An Impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin Book

Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in the early 1850's and had a large impact on our nation and added on to the tension on slavery. Stowe had an incredible influence on the northern states. Her novel told the story about the slave life of her time. The purpose of writing it, was to expose the heinous crimes of slavery to the North and to anyone unaware of what went on in the rest of the country. Her book was highly successful, selling over 300,000 copies in the US and over one million in Britain within its first year.

"I looks like gwine to heaven" said the woman; "an't thar where white folks is gwine? S'pose they'd have me thar? I'd rather go to torment, and get away from Mas'r and Missis.

Targeting the Christian audience, she (Stowe) intended to give the reader a reality check by giving them insite of the hardships slaves went through. Every one of Stowe's acts as a persuasive article intended for the reader, especially those in the North, claiming that slavery is evil, un-Christian, and should certainly not be accepted into a civil society. Prue, a dreadfully abused slave, responds when Tom tries to persuade her into finding God even in the darkest circumstances and living a Christian life, which he says will pay off when her life on earth is done and she goes into heaven. When Prue says this, she is showing how slavery and politics runs her daily life. In her logic, she assumes that white people will go to heaven, and therefore will follow them to the grave and beyond as their slave. She then states a heart- wrenching remark on the horrors she endures in her life as a slave, saying that she'd want to go to hell to get away from her master than go to heaven with them. Again, writing for a predominantly Christian audience, Stowe goes to great lengths to demonstrate that the system of slavery and the moral standard of Christianity oppose each other. Arguing that no Christian should support slavery, throughout the novel, the more religious a character is, the more he/she objects to slavery.

"Witness, eternal God! Oh, witness that, from this hour, I will do what one man can to drive out this curse of slavery from my land!

Tom dies a martyr, his life story exposes everything wrong with slavery and how incompatible is is with Christianity, paving the path to conversion through the love of a Believer. George Shelby makes this vow after the death of Tom, when he chooses to become a abolitionist. Stowe's most exaggerated forms of writing is found in this quote and draws a moral standard to the problem of her day; how can one end slavery? People such as George's dad and St. Clare are aware of the evils of slavery yet they continue to practice and tolerate it anyway. Although Shelby and St. Clare are show their smarts and kind hearts, they are morally shaky hypocrites due to their acceptance of slavery. The southerners defended slavery with a common argument, claiming that the system was actually a benefit to the slaves because most masters were in the slave's best interest. Stowe obliterates this nonsensual argument with her persuasive writing, insisting that the slave's best interest is only found in their freedom. If even in the best scenario, slavery is wrong, it makes the worst case scenario a nightmare and inhumane. We can see Stowe's rhetoric in action by how the book progresses between the "nice plantations and worst plantations. She throws the defense of  pro-slavery readers out the window by illustrating its evil even in the "best forms of slavery. And to top it off, she implements her own argument against slavery by showing how appalling it can be at its worst.

"It was on his grave, my friends, that I resolved, before God, that I would never own another slave, while it is possible to free him; that nobody, through me, should ever run the risk of being parted from home and friends, and dying on a lonely plantations, as he died. So, when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and pay it back in kindness to his wife and children. Think of you freedom, every time you see Uncle Tom's cabin; and let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was.

This is a quote from George Shelby as he makes a speech to his slaves when he lets them go, executing the promise he made earlier. In the title is the book's main metaphors, he explains this in his speech. Every time he looks at the house, Shelby is reminded how Tom was removed from the cabin and his family. He tells the ex-slaves to live Christian lives as Tom did and to be reminded of their freedom when they see the cabin. And this is how the cabin becomes a metaphor. A metaphor of how destructive slavery's power can be, and how it can break a home. It also symbolizes the power of Christianity and love. When Tom accomplished this at death, it moves Shelby so much so that he decides to free his slaves. And that's how cabin embodies two of the novel's central themes.

Christianity in Uncle Tom's Cabin relies on a basis of universal love. If everyone practised this principle, Stowe insists that it's impossible for a human to own another, even when the skin tone is different, making Christianity and slavery incompatible and using her faith to fight slavery.

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