Feminism In Uncle Tom's Cabin Essay

From the very beginning of Uncle Tom’s Cabin it is very clear who the author’s intended audience is: white Christian mothers. Throughout the novel the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, weaves in her definition of strong female characters and her ideals about the perfect woman in the 19th century and there for influences the thoughts of her audience. Stowe was so clearly trying to portray women in an empowering way, but her definition of equality was skewed and instead limited her female characters immensely. A point that I would like to bring to light is that the definitions feminism and empowerment have gone through major changes over the one hundred plus years between the book’s publication and now. The first proposal of women’s suffrage came only two years before Stowe’s novel was published. This is not to say that the idea of suffrage for women was completely unheard of or not talked about beforehand; it is simply to bring attention to how close in proximity these two events were and how Stowe’s novel …show more content…
Bird and Eliza Harris. Mrs. Bird is the wife to Mr. Shelby, a senator. Eliza is owned by the Shelby family and has been for many years now. Her husband works in a factory nearby while there son lives on the plantation with his mother. Stowe paints the two women with certain strength in mind: maternity. Eliza defies the law by fleeing the plantation and risks not only her life but also the life of her son to keep him from being torn from her. Mrs. Shelby feels no illness towards Eliza when she learns of the other women’s actions and instead prays for a safe journey, understanding that Harry is Eliza’s only remaining son and the maternal instinct to protect one’s child. Later in the story Eliza makes a dangerous and crucial move; she takes her son and begins to leap across a frozen river, ignoring all pain in hope to get her son to