Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robert S. Levine (Editor)

Harriet Beecher Stowe's second antislavery novel was written partly in response to the criticisms of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by both white Southerners and black abolitionists. In Dred (1856), Stowe attempts to explore the issue of slavery from an African American perspective.

Through the compelling stories of Nina Gordon, the mistress of a slave plantation, and Dred, a black revolutionary, Stowe brings to life conflicting beliefs about race, the institution of slavery, and the possibilities of violent resistance. Probing the political and spiritual goals that fuel Dred's rebellion, Stowe creates a figure far different from the acquiescent Christian martyr Uncle Tom.

In his introduction to the classic novel, Robert S. Levine outlines the antislavery debates in which Stowe had become deeply involved before and during her writing of Dred . Levine shows that in addition to its significance in literary history, the novel remains relevant to present-day discussions of cross-racial perspectives.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Novels, Historical, Literature, African American

656 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1855

About the author

Great political influence of Uncle Tom's Cabin , novel against slavery of 1852 of Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, American writer, advanced the cause of abolition.

Lyman Beecher fathered Catharine Esther Beecher, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, another child.

Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, an author, attacked the cruelty, and reached millions of persons as a play even in Britain. She made the tangible issues of the 1850s to millions and energized forces in the north. She angered and embittered the south. A commonly quoted statement, apocryphally attributed to Abraham Lincoln, sums up the effect. He met Stowe and then said, "So you're the little woman that started this great war!" or so people say.

AKA:
Χάρριετ Μπήτσερ Στόου (Greek)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet...

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so much better than Uncle Tom's Cabin, but so few people know about it. Beautiful writing, great history, touching look at humanity...it delivers. Here's a quote to whet your appetites:
"As air and heat and water all have a benevolent tendency to enter and fill up a vacuum, so we might fancy the failing vitality of the human system to receive accessions of vigor by being placed in the vicinity of the healthful growths of nature. All the trees which John saw around the river of life and heaven bore healing leaves; and there may be a sense in which the trees of our world bear leaves that are healing both to body and soul. He who hath gone out of the city, sick, disgusted, and wearied, and lain himself down in the forest, under the fatherly shadow of an oak, may have heard this whispered to him in the leafy rustlings of a thousand tongues."

Also, character development is amazing - the character of Tiff the slave is now one of my favorites. So go ahead and curl up at Stowe's feet and have her warm your heart and soul - you won't regret it.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years after college, having learned that authors like Dostoevsky and Dickens admired it, I decided to read Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. I remember being very impressed by the way Stowe created characters who embodied a wide range of positions on slavery. Uncle Tom was perhaps an extreme on the saintly side, and Simon Legree on the opposite end, but most characters fell somewhere in the middle. Dred, which she wrote a few years later, has many of the same virtues. But here Stowe shows in even more poignant detail how slavery is not simply evil when implemented by evil people, but an evil structure that can not be remedied by improved morals. When good-hearted characters try to improve slavery through the existing system, they meet with insurmountable obstacles. Stowe has some characters consider a radical way to change the system, armed rebellion, but other characters dissuade them with words of mercy and forgiveness. They eventually turn to other means: escape to the wilderness, to the free North, or to Canada.

The strength of Stowe's writing is in the development of ideas and arguments. The weakness is in control of the plot. When big events happen, they tend to arise abruptly. There is no gradual build-up of tension until the inevitable takes place. As a result, the deaths of major characters, for instance, do not have as powerful an impact as they might have.

This edition of Dred includes an introduction and notes from Robert Levine. He makes a big point of the idea that Stowe changed her approach from Uncle Tom's Cabin based on feedback from Black people. The footnotes seem to be designed for high school students; some of the references seemed obvious to me, and Levine occasionally bungled a Biblical citation, in my opinion.

Overall I am very glad to have read Dred and Uncle Tom's Cabin. They are invaluable testaments to the time period when they were written.

[Meg Merriet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cried through this whole book. It was an emotional rollercoaster. Almost everybody dies. The storytelling was expertly crafted. Very spiritual mode of conveying a plea for abolition. I never cried so much through 200,000 words in my life. ;_;

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beast is slain. Now let's write a BA thesis about it.

