Slavery and Christian Values in Uncle Tom´s Cavin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

1364 Words3 Pages

There are many different themes that are present throughout this play; however the two larger themes are slavery and Christian values. Throughout the play these two themes are present with every character and yet at the same time seem to be at odds with each other. When it comes to the idea of slavery, the fact that this book was written at the time to persuade the readers, especially the northerners that slavery is evil, un-Christian, and intolerable in society. Even with the idea of slavery, we can find that the play takes a great amount of time to show the fact that the slavery system does not follow the Christian values. These two themes seem to be forever intertwining with each other.

One of the main themes is slavery, mainly the evil of slavery. At the very beginning of the book, readers are shown the idea that not all slave owners are indeed evil and only care about money. There are some owners who do not abuse or mistreat their slaves, however these ideas are not placed to show that the evil of slavery is conditional, but as a way to show the wickedness of slavery even in the best-case scenario. Due to the fact that even though Shelby and St. Clare show kindness towards their slaves, at the same time their ability to tolerate slavery renders them hypocritical and morally weak. In fact, this is first shown when Shelby shamefacedly breaks apart Tom’s family by selling him. Yet, the most evil of slavery does not render its head until Tom is sold to the Legree plantation, where it appears in its most hideous and naked form; the harsh and barbaric settings where slaves suffer beating, sexual abuse and murder. The play then introduces the shock that if slavery is wrong in the best of case scenario, then in the worst cases it ca...

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These strong people have help not only with the growth of the Broadway musical, but also with the beginning of the modernization of musical theater during this period. Particularly the growth and change in the types of characters being used in Broadway musicals. Such as the Cinderella type characters are in the rag to riches stories, where they are struggling in the beginning of the act, yet at the final curtain they have a happy ending. Women and men during this period are beginning to show more personality in their acting and their struggles on stage. This was also the period where talking pictures, started to become a growing industry, it was no longer about just the Jazz period of the 1920’s. However, all good things must come to an end; it was the crash of the stock market during this period that brought an end to the feverish pitch of Broadway.

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