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Jessica Zepeda
Literature & History
As a former high school student, I never knew
the significance behind the literature I was forced to read in class. Even now,
as a university student, I never knew the history behind Harriet Beecher Stowe's
novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It is the
overall conclusion, in the majority of literature classes I have taken, that
literature is written for a purpose. People write to convey a message,
understand themselves, or change other’s views. I school’s today, the historical
impact of the purpose for the literature text is not taught enough. Students in
jr. high and high school ages are at an age where they are driven by cause. And
to their dismay, the majority of the text given to read and study in school had
exactly that—a cause. Novels like Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, Frederick Douglass’ The
Slave Narrative, even the Declaration
of Independence all had causes that changed the world forever. It is my
belief that student participation would grow if the purpose and history behind
literature was taught more in schools.
The anti slavery movement in America was
supported by some people, but the masses of people who came to support the cause
did not leave the comfort and safety of their lives to discover it. Rather, the
importance of the cause of abolition was brought to the comfort and safety of
the homes of the, previously, indifferent masses. The tool used to bring the
cause of abolition to the people was literature. It
was the novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin that masses brought
into their home that changed the way they viewed and supported the cause of
abolition. In class discussion it was mentioned that upon meeting President
Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe was said to be “the little woman who started this
war.” A phrase Lincoln supposably said to Stow regarding the civil war.
In the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher
Stowe writes to the everyday Christian citizen, house wife, and politician with
her character Mrs. Bird’s question: “Now, John, I want to know if you think such
a law as right and christian?” (Stow 9.19). In her novel, Stow uses her white
characters, that she knows her audience will relate with, to put into question
their values with regards to their standing on slavery in their country. Another
way Stow uses her novel to have her audience question their own values, beliefs,
and ideal is by her African American characters. By writing in African American
characters, Stow made her audience experience life through their eyes. Through
Stowe's novel the masses of the American north started to view African American
slaves as people with the same struggles, pleasures, and fears as they have.
Stow, through her novel, humanized the slave for the average white American
citizen. No greater character accomplishes this humanization than that of Eliza
and her son Harry in “The Mother’s Struggle” chapter of
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Through Eliza Stow
appealed to the greatest fear every Christian mother in America had-- the fear
of losing their children. By writing Eliza as a mother on top of being an
African American slave, Stow appealed to the sentiment and Christian values of
the ordinary housewives of America. Stow made it personal by making her
character’s sentimental, and value the same things the Anglo American’s valued.
This kind of importance that the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin plays in history is a
great loss to literature/English teachers in schools today if not taught with
the the novel.
Similar to Stowe, Frederick Douglass’ biography
of his life The Slave Narrative, is
an impactful literary tool in history. In class discussions regarding slavery
and the views of Anglo Americans towards the African American slaves, Frederick
Douglass is the man who broke those views and proved the equality of the African
American slave. In pre-civil war society the average slave owners views on
African American
slaves is that they are intellectually
inferior. In his writings, Frederick Douglass writes that he “now [understands]
what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty-- to wit, the white man’s power
to enslave the black man” (Douglas 2). It was the power of literature that gave
the white man his power to enslave. However, Douglass did not come to that
understanding until he had the ability of understanding critically. Frederick
Douglass was taught to read and write by his slave master’s wife who took
compassion on him as a little boy rather than a slave. From here Douglas was
able to pursue a higher form of learning, thinking, and understanding. Douglass
discovered the crippling of the African American people by their Anglo American
slave owners, the crippling of knowledge which kept the Anglo slave owner
superior to the slave. Frederick Douglass grew to become one of the greatest
voices of the abolition movement, and was considered the Lincoln of the African
American community. Education brought knowledge to Douglass and equalized him
with the Anglo American men who considered him “in natural eloquence a prodigy”
(Douglas 2). Douglas’ impact on not only the African American community, but the
American society as a whole was due to his education in literature and his use
to that literature to bring understanding of equality to the masses. The
importance of literature in Douglas’ life is an important aspect of his literary
work that would greatly add to the literary experience in schools today.
Literature has always been the revolutionary
weapon used throughout history to smart change. The majority of literary texts
used in schools today have a rich history of being a part of that change.
However, the teaching of that history behind the literature being studied is
largely under taught, and loses a great deal of its importance in the process.
If teachers and schools would stress the historical difference that the choices
of literature read in schools have made to their society and the world. Then
students would learn a great deal more about the importance of the novel and
literature’s ability to impart change, therefore encouraging their own pursuit
of the literary arts, and self-discovery.
