When Uncle Tom and a little boy George are sold by kind owners to a terrible slave trader, George’s mom takes him and runs, but Uncle Tom goes willingly with the slave trader. The story in turns follows Uncle Tom and the young mother. This was a momentous book at the time it was written, but it certainly did not age well. With the n-word flung liberally around, I was unable to listen to the book on speaker in front of my kids (I don’t like cooking with headphones on). The stereotypes of black people were horrific. However, I tried to listen to it from the perspective that I was not its intended audience, and that helped. Overall, a good effort for the original purpose of the book – to bring light to the horrors of slavery and the blindness of white people. But it should be read knowing it won’t sit well with a modern audience, and with expectation that the denouement is excessively long.
Spoilers abound below.
These questions are adapted from Susan Bauer’s Well-Educated Mind, Chapter 5.
✏️Is this Novel a fable or a chronicle?
Chronicle, as it is set in our universe.
🖍️How does the writer show us reality (if chronicle)?
I’m supposed to say whether it was mainly showing psychologically or physical. This book did not go into vivid detail physically. It mainly alluded to the violence and rape without showing. So it’s hard for me to say it was physical. Psychologically, it showed how the slaves and owners felt, but also not in vivid detail. It was a bit detached in both psychological and physical, but somehow got the point across. Maybe with appealing to the imagination’s ability to read between the lines.
✏️What does the central character want? What is standing in their way? What strategy do they pursue to overcome this block?
Uncle Tom would like his freedom. The law and various slave owners are standing in his way. He puts his faith in God to get his freedom in soul, if not in body.
✏️Who is telling this story?
The book has a semi-omniscient narrator which follows several people’s thoughts, but only one person at a time.
✏️Where is the story set? How does this setting convey the character’s relationship to the world?
It takes place in the Southern states, where slaves are not free. This means Tom’s freedom can be kept from him indefinitely.
✏️Do you sympathize with the characters? Which ones and why?
I don’t sympathize with the white characters at all. Even the nice ones. I just don’t get excusing slavery. As for the black characters, they are too much of caricatures to garner much sympathy, but I do have disgust for their plight.
✏️Does the writer’s technique give you a clue as to her take on the human condition?
Her take is pretty obvious – people are created equal, slavery is cruel, and white people spend a lot of time rationalizing…if they feel guilt at all.
✏️Is the novel self-reflective?
I don’t know. Not unless Stowe was a slave owner.
✏️Did the author’s time affect him?
No kidding, yes. The rampant racism and stereotyping would have seemed kind and well-intentioned at the time.
✏️Is there an argument in this book? Do I agree?
The argument is that slavery is cruel and maybe even evil (in the sense of stemming from temptation and vice). Of course I agree.
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