Literature: Marginality and Morality in Uncle Tom’s Cabin

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Lisa Loesch Eng 200 D 10/25/12 Literature: Marginality and Morality in Uncle Tom’s Cabin Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written shortly after the fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it illegal for anyone to assistance a runaway slave in any way. It is my interpretation that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this book as an attempt to attack this law. There are many different underlying themes and symbolism used in this book to prove this point. I will also explain how this novel shows many different forms of marginality within America in the early 1900’s. In addition, many of the characters within the novel claimed to be religious. I intend on proving that it is impossible for any character to truly be a Christian and own slaves. To being, Harriet Beecher Stowe used many different forms of symbolism to show her contempt for the institution of slavery within America. It is important to note that Harriet Beecher Stowe was a northern African American woman whom was also educated. I believe Stowe to be one of the bravest women of her time. It is important to note that this novel was published before women’s rights movement. I cannot begin to imagine the fear she had when publishing this book, as it was one of the most controversial texts of the era. Stowe admitted that many of the characters in the book were fabricated, and she used them to symbolize the different degrees of oppression in the north and the south. One example in the novel is the story of Eliza and George fight for freedom into Canada which moves the story increasingly north. Another contrasting story within in the novel is Uncle Tom’s decline into increasingly worse state of tyranny in which he was moved father south into Louisiana. This split between the north and the south as the characters travel may symbolize Stowe’s political viewpoints on America at the time. To

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