Tuesday, 28 February: Harriet Beecher Stowe. Introduction + selections from Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Ch. 1: In Which the Reader is Introduced to a Man of Humanity; CH. VII: Mother’s Struggle; Ch. XL: The Martyr.

Web Highlighter: Amanda Matt

Introduction: I found selections from past posted midterms that highlight the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe in terms of Romanticism, sublime, and gothic elements.

fall 2004
Student Presentation

Pg 2512  The Martyr

“The savage words none of them reached that hear!—a higher voice there was saying, “Fear not them that kill the body, and, after that have no more that they can do.” Nerve and bone of that poor man’s body vibrated to those words, as if touched by the finger of God; and he felt the strength of a thousand souls in one. As he passed along, the trees and bushes, the huts of his servitude, the whole scene of his degradation, seemed to whirl by him as the landscape by the rushing car. His soul throbbed, --his home was in sight, --and the hour of release seemed at hand.”

This excerpt from Uncle Tom's Cabin shows several elements of Romanticism. The idea of the transcendence to a higher place or “home was in sight” shows a clear idea of reaching a destination from a great journey.

This excerpt also shows the Sublime. The idea of death by way of such a gruesome act is a very scary brutal idea to face, yet it is handled with such calmness and content, a beautiful aspect makes the idea of Uncle Tom’s death very sublime.

Midterm Samples 2003--
"Option Z: Cultural / Historical Essay"

Three distinctive voices that dealt with the issue of slavery are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe. The compelling works of these authors are vastly different, but each contains an argument against slavery that is difficult to refute. In combination, they are an example of the broad range of style of American Renaissance literature that owes its existence to the very different backgrounds and characteristics of the authors.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is also a narrative, but is written in a popular style in order to reach a very broad audience. Her success at this genre catapulted her to acclaim and perhaps more than any other book furthered the Abolitionists cause. Her style also has elements of romance as her characters emerge with a compelling personal force, sweeping them in their quest for either freedom through the salvation of Christ, as in Tom's case, or freedom from the evils of slavery as in Eliza's flight with her child. Her background as a preacher's daughter, though not an elitists but as a hard working woman immersed in the drudge of domesticity, underscores the broad range of backgrounds and citizenry of America coming together for a single cause to change society and shape the course of our history

Harriet Beecher Stowe, in line with the Romantic style marking the time, employed pathos and spiritual appeal to move her audience in regard to her social concerns.  She appealed largely to the Christian women in her society using the emotional leverage of maternal instinct and family.  As the frantic and sympathetic Eliza flees to save her son from cruel slave traders, Stowe demands of her audience ‘What would you do?’: “—if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had from twelve o’clock till morning to make your escape, how fast could you walk?”

            Stowe’s appeal to pathos and the construction of multiple sympathetic characters romantically drawn made her work and incredibly impactful force on the attitude towards American slavery.  A solitary white woman with a heart and sentiment to act moved a great mountain with the power of mere words.

LITR 4232: American Renaissance

UHCL, spring 2002

Sample Student Answers to Midterm Exam

Essay section

Option Z: Cultural / historical option

Cooper, Truth, and Stowe are all writers who beg the question, "Are all men really created equal?" They challenge what the word "men" actually means. Cooper makes the reader consider whether Cora, who is interracial, is really equal to Alice, who is white. Truth suggests that "all men" includes all women.

Stowe asks if "all men are created equal," aren't slaves also men?  These writers use literature as a means to have their voices heard and to express their views on the injustices society has placed on certain groups of people.

Another way that the authors show a lack of voice is in Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Mr. Shelby is having financial troubles and has decided to sell a couple of his slaves.  One of them is Eliza's son.  Eliza has no voice in this and neither does Mrs. Shelby.  Stowe uses the scenes where Eliza is running away with her son to appeal to the mothers when she says "If it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, to-morrow morning - if you had seen the man and heard that the papers were signed and delivered . . . how fast could you walk?  How many miles could you make in those few brief hours?" (Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin)  By speaking directly to the reader in this passage, the reader is able to feel how helpless Eliza is when it comes to her boy getting sold.  It appeals to the reader's sense of motherhood and justice.

