A classic first published in 1852 - This book has been on my bucket list for years now. Finally...check! My copy: UNCLE TOM’S CABIN: LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY (possibly 1884-1885 edition), by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This is a little book, no more than 4” wide by 7” long, with very tiny print. I found it on eBay, purchased from stampinsisters for $10.00. It is badly worn and missing the copyright page. On the inside cover page is written:
“6th Prize Jr. 3rd Class, Fred Cummings, U.S.S.
No. 10th 16. S.N. & D. [signed] E. Garrett, Teacher,
Dec. 1885”.
I would gladly mail this copy to any known family members of this Fred Cummings.

According to the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, this story is based on a collection of true life stories turned into a novel that were either witnessed by the author, herself, or told to her by others who either went through similar experiences when enslaved or told by someone who had knowledge of certain events and relayed it to the author.

I rated this book 4 stars out of 5, just above an average read, for these reasons: 1) The author constantly jumped from you reading a good story, to her interrupting with analogies and explanations and sermons. I found that strange and a bit annoying. 2) I found that she was very pretentious in her writing of those analogies, explanations and sermons…meaning, she tried too hard to write so uppity, that at times, I couldn’t understand what the heck she was writing. 3) Some parts of the slave dialog were hard to get through. Thankfully, they weren’t very long conversations.

That being said, this story did draw me into the characters and their emotional trauma experienced by being enslaved. She really did capture the essence of slavery, of a human race that owned absolutely nothing and experienced complete helplessness over every little aspect of their lives. Even if the slave had a good life, it could turn on a dime when the plantation owner had to pay in on a debt or upon a sudden death. They would then find themselves back on the auction block and praying and begging not to be separated from their children, or to be sold to a good master and not be sent down the river to the cotton plantations, which had the worst reputation for having brutal owners. The author touched on many things emotionally that I never have, and never would have, even thought about before on my own.

She portrayed different personalities handling brutal plantation owners in different ways. On the one hand, there was Uncle Tom, who was an upmost Christian and never wavered or compromised his belief in praying for and showing love and compassion even through his turmoil. He took a beating because he refused to beat another slave. Then, there was Sam Harris, who escaped with his family, and would die and fight before letting them harm his family. They were both right! In the end, Uncle Tom's cabin was symbolic for the love and compassion he spread among his people and among everyone else he encountered, whether a Christian or not. God used him to bring others to the Lord.

We learned a lot about slavery when I was in high school back in the 1980’s, but we never really touched on the “emotional” aspect of it, and I wish we had. ( )

The benefits of Christianity, as described here, are so bountiful that one wonders how slavery dared to exist in its presence. The story is so replete with Jesus figures that the author has to juggle them carefully to avoid a scene where they must all sacrifice themselves en masse. The author is to be commended for restricting her anti-semitism to only a single line. ( )

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
3 stars
Some books really stand the test of time, and some books are classics because of how important they were in their own time. This book is definitely an example of the latter. Uncle Tom's Cabin was an incredible best seller and its anti-slavery message made an indelible imprint in its time. However, as a novel, I found it to be a mixed bag. The story of Tom himself is by far the most compelling narrative. A slave belonging to a relatively benign family, Tom is reluctantly sold when the family has deep financial problems. He is separated from his wife and children and sent South, and the reader follows his ups and downs from there on in. Tom is deeply religious and basically of the mind that he'd choose to die rather than abandon his religious beliefs. Unfortunately, he is sorely tested on that front. Around this central narrative are many subplots - - stories of slaves that escape, slaves sold away from loved ones, brutal slaves, religious slaves, slave children, etc. Each tale gives the reader a little more insight into the institution of slavery, why it existed, and how slaves survived it. A very central part of the messaging is how un-Christian slavery is and yet in many other ways, Christianity is held up high on a pedestal. The preachiness of the book is in part why I didn't really care for it all that much. There's a certain spirituality that is really elevated - - especially through the character of one young white girl who has to be one of the more unrealistic children ever to be portrayed in literature. There definitely were some all good and all evil characters in this tale intermingling with more realistic portrayals. All in all, I can see how this book was a "must read" of its time, but also how it doesn't really stand the test of time. Also, if I were to be extra critical, I would say that many of the slave stories were tied up so neatly with a bow at the end of the book - - which really is not the norm in literature today.

Another interesting note. "Uncle Tom" is now pretty much an epithet for a person who is very subservient in his actions. I'm not quite sure how that reputation derived from this work. Tom, in this book, while not openly rebellious, was a man of tremendous character and faith. He never sacrificed his beliefs to save himself, nor would he harm others. His resistance was more passive than that of others in the story who ran away, but I didn't feel the portrayal was negative. ( )

*3.5

This is so weird to review—It's just so clearly a product of its time, how am I supposed to rate it?!

Pros: Harriet Beecher Stowe is obviously pro-abolition and deeply believes in the equality of races. Her entire work is imbued with that fact, tinged throughout by equally deep Christianity

Cons: Unintentionally racist. Nearly all the black character's names become stereotypes (oops). The titular character Tom is an allegory of Jesus Christ and is thus massively passive. This somehow makes his character... arguably anti-black.

Concluding thoughts: I would have appreciated this a lot more if I like, still believed in God. Despite all of Stowe's weird outdated conception of racial equality, I'm incredibly glad I read it. If you want to know what Victorian mores were, what the mindset of white people was during the time, of the role of women in abolitionism, fuck, just what people were consuming in the mid 19th century, then this is the book. I'm in a material culture class of New England right now and we just look at tons of pottery that was inspired by the book. It's just insane how pervasive it was.

I'd still recommend it, just so you can understand and educate yourself. ( )

It was good but a very slow read. Very eye opening to the ways of the past and the mistreatment of slaves. ( )