On Salvation Through Motherly Love In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of America's most influential writers in the 19th century. She was famous for her antislavery novel—Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1851. History holds that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he referred to Mrs. Stowe as the little woman who wrote the book that made a great war. True or not, Uncle Tom's Cabin certainly had a tremendous influence on America's view of slavery. Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of a Christian slave, Uncle Tom, who is sold by a Kentucky family burdened by debt Finally, sold again, he dies under the lash of a cruel overseer, Simon Legree, who wants Uncle Tom to accept him instead of God as his master. Slavery is no longer in existence today, but Uncle Tom's Cabin still appeals greatly to the sympathy of modern readers who choose to read it and it can still move them to irresistible tears.Although Uncle Tom's Cabin is an antislavery novel, it is very different from ordinary slave stories that focus on the life and struggle of black slaves. Uncle Tom's Cabin reveals as much about Stowe's idealized images of the family and mothers as it does about the institution it denounces. Mothers in Uncle Tom's Cabin are portrayed as tender, loving, sympathetic and devoted—devoted to their children and family. Yet slavery is a degradation of this motherhood, In her story, Stowe pays close attention to the severe effect of the slave system on women and their families. The emotionally charged depictions of the break up of slave families make a direct and powerful appeal to women. By emphasizing the courage and moral power of women, by idealizing motheriy love, Stowe is seeking the sympathy of American women or mothers who would be the audience of her story to take actions against the slave system. Therefore, Uncle Tom's Cabin is not only an antislavery novel. Most importantly, it is a portrayal of maternal values. Appealing to the maternal values of white Americans in the 19^th century, Mrs. Stowe seeks to awaken their strong Christian sympathy and motherly love to fight against the chattel slavery. This paper attempts to illustrate salvation through motheriy love in the following respects.