1. Because most of Stowe’s characters are flat and unrealistic representations of tropes, there are many similarities along racial, gender, and religious lines in an effort to present both “good” and “bad” examples of each demographic according to her opinions. For instance, because she idealized the dutiful mother and wife supporting her well-meaning but occasionally morally astray husband, couples such as Mr. and Mrs. Shelby and senator bird and his wife were a recurring theme alongside other devoted family women such as Eva Harris and Rachel Halliday. Stowe also emphasized her thoughts that race was indicative of intelligence due to the differing accessibility of education and the innate simplicity of a black person’s mind; for example black
…show more content…
Overall, Stowe’s ideal characterizations of both men and women subscribe to traditional views of domesticity. Her female characters that were written to be liked and sympathized with, such as Rachel Halliday, Aunt Chloe, Eliza Harris, and others, consistently perform their “womanly duties” as doting wives, mothers, housekeepers, and positive Christian influences on their families. Marie St. Clare, however, is the antithesis of the perfect woman in Stowe’s eyes; she is wholly self-absorbed at the expense of her family and slaves, neglects tending to her household in favor fabricating illnesses, and portrays herself as a Christian only because it is expected of her. Alternatively, Stowe does not hold most men to the same standards, and she depicts them as gruff, materialistically obsessed, and morally deviant in some way. To her, women act as a comforting and guiding light to the men in their lives and are thus indispensable to the structure of …show more content…
Although Augustine St. Clare recognizes the hypocrisy of both society’s practice of slavery and his own, he did not resolve to act upon his feelings until just prior to his sudden death. When bearing his soul to his cousin Ophelia, he addresses the conditional Christian support of slavery that hinges on its profitability and widespread social acceptance, which reveals that the church prioritizes this above God’s will. Similarly, he himself despises the practice of slavery due to its negative effects on all involved, but values comfort and inaction more than a clear conscience. Furthermore, St. Clare asserts that the regional differences between the north and south determine a person’s perspective on the enslavement of black people, and both sides perpetuate the concept. Though on the surface this claim seems unfounded due to the north’s abolitionist mindset and the south’s obvious practice of slavery, northerners during Stowe’s lifetime supported slaves from a distance but were disgusted when forced to interact with
Overall, Stowe’s ideal characterizations of both men and women subscribe to traditional views of domesticity. Her female characters that were written to be liked and sympathized with, such as Rachel Halliday, Aunt Chloe, Eliza Harris, and others, consistently perform their “womanly duties” as doting wives, mothers, housekeepers, and positive Christian influences on their families. Marie St. Clare, however, is the antithesis of the perfect woman in Stowe’s eyes; she is wholly self-absorbed at the expense of her family and slaves, neglects tending to her household in favor fabricating illnesses, and portrays herself as a Christian only because it is expected of her. Alternatively, Stowe does not hold most men to the same standards, and she depicts them as gruff, materialistically obsessed, and morally deviant in some way. To her, women act as a comforting and guiding light to the men in their lives and are thus indispensable to the structure of …show more content…
Although Augustine St. Clare recognizes the hypocrisy of both society’s practice of slavery and his own, he did not resolve to act upon his feelings until just prior to his sudden death. When bearing his soul to his cousin Ophelia, he addresses the conditional Christian support of slavery that hinges on its profitability and widespread social acceptance, which reveals that the church prioritizes this above God’s will. Similarly, he himself despises the practice of slavery due to its negative effects on all involved, but values comfort and inaction more than a clear conscience. Furthermore, St. Clare asserts that the regional differences between the north and south determine a person’s perspective on the enslavement of black people, and both sides perpetuate the concept. Though on the surface this claim seems unfounded due to the north’s abolitionist mindset and the south’s obvious practice of slavery, northerners during Stowe’s lifetime supported slaves from a distance but were disgusted when forced to interact with