Uncle Tom s Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe - 901 Words

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a story that described the real life plight of an American Slave. Kentucky farmer George Shelby amassed enormous debts and faces the possibility of losing everything he owns. To settle his debts he makes the decision to sell two of his slaves, Uncle Tom and Eliza’s son Harry. Eliza is a young, beautiful quadroon girl who George Shelby’s wife took on as a daughter. Eliza overhears a conversation between George Shelby and his wife concerning the impending sale of her precious son Harry, and Uncle Tom. Eliza warns Uncle Tom to take heed and flee to the north in the hopes of attaining freedom in Canada with her son and husband George. Haley, the slave owner who attempted to purchase her son†¦show more content†¦Shelby returns to his farm and emancipates all his slaves; he proclaims Uncle Tom’s cabinet a monument of sorts. The story takes place around the 1850’s in the American South, Louisian a and Kentucky. During this era in the south, slavery was at its peak. Harriet Beecher Stowe was the author of the novel; her sole reason for writing the book was to further the anti-slavery campaign. It has been said her novel laid the foundation for the American Civil War. Uncle Tom’s Cabinis an expository novel on the realities and hardships associated with slavery during this era. The book was written in support of the abolitionist movement so to a great extent, a bias does exist in the favor of the emancipation of slave labor. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel was a fiction piece based on the non-fiction realities of slavery. During this period, African-Americans were regarded as inferior beings, only capable of work and birthing children. Some slave-owner harbored no prejudices towards black slaves but participated in slave ownership because it was commonplace. In the novel, Master St. Clare and his sister Ophelia discussed their viewpoints about slavery. St. Clare admitted the sole reason he practiced slavery was due to the acceptance of slave ownership in American culture during that era. Although St. Clare was a slave owner, he did not discriminate against people of color. Ophelia was not a participant in slave ownership but she