, Zwarg discusses this element in the household of Uncle Tom’s cabin by touching to such meaning of this symbol as to “highlight hypocrisy at the center of the American political system, a system excluding blacks from its mythic space” (278). In this context, Stowe improves the image of colored George Washington by the actions of materialized George (but Harris) in Liberia (Zwarg 279). If to combine these two visions, it becomes evident that the progressive thoughts of civil equality of antebellum era did not manage to deeply change the social reality of slavery in America. Moreover, this episode proves that only racial homogeneity is the ground for patriarchy in political system. In broader sense, the picture of household in Uncle Tom’s Cabin symbolizes the overall country, and the attitude towards black people in the novel hides a deeper meaning of incorporation of their chances in the overall nation-family (Fluck 329). However, Stowe’s imaging of sainthood in Tom evoked the discussion of slavery as a necessary good in forming black character (Riss 520). Nevertheless, Riss illustratively proves that Stowe gave Christian docility to black slaves in order to underline their moral authority to have equal rights with common associated with Christianity white race (521-524). In the given context, Stowe also draws the compare and contrast between households on the North and on the South of the United States. In general, her evaluation is critical for all of them, because the general phenomenon of slavery “is for master’s profit and security, not for slave’s happiness” (Duvall 12). Even though Northern states seem to be more humanistic than the Southern ones, there exist a paradox found by Snoup, Those who have never lived with the blacks, hold, theoretically, that there ought to be no difference between black and white, and practically make an enormous difference; Southern people holding that there is the greatest possible difference, in practice and upon proper occasion, make none at all (99). In economic means, institution of slavery burdens not only “happily united” life of the family but also limits prosperity of the overall country (Fluck 329). In this context, the circumstances of chaotic Dinah’s kitchen serve as the path to transform American market. In Brown’s opinion, mother-love and kindness means the excess of supply, and slave mentality relies on the overflow of demand; consequently, moral authority of women and blacks is the source of economic development (512). In the same manner, current social environment that determines the relations between slaves and masters needs the core transformation. As for the current contradiction between morality and law, the greater disintegration within Western worldview, which combines spiritual Christianity and pragmatic materialism, is evident (Hovet 500). On this subject, Stowe put her ideas in St. Clare’s words, “It’s commonly supposed that the property interest is sufficient guard… If people choose to ruin their own possession, I don’t know what’s to be done” (Stowe 328). In other words, the operating rules in antebellum society left the free space for each master to determine the fates of his slaves, and nobody could limit that power. Correspondingly, current disproportion of rights between men and women also hurts American society to the core. Because of masculinity is the basis of social system, conquest principle constantly empowers the stability of slave system (Wolff 600). In other words, slavery is equal to both masculinity and patriarchy in antebellum America. In the given environment, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an illustrative case of how small tragedy of virtuous slave reflects numerous manifestations of cruelty on the way of his life path. At the same time, the story of Tom proves black slaves are equal in being virtuous American citizens as white people (Riss 513); in some cases, they are even more worth this title than their masters are. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned progressive vision of Stowe surely has its limits. Because of this, the task of solving the novel’s problematic fields is extremely hard. In this context, Snoup questions the ability of not only book’s characters but also the author herself to create the equality, or at least “affectionate relationship” (98) between two races. In addition, Fluck raises an important issue of both strength of slavery and weakness of family as social and cultural institutions (331). In the novel, this weakness is illustrative in the most of episodes. Between the main events in Uncle Tom’s story, readers constantly witness the real facts of cruelty in breaking black families, or “a series of offences against the integrity of the family” (Riss 525). Moreover, the destiny of Uncle Tom himself is the story of a good man who left his family and all the people he loved due to the circumstances. In this context, the key problem is in a weak morality based on the “cold abstraction” (Riss 523) that puts two races in the state of conflict. In addition, cold Christianity forces black people to find their homes only in Africa, even though they had spent all their lives in the United States (Riss 534). However, the reflection of “real family” on the nation leaves no choice for Stowe, since she believes in moral authority of both black and white patriarchs. In short, she creates a situation where already existing domestic values are the source of political reformation (Brown 507). In this context “rights gain importance only if they are affiliated with one’s communal identity, with one’s family, and with one’s nation; in short, with one’s race” (Riss 536). Thus, Stowe could not make this story different due to the artistic tasks she had in this novel. In order to sum up the presented analysis, it is evident that the personalities of black slaves in general and of Uncle Tom in particular have all the rights to be the patriarchs in antebellum American society in contrast to their white masters. Nevertheless, the story drawn by Harriet Breecher Stowe in Uncle Tom’s Cabin revealed that the reality is opposite to this ideal. In practice, the “white” type of mentality evoked the appearance of such institutions as law and slavery. Because of its cold logic, the machine-like system left no place for the morality and imposed no limits on the slaveholders. Consequently, the personal tragedies like Uncle Tom’s story constantly emerged but were unsolved. Notwithstanding this injustice, black patriarchs like Uncle Tom and George Harris are potential American heroes for Stowe, because they had moral authority in terms of valuing of their families, respecting women and working along with them, behaving like the real Christians and having all the traits to develop American nation. Nevertheless, these black heroes were utopian, since even Stowe managed to find the place for her literal black family far away from the United States, back in Africa. Because of this, it is reasonable to assume that America was not prepared in the nineteenth century to meet its black hero. Works Cited Askeland, Lori. “Remodeling the Model Home in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Beloved.” American Literature, 64.4 (1992): 785-805. JSTOR. 24 Apr. 2015. Brown, Gillian. “Getting in the Kitchen with Dinah: Domestic Politics in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” American Quarterly, 36.4 (1984): 503-523. Web. JSTOR. 23 Apr. 2015. Duvall, Severn. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin: The Sinister Side of the Patriarchy.” The New England Quarterly, 36.1 (1963): 3-22. Web. JSTOR. 22 Apr. 2015. Fluck, Winfried. “The Power and Failure of Representation in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” New Library History (1992). 319-338. Print. Hovet, Theodore R. “Modernization and the American Fall into Slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The New England Quarterly, 54.4 (1981): 499-508. Web. JSTOR. 21 Apr. 2015. Jowsick, Thomas P. ““The Crown Without the Conflict”: Religious Values and Moral Reasoning in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 39.3 (1984): 253-274. Web. JSTOR. 24 Apr. 2015. Levy, David W. “Racial Stereotypes in Antislavery Fiction.” Phylon (1960-), 31.3 (3rd Qtr., 1970): 265-279. Web. JSTOR. 21 Apr. 2015. Riss, Arthur. “Racial Essentialism and Family Values in ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’.” American Quarterly 46.4 (1994): 513-544. Web. JSTOR. 24 Apr. 2015. Snoup, Francis A. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin Forty Years After.” The Sewanee Review 2.1 (1893): 88-104. Web. JSTOR. 22 Apr. 2015. Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Saylor.org, 1852. Web. 1 May 2015. Wolff, Cynthia G. “’Masculinity’ in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” American Quarterly, 47.4 (1995): 595-618. Web. JSTOR. 21 Apr. 2015. Zwarg, Christina. “Fathering and Blackface in ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’.” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, 22.3 (1989): 274-287. Web. JSTOR. 21 Apr. 2015. Read More