[Barbara Carder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this if you think we're the 'intelligent ones' in this century. H. B. Stowe grasped the motives and the minds of Americans pre-civil war: those who professed 'religion' and those oppressed by the cruel economy and stupidly 'romantic' plantation families of the south. . . . how we are ultimately ALL oppressed by violence and subjugation. She even saw into the moves of the abolitionists and how they helped/hurt the cause of 'freedom.' Dred and the references to Denmark Vesey are all important parts of why FUGITIVE SLAVE HISTORY must be included in a meaningful way in history lessons. We can actually learn from the heroes of the fugitive slave era, the underground railroad and the bravery of the few. This is a 'must read' if you want to think of yourself as even remotely intelligent regarding American History. Read it!!

[Josh Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is in my top 10 of the best books I've ever read. It's hard to believe that a book that was written in the 1880s can be so relevant to how people think and how politics work today. I am glad I read this book and would recommend it to everyone

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important primary source document. Pages from historical court cases and Methodist as well as Episcopal church statements track the changing “Christian” politics from anti-slavery to pro-slavery from the mid-1700s to the 1830’s and 40s.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love her writing. Her characters are so fully developed. She is witty and insightful. This tragic story from history unfortunately still holds many lessons for us in modern times.

[Nate Portnoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say, I’m surprised that this book is reviewed as positively as it is. While, from a story standpoint, it seems much more compelling than Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it is, as a novel, significantly (and frustratingly) less organized. That being said, I have yet to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in full, all I myself know of it comes from its overwhelming reputation within American lit. I’ve heard both the criticisms of UTC – especially from my (also lit student) roommates who gave me nasty glances as they saw me reading Stowe in the living room (hi guys!) – and also sincere praise (UTC as a play on familiar narrative templates; readers recognizing what they see in that book, and becoming more comfortable with the idea of abolition). Given that this book is a direct response to UTC, my response may be flawed because I may not fully understand what Stowe intends to address; at the same time though, what I offer here is a review of this book from a set of eyes that see’s it as nothing but a stand-alone thing, so maybe what I have to offer is unique in that lens.

I won’t go over a plot summary because a Wikipedia link or just a scroll up will give you that.

Volume I of this book is significantly better than Volume II. I’ve learned since that Stowe wrote this novel in just two months – which is insane because if I hadn’t had this book assigned to me that would be how long it would take me to read this (600 pages. really??) – and in the way Stowe ties up the plot threads she creates in Volume I, it shows. She opens up many interesting lines of thinking which she never cleanly resolves (or rather, not in the way one would think a resolution would go). In fact, a lot of Volume II for this novel feels like Stowe abandoning the lines of thinking which she’s established in Volume I, just for any resolution at all, as opposed to a good one. Here’s one example. Something that I found incredible about this book is that Stowe created a character like Dred (which never could have existed in UTC). There was no space for the black revolutionary in that book, so with Dred (the character), Stowe, rather progressively, opened up a discourse that forced white readers to try and have to learn to navigate Black rage. How does Dred exist as a character who is (rightfully) angry, but not so malicious that that anger translates into turpitude? How would the 18th century white reader characterize him? As treacherous? As a revolutionary? How does Dred depart from a familiar northerner abolitionist perception of the black man (someone like Nat turner)?

You hear the good questions I’m asking? They’re great, right? It sure would be lovely for Stowe to offer some more commentary on them. Oh? Huh? What’s that? That’s it??? She just ends it there? Well that doesn’t make sense. I sure hope that what I, myself, the reviewer am describing exists as a singular, one time, fluke, problem, and that there are no more cases of Stowe failing to elaborate on her ideas. Augh, but no. She does this OFTEN.

That was funny I liked that attitude I just took up right there. But yeah. Stowe fails to finish what she starts pretty often in this book. And that’s my biggest gripe with it. In many ways it feels intellectually incomplete. A valuable inquiry worth recovering, but an inquiry and an inquiry alone.

