Uncle Tom's Cabin
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 12/10/2010 11:18 AM
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin Paper
Racism played a large role in the flourishing of slavery. Racism was completely socially acceptable back then. Most white people actually believed that they were superior because of their race. They believed that the ideals in the Declaration and Constitution didn't need to apply to blacks. But the real reason slavery survived (until the Civil War) is economics. The economy of the Southern United States was based on such crops as cotton, tobacco, and rice. All of those are very labor-intensive, and they require a huge workforce to grow. Farm and plantation owners didn't want to pay people to work on their farms when they could have slave labor for free. So they had a huge economic interest in keeping slavery intact. While this went against human rights and freedom, it seems that when money is at stake, people are almost always willing to overlook those things. Uncle Tom’s Cabin shows us what was going on, from beatings to auctions, as many of us turned the other cheek. This quote from the book, by George Harris, really shows how bad the times were. "But now what? Why, now comes my master, takes me right away from my work, and my friends, and all I like, and grinds me down into the very dirt! And why? Because, he says, I forgot who I was; he says, to teach me that I am only a nigger! And all this your laws give him power to do, in spite of God or man.”
Uncle Tom was an old slave. Tom's two biggest qualities are his constant goodness and piety. He is a passive Christ-figure. He’s generally willing to suffer out of love, and he models all his actions on the Jesus he reads about in the gospels. Tom dies so that Emmeline and Cassy can be saved, and his last encounter with Legree is reminiscent of Jesus' final conversation with Pilate. Uncle Tom consistently forgives the wrongs committed against him and turns to God in times of crisis. From learning to read the Bible and writing letters to his family, Tom is consistently trying to improve...
Racism played a large role in the flourishing of slavery. Racism was completely socially acceptable back then. Most white people actually believed that they were superior because of their race. They believed that the ideals in the Declaration and Constitution didn't need to apply to blacks. But the real reason slavery survived (until the Civil War) is economics. The economy of the Southern United States was based on such crops as cotton, tobacco, and rice. All of those are very labor-intensive, and they require a huge workforce to grow. Farm and plantation owners didn't want to pay people to work on their farms when they could have slave labor for free. So they had a huge economic interest in keeping slavery intact. While this went against human rights and freedom, it seems that when money is at stake, people are almost always willing to overlook those things. Uncle Tom’s Cabin shows us what was going on, from beatings to auctions, as many of us turned the other cheek. This quote from the book, by George Harris, really shows how bad the times were. "But now what? Why, now comes my master, takes me right away from my work, and my friends, and all I like, and grinds me down into the very dirt! And why? Because, he says, I forgot who I was; he says, to teach me that I am only a nigger! And all this your laws give him power to do, in spite of God or man.”
Uncle Tom was an old slave. Tom's two biggest qualities are his constant goodness and piety. He is a passive Christ-figure. He’s generally willing to suffer out of love, and he models all his actions on the Jesus he reads about in the gospels. Tom dies so that Emmeline and Cassy can be saved, and his last encounter with Legree is reminiscent of Jesus' final conversation with Pilate. Uncle Tom consistently forgives the wrongs committed against him and turns to God in times of crisis. From learning to read the Bible and writing letters to his family, Tom is consistently trying to improve...