Uncle Toms Cabin By Harriet Stowe Essays - Lost Films

Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Many people believe that a novel has a direct and powerful influence on American history. One such novel was written by a woman by the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe. The name of this novel is Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher was born on June 14, 181l, in Litchfield, Connecticut. Her father Lyman Beecher, was a renowned preacher. Harriet was a student and later a teacher, at Hartford Female Seminary. In 1832, the Beecher's moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Just across the Ohio River lay slave territory. Beecher's visits to plantations confirmed her disdain for slavery. In 1836, Beecher married Calvin Ellis Stowe, a seminary professor (Compton's). Upon moving to Brunswick, Me. , in 1850, Stowe was challenged by her sister-in-law to "write something that would make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is!" The answer to the challenge was Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly', which appeared in 1851 to 1852, in an anti-slavery paper called "National Era." Though the story depicts some of the kind and patriarchal aspects of slavery, it emphasizes the dark and cruel side. Published in book form in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin was an unprecedented success in American publishing, selling two million copies before the start of the American Civil War. It has translated into more than 20 languages and presented countless times on the stage and in motion pictures (Grolier). Stowe died on July 1, 1896, in Hartford Connecticut. Among her other works are "The Mayflower" (1843, a collection of tales and sketches; "Dred: a Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp" (1856); "The Minister's Wooing" (1859); and "Lady Bryon Vindicated" (1870) (Compton's). Harriet Beecher Stowe was in challenge by her sister and when she had to pick something to write about. Stowe decided to write a fictional story about Slavery. That is the main historical basis for this book. During the time of Harriet Beecher Stowe, there was a bitter feud between the North (Anti-slave states) and the South (Pro-slave states). Blacks, also known as African Americans, were being bounded and their freedom was being taken away from them. The south felt that they had the right to do this. It was their obligation. The north on the other hand saw a different story. The North believed in freedom and some equality for all man-kind(except for women back in those days). New pieces of lands were being won and bought and there was matter of dispute to what would it happen. In the 1860's slavery was abolished with the Emancipation Proclamation. Years before this proclamation, a bitter battle was fought between the North and the South. This war was known as the bloodiest war, putting family against friends and brother against brother. This war was known as the Civil War. Before the Civil War (1861 to 1865), Harriet opened the eyes with her fictional story and made a complete historical factor in American history. This novel opens on the Shelby plantation somewhere in Kentucky before the Civil War. The Shelby's own numerous slaves all of whom they treat as though they are family. Unfortunately, at the opening of the book it is understood that Mr. Shelby has gotten into some financial difficulties, and the only way out of debt is to sell some of his slaves. He is left no other choice but to sell his most faithful and hardest working slave, Tom, and a little boy named Harry. Mr. Haley, a slave trader comes to the Shelby plantation one afternoon to finalize the deal, but the transaction is overheard by Eliza, Harry's mother. She goes into a panic and swears that she will not allow them to take her child, so she tries to persuade Tom to run away with her and Harry. Tom refuses because, being the loyal man that he is, he knows that Mr. Shelby is only doing what he has to do. This does not discourage Eliza from doing what she has to do, running away. Due to the separation of these two parties, Stowe spends the remainder of the novel updating their progress in designated chapters. Eliza and Harry leave the plantation as soon as they can get away, but their absence is discovered quickly, and this sends Mr. Haley searching for his property. At one point, Haley is so hot on her trail that Eliza has to miraculously run across blocks of ice on the Ohio River holding her son. When they reach the other side, they