Madison Verschleiser
Social Studies
The Mirror Effect
In writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe sets out to call to action the uninformed passive white northerner’s. Stowe achieves her goal through the use different types of characterization of different characters. The presence of Mr. Haley, who clearly personifies an evil slave owner, but it is Mr. Shelby’s seemingly “nice” characterization that better provokes the white reader to question their contribution to the institution of slavery. Stowe had always been an avid writer. As a young adult Stowe won a writing contest, launching her career as a writer. Even before Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released Stowe had always aimed to aid slaves. After she was re-married in …show more content…
In 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act was passed; this law granted southern slave owners the right to pursue and re-claim fugitive slaves even after the slave had reached a free state. After the act was passed Stowe began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin and in 1852 installments of the book began appearing in the antislavery journal, National Era. Ultimately, all of the installments of Uncle Tom’s Cabin were merged into one book in 1851. The book achieved great success, selling over 300,00 copies within three months, a number that was only rivaled at the time by the Bible. One of the primary contributors to Stowe’s message of the evils of slavery is Mr. Haley, an evil slave-trader from the South. Immediately at the beginning of the book it becomes clear that Mr. Haley is a villain. In the very first scene in the book Mr. Haley is trying to convince Mr. Shelby to separate Harry, a slave-boy that works on Mr. Shelby’s farm, from Eliza, his mother. During this discussion Mr. Shelby repeatedly refers to slaves as objects calling them, “critters”, and “articles” . A critter is another way of referring to an insect, which implies Mr. Haley thinks that like “insects” slaves are, expendable, and of have …show more content…
Haley clearly plays a prominent role in the suffering of slaves, the similar behavior of Mr. Shelby to that of the reader of the novel more readily leads the reader to acknowledge the possibility that they too have partial responsibility for the hardships of slaves. Stowe uses Mr. Haley as a representation of what most Northerners perceive as the culprit of slavery, whereas she uses Mr. Shelby to communicate that everyone is responsible for the consequences of their own actions or their lack thereof. In the end, I believe that the best means of communicating to the reader how they impact slavery is not to depict the more transparently evil character, but rather force the reader to look at their own actions in a
Social Studies
The Mirror Effect
In writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe sets out to call to action the uninformed passive white northerner’s. Stowe achieves her goal through the use different types of characterization of different characters. The presence of Mr. Haley, who clearly personifies an evil slave owner, but it is Mr. Shelby’s seemingly “nice” characterization that better provokes the white reader to question their contribution to the institution of slavery. Stowe had always been an avid writer. As a young adult Stowe won a writing contest, launching her career as a writer. Even before Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released Stowe had always aimed to aid slaves. After she was re-married in …show more content…
In 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act was passed; this law granted southern slave owners the right to pursue and re-claim fugitive slaves even after the slave had reached a free state. After the act was passed Stowe began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin and in 1852 installments of the book began appearing in the antislavery journal, National Era. Ultimately, all of the installments of Uncle Tom’s Cabin were merged into one book in 1851. The book achieved great success, selling over 300,00 copies within three months, a number that was only rivaled at the time by the Bible. One of the primary contributors to Stowe’s message of the evils of slavery is Mr. Haley, an evil slave-trader from the South. Immediately at the beginning of the book it becomes clear that Mr. Haley is a villain. In the very first scene in the book Mr. Haley is trying to convince Mr. Shelby to separate Harry, a slave-boy that works on Mr. Shelby’s farm, from Eliza, his mother. During this discussion Mr. Shelby repeatedly refers to slaves as objects calling them, “critters”, and “articles” . A critter is another way of referring to an insect, which implies Mr. Haley thinks that like “insects” slaves are, expendable, and of have …show more content…
Haley clearly plays a prominent role in the suffering of slaves, the similar behavior of Mr. Shelby to that of the reader of the novel more readily leads the reader to acknowledge the possibility that they too have partial responsibility for the hardships of slaves. Stowe uses Mr. Haley as a representation of what most Northerners perceive as the culprit of slavery, whereas she uses Mr. Shelby to communicate that everyone is responsible for the consequences of their own actions or their lack thereof. In the end, I believe that the best means of communicating to the reader how they impact slavery is not to depict the more transparently evil character, but rather force the reader to look at their own actions in a