Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

New Orleans, Louisiana

This book is difficult for me to review. As a white person, there are issues surrounding slavery that I will never understand, and there is pain that I couldn't possibly comprehend. However, I am going to do my best, and I am always happy to learn more.

The book follows two main story lines: Tom's story and Eliza's story. Uncle Tom is a deeply religious, respectful, hardworking enslaved man. His master is experiencing financial hardship, and he has to sell Tom, ripping him away from his wife and family. Tom is sold to a slave broker, who then sells him to Augustine St. Clair, after Tom saved his daughter's life. Eliza lived on the same plantation as Tom, but, after hearing that her young son was also going to be sold, she ran away with her child.

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My favorite part of this book was the tongue in cheek humor. Stowe ironically refers to savage slave hunters as "heroes," and abolitionists as "simple" for "not understanding the great system of slavery." I also enjoyed the structure. I was kept interested by the neatly organized three acts and the switching back and forth between Tom and Eliza. My eyes would glaze over at all the Christianity references, but it makes sense because the author was a deeply religious woman.

One of my favorite characters was Augustine St. Clair...I mean as much as you can like a slave owner. He was a heartbroken man and devoted father. He treated his slaves with as much freedom and kindness as one could while still relying on them for every aspect of his life and stealing the fruits of their labor. He was sympathetic to his slaves and would criticize the institution of slavery, but he wouldn't go as far as to free them. His death was the most shocking to me, and it succeeded, in my case, into stirring me into (wanting to do some sort) of action. His character symbolized the every day person who didn't think it was their "job" to end slavery. With his death, the reader realizes that life is short and everyone needs to take part in changing the world for the better.

Tom's death in the end was very sad, especially because he was so close to potential "rescue" from his former owner. But Eliza's escape with her family left the reader hopeful and motivated, not depressed.

When I first read this book, I didn't understand why the book was not well received by the Black community. An Uncle Tom is a derogatory term, despite the fact that Tom was a well respected (for an enslaved person) man who showed kindness throughout the novel. However, Ibram X. Kendi talked about this novel in his book, Stamped from the Beginning, which I read earlier this year as well (it's an excellent book). He had several criticisms of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

1. The book focuses around a "good negro." The book is appealing to the fact that Tom is hardworking and a good Christian, so he deserves freedom. On the same token, the "average negros" don't deserve freedom. Slavery is okay as long as good people aren't caught up in the system. This narrative is similar to Martin Luther King, the Obamas, or others who tell Black folks that they need to be "twice as good." Black people, and all people of color, deserve to be treated with the same amount of respect and given the same opportunities and resources as white people because they're people. They don't have to be twice as good. They can make average human mistakes. And if they make bigger mistakes, they should have the same consequences as white people because they're people.

2. Eliza and her family go to Liberia at the end of the novel. I don't really know how I feel about voluntary segregation, but I agree with Kendi that a white woman writing an ending revolving around the family's return to Africa is uncomfortable.

3. Many of the characters were minstrel-like. Some of this, I think, was to serve as comic relief, but it doesn't stand the test of time. It's inappropriate and shameful. One such time that made me extremely angry was when Eva cut her hair and distributed it to the enslaved people on her plantation. Stowe said the enslaved women were (paraphrasing) hysterical and weeping uncontrollably at her feet. Stowe humanized some of her characters, but others were caricatures that harmed black people's images, which, in turn, contributes to continued violence and discrimination.

Despite its flaws, I think this is an important book that should be read by appropriate audiences in a setting in which context can be discussed.

Review by the Numbers

Overall: 4/5

Writing: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Character Development: 3/5

Message: 3/5

Challenges Satisfied:

Louisiana (Ready My Way Around the World Challenge)

Book about Black Experiences (Diversity Challenge)