Jessica's review
Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Jessica's review
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Jessica's review
rating:
bookshelves:
literature
recommended for: history classes, Beloved fanatics
O.k. so I was supposed to read this in my high school a.p. class. I think my friend and I may even have taken turns reading parts of it, but it never really happened. But, this last semester I actually read it twice, because that's what my Amer. Romanticism professor suggested we do, and, to be honest I was kind of scared of him for a while...
But, here's the deal. It really isn't a great book. It started out as bed time tales for her kids, progressed to installments in a magazine, and then eventually became a famously historical book. That having been said, here are the things I find interesting.
1) The idea of stay-at-home feminism. Notice that Stowe, while she empowers women in many ways that were uncommon among her contemporaries she still places women within "their" sphere. And, it is the women who are successful within their sphere (caring for the children and husband, making sure the kitchen is neat and orderly (even if they don't actually do the cooking), ...more
But, here's the deal. It really isn't a great book. It started out as bed time tales for her kids, progressed to installments in a magazine, and then eventually became a famously historical book. That having been said, here are the things I find interesting.
1) The idea of stay-at-home feminism. Notice that Stowe, while she empowers women in many ways that were uncommon among her contemporaries she still places women within "their" sphere. And, it is the women who are successful within their sphere (caring for the children and husband, making sure the kitchen is neat and orderly (even if they don't actually do the cooking), ...more