LITR 4232: American Renaissance
Sample Answers from Student Midterms, Spring 2001

Essay— Formal / literary option

            In another theme of romance, the quest, representative authors take a traditional romantic idea and make it their own. The idea of the quest in romantic literature is the concept that the protagonist (or a major character in the work) is forced to take a journey, either to find something, or recover something that was lost. Cooper plays with this idea in Mohicans, and even refers to the kind of romantic heroes found in medieval literature as Duncan falls asleep among the trees and dreams "he was a knight of ancient chivalry, holding his midnight vigils before the tend of a re-captured princess" (129). The representative authors use this idea to express their journey to freedom. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, many quests and journeys are occurring, most notably, Eliza’s perilous journey across the ice to gain freedom. Instead of rescuing damsels in distress or being on a quest of lost treasure, Eliza is rescuing herself from the horrors of slavery and is on a quest for her very freedom. In this way, Stowe uses the traditional ideas of romantic literature to speak of the cultural situation of slavery.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is another example of American romantic literature. Instead of a quest for love, the quest in her novel is for freedom. Although her story includes brave heroes, the reader is surprised by their actions as well as their identities. Tom’s forgiveness of Legree is powerful, astonishing, and courageous. It shows his greatness of soul which elevates him to hero status. Tom also heroically saves Eva when she falls into the water. Stowe indicates that Mr. Symmes saves Eliza by "helping her to the bank" because he was "betrayed into acting in a sort of Christianized manner." In the typical pattern of romance, Tom transcends, finding peace in death when Legree "opened the gate of the kingdom for [him]."

LITR 4232: American Renaissance
Sample Answers from Student Midterms, Spring 2001
Essay—Cultural / Historical Option 

Literature during the period of the American Renaissance was a driving force in the fight for equality. It offered a medium that allowed voices to be heard that were otherwise being suppressed. The words that were written conveyed an urgency and a longing that many people could relate to. The written story was a means of getting the information out to the masses and allowing them individually to form their own opinions. By reading the texts people were given opportunities to view their society in a different manner and draw their own conclusions. The result was that the masses gradually became more educated on the realities of slavery and were then able to join together to end it.

In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the black characters where given human characteristics – feelings and emotions. Stowe brings the slave into the heart of the reader by showing that he is no different from a white – he is a human with a soul.

Stowe describes the fear, sadness and desperation that Eliza feels when she realizes that her son is going to be sold. " It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza. In leaving the only home she had ever known, and cutting loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered." In Stowe’s description of Eliza she makes her audience identify with a black women, not as the lowest form of life as a women and a slave, but as a mother, friend and person very capable of experiencing the same emotions as anyone else.

Stowe uses a combination of realism and romanticism in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She shows the real battle and ugliness that was slavery but she also shows the dream that is ever present in the mind of the slave to be free. She offers her audience a view of the slave’s reality by letting them into the mind and thoughts of the slave. In the scene where Eliza is waiting for her husband to arrive Stowe describes Eliza’s thoughts and perceptions of family life from the outside. "She saw them at the table with Little Harry in a high chair." This indicates that Eliza knows in her heart that her child deserves to be treated as human and deserving to be in a loving, cared for home. This concept is so foreign to how the slave children are seen at this time in history. They are referred to and treated like farm animals and perceived as worthless. By depicting the slaves as people who care about their families Stowe is showing her audience how inhumane and unacceptable it is to continue to treat them as sub-human.

Conclusion: All of these examples of past midterms show the Romantic elements, the cultural and historical aspects, and the representative works of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Harriet Beecher Stowe uses these elements to make the life of a minority compelling during her time period.