Uncle Tom’s Cabin
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A type of Christ
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Amen!! I saw the same in Tom and admired his strength and faith. I love this book!
Here's what I think. It's the review I did of "Uncle Tom's Cabin":Clumsy propaganda by a woman who never met any slaves nor saw any slave quarters.
She helped ignite a war that took 650 thousand lives needlessly. Lincoln could have purchased and freed all the slaves in the South for less money than the war cost, and without getting a whole generation of young men shot down.
I abhor this kind of nonsense by a woman seeking notoriety by making up drama that never happened nor COULD happen.
The North used this book shamelessly to put the North on the high moral ground when dealing with other nations.
And I'll give you a bit of knowledge no one seems to realize -- slavery was about to be abolished anyway in the South. New technology was making slave human labor unnecessary. And there were plenty of people and associations in the South demanding emancipation. It was just a matter of time.
The whole world was putting pressure on the South to free its slaves. Lincoln deliberately razed and burned down the South; destroyed it's culture; burned all economic and land records; tore down all the court houses; occupied the South with soldiers who destroyed private property; had no compunctions about breaking the laws; raped all the white women and tried to kill all males who still loved their land --
No one will tell the truth. Historians know but must be politically correct. Lincoln put millions of bewildered black people on the streets with no jobs and no prospects. Most of them worked for their former owners but without the free food and shelter. The slaves were simply dumped and abandoned by the Northern government that "freed" them.
The war was first about money: making rich people richer. Second, it was about Lincoln wanting to be famous. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" will go down in history along with "Mein Kampf".
Well, I'll just be polite and say that Richard doesn't know what he's talking about with regard to "Uncle Tom's Cabin.". Lincoln did not initiate the Civil War. It was the south that threatened to secede if he was elected and they followed through on their threat. There is no indicaton that the south was about to abolish slavery, southerners were pushing to open the Western territories to slavery. Lincoln, though he opposed slavery, did not make any effort to abolish this "peculiar institution" until 1863--well into the war. Much of the burning the North is blamed for was actually perpetrated by retreating southerners in a "scorched earth" policy designed to deny resources to advancing Federal troops. Richmond, Virginia, was also torched by the Confederates, which is why Lincoln was cheered by the residents of Richmond when he walked the streets of that city shortly after the cessation of hostilities.While "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was certainly abolitonist propeganda, it was based in reality if not in fact, and it is a very good book--much better than the version we all have in our mind's eye from years of cartoon spoofs.
The Uncle Tom of the popular imagination actually derives from the play versions, the "Tom Shows," of the 19th and early 20th century theater, which simplified the characters, emphsized only certain parts of the story, and bear only a passing resemblance to the full-blooded novel and its rich characters.
There is not objective way any person of inteligence could compare "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with "Mein Kampf."
I've not read the book, and until recently I had no interest to do so, since I felt it would be a case of wooden characters and wooden prose. Now, after a fairly recent (about two years ago) reading of Edmund Wilson's famous study on Civil War literature, Patriotic Gore, I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. Wilson spends a great deal of time discussing this book, and Stowe. Wilson was a great critic, and he points out the book's weaknesses, but also its strengths. For the purposes of this discussion, I can't recall if Wilson picked up on Christ imagery or not. As a footnote, I'd suggest Joe Christmas, from Faulkner's Light in August.
It is a great book. Although the book is propeganda it does try to strike balance in the protrayl of the North and South. There are good Southerns and the worst character is a Nothern who moves South.As a sidenote in John Parker's autobiography (a slave who becomes an Underground Railroad conductor) he tells about the true incident that Stowe based Eliza's crossing the river on.
You don't even have to consider the "reality" of te book to enjoy it. Of course it's propoganda, but it's a beautifully written novel on every level. The characters are so believably alive, and you genuinely care for them. It's a NOVEL! Take it as such and enjoy the story. Richard's attempt to discredit it is a disservice to us, the "audience".
I really enjoyed this book. I don't care if it was propaganda, it got people reading and caring about the slaves which was the important thing. My live book club just discussed this book last month and we all agreed that Uncle Tom was one of the strongest literary characters there was. In recent times some African Americans have frowned on this book and used the term Uncle Tom in a derogatory way to depict a weak man who just gave in to his master. I don't see it that way at all. Uncle Tom was passive, but he had a strong character that was supported by his faith. I think all the characters were a little over-the-top. By that I mean really good or really evil.
I read this book a while back and had to read it twice just to get the jargon down and understand the broken language of the characters. I found the book very interesting no-the-lease. I had to write a paper on what I found to be interesting about the book and of course I choose to write about the "slang". To my surprise I was the only person within my class to find the "Slave Dialect" to be over the top. Does anyone else agree?. My entire argument was, though slaves where considered to be ignorant during that time due to no education, how ignorant can one be when one must adapt and learn a new language. Didn't the slaves learn their dialect from the masters?
Khia wrote: "I read this book a while back and had to read it twice just to get the jargon down and understand the broken language of the characters. I found the book very interesting no-the-lease. I had to wri..."I don't really know how they got the dialect, but I have a couple of suggestions. They came from Africa, so they learned a new language really on their own because they weren't educated. So they have a combination of native accents (different, because they came from different regions) along with improper usage of the language and then toss into that a southern accent. Then some of that was partly culture. They developed their own culture and picked up language usage each other. Like I said, I don't know and I'm just guessing at all of this.
