Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin Essay -- Stowe Uncle Toms C

Harriet Beecher Stowe promotes two related but distinct chaste codes in Uncle tom turkeys Cabin One that is based on Christian values, the other on maternal values. Consider how, at the beginning of the novel, both Uncle Tom and Eliza decide to act when told they are to be sold. Uncle Tom puts his faith in God and lets whatever ordain happen, happen. Eliza, who as well faces being quarantined from her child, decides to escape. Both decisions, though opposing, are sympathetically portrayed and seem beguile to each character. The Christian model of behavior Stowe endorses is made clear by Uncle Toms martyrdom and simple faith in the literal word of the bible. merely the maternal model is less clear, since at times it seems to parallel the Christian model, and at other times , as in this case, it differs radically. Eliza runs away to nurse her childs safety. Although Elizas behavior, and the actions of the other strong female characters of the novel, could easily be understood by saying, a mother of course would do anything for her child, this statement this instant puts the female characters actions on a physical, real-life level, opposing them to the higher, spiritual choices of their male counter-parts. are not universal ethics, ones that are held despite the situation, commonly seen as professional to situational ethics? However this hierarchy of choice misses the quality of strength and vim that Stowe attributes to her female characters actions. Such a hierarchy also ignores that Stowe is calling the reviewer to action against slavery, and by promoting physically-based action over well-intentioned but torpid abstract ideals, Stowe perhaps is giving credence to situationally-based ethics. More than just an honorable code, Stowe... ... would be interesting to write further on the ways Stowe colludes with discriminatory thinking or how Uncle Tom himself embodies whatever of these maternal skills I babble of. Although I recognize these limitations of the paper might alienate my audience to some extent, I hope that my reader will be challenged to form an perspicacity that accepts the validity of the strong mother figure. Also I hope that the net-page will interest my reader in other theoretical resources. Because I aphorism the book as a resource and a starting-point for feminist thinking, my web page is also organized in this way. I would like browsers to retrieve my links informative and useful in their own study of feminist movement and the classics of American Literature.BIBLIOGRAPHY Ruddick, Sara. Maternal Thinking. M Studies 6 1980 342-63Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Toms Cabin. New York Macmillan Co., 1926.