StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Tom's Cabin - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
English November 10, 2011 Critical Analysis of the Role of Women and Children in Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin”, acclaimed among the most popular novels in the history of American Literature, is an anti-slavery novel depicting the moral degradation of the society and the evils of slavery…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.5% of users find it useful
The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Toms Cabin
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Tom's Cabin"

Download file to see previous pages

       It is a common feature in all the works of literature that a writer's perspectives, approach and solutions to the alarming social issues find place or get reflected in their works. The time at which "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written, is noted for the beginning of the movement for the equality of women to that of men. The year of 1848 is of remarkable significance in the history of Women's Movement, known as the event of Declaration of Independence, which was the first women's rights convention that took place at Seneca Falls, New York.

The women participated in this movement asserted that "all men and women are created equal" (Blythe). The thesis statement of this study is that Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” though appears to be an anti-slavery novel, is in fact, a feminist fiction that stressed the need of women’s empowerment and their emergence as public citizens.        During the nineteenth century, women were subjugated by the patriarchal society. Women, who played the mere roles of daughter, wife and mother, were confined to the hearth of their homes.

They were denied of higher studies as their only duty was to fulfill the pre-assigned role of homemakers. The ideas of true of womanhood were deeply imprinted in the minds of Americans, which constructed a code of conduct for the women. Her duty was to cook and care for her family. A woman was exempted from the events working outside of her home as she belonged only to the domestic environment of her home. Stowe has implicated this in the story by stating “O, ridiculous, Emily! You are the finest woman in Kentucky; but still you haven’t to know that you don’t understand business -- women never do, and never can” (Haug para. 1). Though the central theme in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is anti-slavery, Stowe also speaks about women's rights and their place in the society.

The women participated in the Declaration of Independence voiced for the political and economic rights of women such as voting and holding property. They demanded equality of women to men in both domestic as well as public sector. The middle class white American women during the 1850’s were submissive to their husbands. The women were considered silly and were unaccounted for even in decisions related to the domestic domain. The sole duty of these women, as assigned by the traditional norms, was to look after their children.

The women writers of the era stated that American women should instill Christian faith in their family and that they should foster children with strong foundations in good values, to ensure that they become good social beings.        Stowe has portrayed many mothers in her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. These mothers are represented as the virtual embodiments of motherly love. These mothers include Eliza Harris, Rachel Halliday, Cassy, Prue, and Mammy. Among these mothers, Cassy, Prue, and Mammy are the slave women who are grieving the loss of their children, who were snatched away from them while they were infants.

       The women and children presented in the book shows the strongest bondage of love, which itself is restricted to slave women who are doubly marginalized from the white male patriarchal society. The women portrayed in the book belong to different worlds as they share different sentiments regarding slavery. But the mothers portrayed by Stowe are ‘

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Tom's Cabin Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1436900-the-role-of-women-and-children-in-the-book-uncle
(The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Tom'S Cabin Essay)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1436900-the-role-of-women-and-children-in-the-book-uncle.
“The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Tom'S Cabin Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1436900-the-role-of-women-and-children-in-the-book-uncle.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Role of Women and Children in the Book Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin and Surfacing Book Report/Review

When Margaret Beecher Stowe's classic, uncle tom's cabin was first published in 1851 as a serial in "The National Era", it became a success beyond all expectations.... As Jane Smiley says in the introduction, "uncle tom's cabin did not only create literary history.... xv) Although the main theme of uncle tom's cabin is that slavery is wrong , there is also an underlying theme- how women kept their spirit even in the face of brutal cruelty.... While Eliza in uncle tom's cabin faces many hardships before she attains freedom, the narrator of Surfacing deals with the internal upheavals in her mind to attain emotional freedom....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

Rding Lolit in Thrn

What is the passionate emotion emotion that is communicated in Reading Lolita in Tehran Why whas Nafisi moved to write these memoirs Try to explain her motivating emotion and how it is explored in her book (here you can explore whether or not the book is, in fact, a non-fiction memoir) … Rding Lolit in Thrn provids stirring tstmnt to th powr of Wstrn litrtur to cultivt dmocrtic chng nd opn-minddnss.... In her book Nafisi sounds very motivated to scrtly bring womn togthr from diffrnt rligious nd socil bckgrounds, in country whr ths things r ll tht mttr, to rd, por ovr, nd discuss bnnd nd dngrous books, that puts Nfisi in th rol of hro....
7 Pages (1750 words) Book Report/Review

The Significance of Choices in Frankenstein and Uncle Toms Cabin

In the essay “The Significance of Choices in Frankenstein and uncle tom's cabin” the author analyzes two characters from popular literature that might seem to have anything in common but actually share the characteristic of perseverance in times of distress.... n uncle tom's cabin, Tom is not a monster but he endures some incredible and frightening circumstances.... uncle Tom and Victor's creation endure horrible treatment from other human beings....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

Harriet Beecher Stowe: An American Author

4) While the role of women today has changed since Stowe's time there is no denying the survival of the American concept that the female family members have a domestic role to play and it primarily involves nurturing the male members of the family as well as the children.... The book report 'Harriet Beecher Stowe: An American Author' to the "uncle tom's cabin", an iconic work of American literature by 19th century African-American writer Harriet Elizabeth Beecher-Stowe (June 14, 1811 - July 1, 1896), written in 1852....
9 Pages (2250 words) Book Report/Review

Religious Motives in the Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe

the book report 'Religious Motives in the Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe' is dedicated to the work of an American writer of the 19th century, abolitionist Harriet Elizabeth Beecher-Stow (June 14, 1811 - July 1, 1896).... n her book, 'The Minister's Wooing' the author introduced various diverse characters and their connections.... The women played an integral part in the progression from the religious proclivity of focusing on all that is philosophical in the faith towards the human being and a more comprehensive reactive response....
8 Pages (2000 words) Book Report/Review

Uncle Tom's Cabin By: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Clare but before he finished the papers needed for tom's freedom, he was killed in a brawl.... It was published in 1852 that featured a black man as the major character, who happens to be uncle Tom.... As said before, uncle Tom is a slave, and lives with his family together with other slaves like Eliza, a favorite slave in the Shelby One day, Mr.... One of them in uncle Tom and the other was Eliza's son, Harry.... uncle Tom, a middle aged man, was sold to someone in the deep South, where slavery was still strong....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

Book Analysis: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Tom is a devoted Christian and thus Eva who is also a Christian relate Running head: book analysis: uncle toms cabin 3rd May uncle tom's cabin The novel talks about reality of slavery for the long time black individuals suffered when enslavement was allowed.... Another theme for uncle tom's cabin is moral power and sanctity of women where a woman plays a great role to save those who are around them.... uncle tom's cabin: Life among the Lowly....
2 Pages (500 words) Book Report/Review

Critical Analysis of Uncle Toms Cabin and The Escape

The paper contains a critical analysis of uncle tom's cabin and The Escape.... hellip; Harriet Beecher Stowe's uncle tom's cabin deals with the plight of the Black slaves in America in the 19th Century.... However, this first, seemingly placid part of the book does not seek to justify the practice of slavery or to prove that it was alright to have slaves as long as their owners took care of them.... Among their slaves is a hardworking, devoutly Christian slave, uncle Tom, the acknowledged protagonist of the story....
9 Pages (2250 words) Book Report/Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us