Uncle Tom is a hero. He sacrificed himself for the rest.I really lose patience with people who call a person an Uncle Tom as a put down. They have not read the story. We should all strive to be like Uncle Tom. Yes, almost Christ-like.
If you struggle with the dialect, get it in an audio book, but you really should enjoy this story. It is a big part of our American history--many say one of the catalysts for the American Civil War,including Lincoln.
African-Americans eeked out an existance in the most difficult of circumstances. Slavery in American should have never happened, but it did. We should learn from it--all Americans of all races.
This story was an inspiration for my novel, "Chase The Wild Pigeons." It moved me.
Loved Debbie's comments back in 2008. Tom is an inspiring charater who reminded me of Christ's love and sacrifice. A wonderful wonderful book!!
Judy wrote: "Loved Debbie's comments back in 2008. Tom is an inspiring charater who reminded me of Christ's love and sacrifice. A wonderful wonderful book!!"I agree with you Debbie, and John's from December 20,2011. Thanks Debbie for bringing the discussion back to where it all started....looking at the Uncle Tom character as he sacrificed himself to make things better for the others, very Christlike.
I read this book because I'm writing an historical novel that's set in Texas during the Texas Revolution (1835-36) and needed some insight about the slave culture of the 19th century. I just finished it and loved it. Yes it's quite melodramatic, full of propaganda and a morality tale but one of the underlying messages I got was one of hope. There is ALWAYS hope amid the despair and we should never let go of it. A lesson we all should take with us no matter where we are.
I think there is hope when people are willing to sacrifice self for the sake of others. Our society will never survive if we allow personal rights and indulgencies to rule.
Deborah wrote: "When I read Uncle Tom's Cabin I was very impressed with the main character, Tom. I saw in him the attributes of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was full of love for all people and showed that by his a..."Well said...I felt the same way as I read it!
In school I was always taught that Uncle Tom's Cabin was a great literary work, however no one in our school was ever told to read this book that was supposed to be so great. 50 years later, I read it. It was well written and gave what appears to be a balanced, responsible depiction of antebellum life. It should be among the "must reads" for all students, especially African-American students.
Roosevelt wrote: "In school I was always taught that Uncle Tom's Cabin was a great literary work, however no one in our school was ever told to read this book that was supposed to be so great. 50 years later, I read..."Since this book focuses so much on Christianity, it would break the establishment clause of the first amendment for public schools to require students to read it - unless the students were required to read books promoting all other world religions too, and many parents would object to that.
Richard wrote: "Here's what I think. It's the review I did of "Uncle Tom's Cabin":Clumsy propaganda by a woman who never met any slaves nor saw any slave quarters.
She helped ignite a war that took 650 thous..."
It's a common misconception that the civil war was started over slavery. But it was not. Slavery entered the picture later during the war. It was actually caused because the south wanted to separate from the north and make each state its own country. Lincoln stood firm that America was a "United" country.
It is true that the slaves were not given justice after the war and slavery indeed continued long after freedom was declared. The land allocated to the free slaves wasn't nearly sufficient for them. Due to the fact that they were denied any education, denied marriage, and the practice of taking young children away from their parents, slaves were in an extremely hard place to move on from. As a result, many still remained in slavery and/or became sharecroppers.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, as many would agree, isn't realistic in its plight. I believe Ms. Beecher was trying to reveal the horrors of slave life, and, primarily because of the age she was living in, there was no way she could most accurately display the disgrace white man inflicted on slaves and other "non-whites" because it would have been another banned book for its graphic details.
I do agree that Tom is a good representation of an extremely Godly, Christ-like man. He suffered and sacrificed because of his impenetrable faith. I took from this story that ABSOLUTELY nothing would cause Tom to waver in his beliefs or take away his identity in Christ. He knew he was a child of God, and no injustices could take away his joy and peace because of that.
A must read book about a true modern-day "Tom" is "The Emancipation of Robert Sadler" or "Help Me Remember, Help Me Forget". Robert, at 5 years or age, was sold into slavery by his father at the turn of the 20th century. Robert later escapes from slavery, finds salvation in the Lord and dedicates his life to Evangelism. What is remarkable is that he harbored absolutely no anger or hate towards his former slave owners and even returns to the farm where he was abused. I read this book as a young teen and literally bawled through the first half of the book because of the abuse he endured. Yet Robert's voice rang true that, like Tom, he had a new identity in Christ and absolutely nothing he went through could take away his joy and peace in the Lord.
I'm not Christian, but I definitely see a parallel of Tom with Christ, no doubt (granted, I know about Christ from college classes and the Internet and general conversation, not Sunday school). The whole point of the book was that it is impossible to be a good Christian and also tolerate slavery.
I also saw parallels with Tom and Christ. Especially the way Tom forgave his tormentors even as he was being brutally beaten, the same way Christ forgave from the Cross.
I was very surprised how some modern readers (especially those who are not religious and have a tendency to ignore any religious sentiment in books) cannot see how radical the elevation of Uncle Tom (a dark-skinned slave) into a Christ figure would have been at this time. Instead, they focus on whether the darker skinned slaves are portrayed as intelligent or productive as the lighter skinned ones. It's very strange.
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He was not weak, however. He was a very strong man in body, mind and spirit. He chose to do the right thing no matter what the circumstance.
And in the end when his life was on the line, he, like the Savior, chose to be faithful to the end of his life.
No one, and especially Simon Legree, who much like Satan, would try to break us, could make him deny his faith in His Master, Jesus Christ.