Here are some ideas/questions that Stowe at least brought up in this book that I liked:
• Interpersonal kindness does not matter when the system, as the whole, is brutal and unforgiving
• There are gradations to slavery/slave-holding. There’s a national dissensus about the issue, and in many ways, Stowe describes the different types of slaves and slave holders well. In some ways this book becomes a mix of fantasy and reality. especially because it makes the reader ask the question of “is temperance enough” in a slave-holding time (of course, the answer is no). But hey, how awful is it to realize that sometimes really good people can be slave owners. Does there exist the best bad within evil?
• The north was dependent on the cotton which the south produced. The north was implicated in the problem, economically and interpersonally. There were very few “innocents”, even if you fought for slaves’ rights (I’m looking at you clayton). Historically, England profited off American slave labor too but they never want to admit to that.
• What are the limits of pacifism in abolitionism?
• What are the limits of aesthetics when it comes to mediation? Nina as a personification as the aesthetic in description and exercise may be a worthwhile study in a feminist reading of this book.
• As a critisim of liberalism, you need to accept that there are limits to persuasion.
• The southern landscape of novel can be read as a type of gothic.

[Patricia Ruban · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to read this novel for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is contemporary, in that it was written just prior to the Civil War, and secondly, because it was written with purpose. Harriet Beacher Stowe was an abolitionist. Her goal was to present the realities of existence as a slave, and for a master; to those who did not, or did not care to have any direct understanding of the iniquities forced upon the entirety of society by the practice, whose roots were primarily economic in nature.

I found one of Beecher-Stowe's passages particularly penetrating:

« No obligation can be stronger to an honorable mind , than the obligation of entire dependence.
The fact that a human being has no refuge from our power, no appeal from our decisions, so far from leading to careless security, is one of the strongest possible motives to caution, and to most exact care. The African race had been bitter sufferers. Their history had been one of wrong and cruelty, painful to every honorable mind. We of the present day, who sustain the relations of slave-holder receive from the hands of our fathers an awful trust. Irresponsible power is the greatest trial of humanity, and if we do not strictly guard our own moral purity in the use of it, we shall degenerate into despots and tyrants. »

p389. Dred.

Her Appendix inclues excerpts Nat Turner’s confession, legal cases and deliberations that demonstrate how the major religious institutions approached the issue within their congregations. Interestingly, this peculiar institution caused major rifts and separations in the Methodist and Presbyterian churches; as it did the United States.

Entertainment is often one of the best educators.

[Sarah Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

After I had the pleasure of reading Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I became interested in the fact that she also had written other anti-slavery novels, for which she was credited. Because I had enjoyed reading the novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, so well, I had high expectations for this novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, as well.😀😁 And, while I thought that the overall premise, as well as the overall plotline of this novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, was good and had likable characters that made up the cast, I CHOSE to deduct points (stars) in my rating because there were so, so, very, very many UNDENIABLE mistakes in this novel. Almost as if this novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, HAD NOT been edited AT ALL whenever it was published in 1856. And, as a result of these numerous, UNDENIABLE mistakes, it made this novel annoyingly, incredibly, and tediously difficult for me to read.🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't as good as Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's more of an add on argument aimed at the southern denominational churches view/support of slavery. She addresses the hypocrisy, inconsistencies and Biblical errors they held pretty much in a point blank sermon style. There is very little story line in this one (again comparing it to Uncle Tom's Cabin).
I appreciated the historical facts and stories she weaved into the narrative. I also appreciated the footnotes that explained many of the historical events the author refers too.

[Matt Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though containing a few more fantastical elements than Uncle Toms Cabin, this was a compelling read.
The content can be chilling and cruel at times, but that makes the characters conquest of their trouble all the more compelling.

[Tracey Guhl belongia · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is it possible that a book written in the 1850’s has so much in common with our current world? I’m shocked. Just read the chapter Frank Russel’s Opinions and tell me I’m wrong. Wild and wonderful.

[John Keagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough to get into, but well worth the effort

[Anne Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins as a typical plantation novel with the flighty young white protagonist selecting a suitor and all of the nonsense that goes along with the spoiled life of the planter class. It isn't until halfway through that Dred is even introduced to the reader.
It is a long read, and parts are tedious because she has done a thorough job of analyzing the religious hypocrisy and the myriad facets of the ingrained institution of slavery. She slowly builds the case for the fact that slavery can not be eliminated incrementally, but that it will take a complete overhaul and disruption of the Southern economy. Although Uncle Tom's Cabin has been given the honor of being the book that caused the Civil War, this book makes a more coherent case for why it was necessary.

