Despite the intense work-load of taking two English classes at once (this class and The Study of the Novel), I'm always intrigued by the frequent overlap and connections I notice between the texts and subject matter I am introduced to in each class.
In my Study of the Novel class, we have tracked the evolution of the novel as a genre throughout history, from Aphra Behn's Oroonoko to the modern novels we can pick up in any Barnes & Noble Bookstore. Reading novels from different time periods and essays pertaining to the novel as a genre, I am now familiar with some of the most crucial facets of what makes a novel a novel, one of them being its mission to encourage a different mode of thinking, and in many cases, an ethical or moral agenda.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is one such text that has come up in conversation in both of my classes, and stands out as a strong example of a novel with a clear and defined moral mission. It's not difficult to tell right from the start of the novel that this moral message has to do with slavery and racial discrimination. The piece clearly functions as a critique of this heinous institution that existed in our national history, portraying in vivid and often time brutal detail the verbal and physical abuse slaves and free blacks faced during this era. Yet, what I found particularly interesting is the narrator's asides and the aphoristic lines within the text that make the moral quality to this text quite evident. In these instances, the voice of the narrator is strong and purposeful.
One of the most beautiful sections of the piece, the opening of "Chapter XL. The Martyr" is like an extended aphorism, reminding us, in simple terms, that with the bad, there will eventually come good, as Stowe writes, "The longest way must have its close,- the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night, and the night of the just to an eternal day" (Stowe 900). It's lines like these that make the piece seem prophetic and supply one of the many motivating, moral messages in the piece (apart from abolition). Other instances of these lines make a commentary on human nature, as Stowe reflects on human nature's tendency to avoid guilt accountability when she states, "Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear" (903).
Lines such as these beg reflection on our parts about ourselves and our tendencies as humans, and also help in Stowe's purpose of portraying the cruel institutions of human enslavement and racial discrimination.
You have pointed out several good examples, Ali. It's also interesting that the narrator often addresses a specific demographic of reader. For example, on pg. 836 the narrator address "good brother of the Southern States" while just one page later the narrator is specifically speaking to "Western travellers." Stowe uses the narrator to reach a variety of reader audiences, and she finds ways to relate to her diverse readers even if they hold opposing social and political views toward slavery. While it is likely that Stowe opposed the institution of slavery and the cruel conditions slaves faced, she also seems aware that the North and South were heavily divided over the issue when she wrote this novel in the 19th century.
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