A perspective that was relatively secretive during Jacobs’ time. Jacobs’ narrative focuses on subjugation due to race but it also portrays many women an strong and often open roles. Women in these roles were minimal and often suffered for their outspoken roles. Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is a powerful statement unveiling the impossibility and undesirability of achieving the ideal put forth by men and maintained by women. Jacobs directs her account of the afflictions a woman is subjected to in the chain of slavery to women of the north to gain sympathy for their sisters that were enslaved in the south.
The South was outraged by Stowe’s novel as well as by her attempt to plant the abolitionist roots of her fiction in Southern reality (Beau 672) John R. Thompson, the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, said she had “volunteered officiously to intermeddle with things which concern her not – to libel . . . a people from among whom have gone forth some of the noblest men that have adorned the face – to foment heartburning and unappeasable hatred between brethren of a common country” (Gossett 189). Some Southerners were worried about the novel leading to slave rebellions.
When slave religion came on the scene in the late eighteenth century, the evangelical movement was forever changed. The African Americans of this time had a rich emotional connection to their faith that was contagious to their white counterparts. This deeply rooted emotion focused on the placement and preparation that God had designed for every man. Slaves depicted Christ as a peacemaker savior that cared deeply for them. This faith allowed them to accept their current situations and become a group of levelheaded believers.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs strongly speaks to its readers by describing the brutalities of slavery and the way slave owners can destroy peaceful lives. After reading and rereading the story have noticed certain things regarding how Jacobs tries to educate her readers and her intended audience which is the women of the North. As if we do not know enough about how terrible slavery is, this story gives detailed examples of the lives of slaves and provokes an incredible amount of emotions. She uses several tactics in her writing to reach her desired audience and does so very well. The way she wrote the story does not seem as though she is emotionally connected.
Not just slaves fought against slavery, some white Europeans were against slavery. This shows that because of race they were viewed as slaves and not treated as human beings. By describing through vivid imagery, the harsh treatment and the daily lives of the slave she was able to persuade her readers. Barbauld uses satire to shame her readers into changing their views on slavery. Her concern for human rights led to a drastic influence of others.
Slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe presents slavery in the only way she knows how, by using the facts. Several sources of other works in American literature contrast on to how Stowe presents slavery in her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The elements of slavery are driven through the reflections of theme, characterization, and setting to show that the way slavery is presented is not contradicting. Through the character of Mrs. Shelby, Stowe seems to use her opposition against slavery the most. Mrs. Shelby's character realizes that slavery is unfair, unjust, and most of all unchristian.
She uses the family and sentiment to appeal to and challenge the 19th century white women reader in order to effectively gain their support in the movement for abolition. Understanding what was going on in our nation, in the southern states, and in the northern states is incredibly important when reading this story. Slaves were nothing more than property and, in many cases, were treated with less respect than the family dog.
Stowe’s novel was written to confront the basis of the southern way of life and culture. It stirred the pot and controversy rose to the top. Some even clamored for the book and its supporters to be “done away with” before anything bad was to come of them (Harriet Beecher Stowe Center). For many, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was nothing more than the fanciful illusions and imaginings of a woman determined to sway innocent readers. In fact, the worst offense found in the book was the talk of equality amongst the two races, where whites and blacks were essentially on equal ground (Gossett 57).
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a deeply symbolic narrative depicting the lives of a group of black slaves in southern America and the slave owners and slave hunters that followed them through their lives. Author Harriet Beecher Stowe, a white woman, uses her striking narrative to raise philosophical and moral questions about the implications of the institution of slavery in mid-19th century America. Her novel touches on the limits of the human spirit and the common human connection that brings together all people, whites, blacks, men and women alike. Her work was designed and intended to shock and horrify readers with its blatant and vivid descriptions of the atrocities that blacks endured during this both, both free and enslaved alike. Her work was written after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made aiding any fugitive slave a federal crime.
Her novel, therefore, focused on the ghastly points of slavery, including the whippings, beatings, and forced sexual encounters brought upon slaves by their masters. She wrote the book to be a force against slavery, and was joining in with the feelings of many other women of her time, whom all became more outspoken and influential in reform movements, including temperance and women's suffrage. The main point of Harriet Beecher Stowe in the writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin was to bring to light slavery to people in the north. In this she hoped to eventually sway people against slavery. The novel Uncle Tom's Cabin focuses on the lives of two slaves, who both start under the ownership of a Mr. Shelby, who is known as a man who treats his slaves well.