This book was a lot more intense than Uncle Tom's Cabin in that Stowe dove deeply into the horrors of slavery - from the splitting up of families, relentless tracking of escaped slaves, beating slaves to death, a mother murdering her children to prevent them from living their lives in slavery and countless other horrors of enslavement. But some descriptions reveal her lingering prejudices. She seems condescending in her descriptions of black people, often characterizing them as lacking intelligence and being childlike. Harry, one of the slaves who is described as an intelligent and sensitive person, is very light-skinned with blue eyes, seeming to equate his refined and admirable traits with being mixed race.
Stowe wanted to restate her feelings about abolition through this book. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Uncle Tom was a martyr that assumed the yoke of slavery and Stowe proposed sending blacks to Africa as a solution. On the other hand, Dred is consumed with hatred for slaveowners and the institution of slavery, hiding out in the swamp and preparing for the day of reckoning - a character more like Nat Turner. Dred is the fictional son of Denmark Vesey, another insurrectionist that failed at his uprising in Charleston in 1822.
This is an interesting book, full of historical detail, and good character development. The ending was somewhat abrupt - all of the character arcs that hadn't been killed off were hurriedly wrapped up at the end, settling in Canada.

[Emma Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is better than Uncle Tom's Cabin in many ways. It is great to see people actually fighting against slavery in their words and actions after all the empathy Stowe built up in her previous book. I also think that Dred is a much more interesting and complex character than Tom, and even Tiff, the equivalent to Tom in this story, has more going on in his role as a foster parent to white children. The themes for this book are more complicated, possibly because Douglass told Stowe that Liberia was not the best or only solution for ending racial tensions like she did in her last book. But because these themes often resist simple solutions, it is harder to figure out her larger argument on violence and abolition. While Stowe clearly frowns on an outright massacre like you see in Nat Turner's rebellion, she seems at times to reject all violence while at other times noting that Abolitionists may need weapons to defend themselves. She draws attention to the fact that no one is free in a world that condones slavery because even free people find their words censored and controlled by the people who don't want slavery to end. She also shows how the south is run by angry mob justice. The problem is that this makes it hard to tell where she stands with Dred as a character. If she is against the mob rule in South Carolina, does she also reject Dred's large assembly at the Dismal Swamp? Some of the other main characters seem to think that he is misguided and too fixated on Old Testament justice when he should instead think of New Testament forgiveness like Christ's. But Dred is also managing a successful community in the swamp and he doesn't raise up an assault yet, though he says that judgement is coming. He dies saving a friend, not launching a revolution. Also, because the characters all eventually leave South Carolina and even America altogether, it seems to suggest that some communities are too far gone to reform. I guess I was hoping for a final showdown between the Clayton and Tom and that didn't happen. If it is true that legal action and even quiet reforms and abolitionist churches cannot stand up against mob rule, then what should people in those communities do? Is leaving the only solution? To me, it seems like it that curcumstance when all other avenues failed is the time when it is necessary to take up arms for a revolution, but Stowe is wary of that and of Dred. She also includes a redemption story for Nina, but it is strange because Nina's story does not seem to tie into the final solutions and conflicts in the story. While the messaging is mixed here, I think Stowe does a great job showcasing a variety of perspectives and methods of resistance and her style is so poetic and engaging. It was easy to connect to the larger emotions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but the characters are much more interesting and flushed out here. This book is quite long, which is why it took me such a long time to read, but it is trying to wrestle through a lot of complex social ideas and I enjoy that, even if it is hard to figure out what or if there is a solution in some cases.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the more intriguing and scarier version of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

[Frantina Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's a sad book but it really shows u how things used to be i think it's really good.

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would rate this book right up there with Harriet Beecher Stowe's--Uncle Tom's Cabin. If you liked that book, you'll surely love this one too!

[Hyun · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting novel, one that seems to focus more on faith, spirituality, and the true meaning of being a Christian as an extension of the slavery debate.