Tài liệu The fate and the dignity of slaves in the work “uncle tom’s cabin” by harriet beecher stowe

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ====== DINH QUYNH NHU THE FATE AND THE DIGNITY OF SLAVES IN THE WORK “UNCLE TOM’S CABIN” BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE GRADUATION PAPER Hanoi, May 2019 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ====== DINH QUYNH NHU THE FATE AND THE DIGNITY OF SLAVES IN THE WORK “UNCLE TOM’S CABIN” BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE GRADUATION PAPER Supervisor: Pham Thi Tuan Hanoi, May 2019 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Pham Thi Tuan. She is very enthusiastic to give me valuable suggestions for the problems that I had during the process of doing the research. Besides, I am indebted to all the lecturers at Faculty of Foreign Languages for their help and support. I also owe my special thanks to my family for their indispensable support and encouragement during my thesis writing. Without their support, I wouldn’t have completed the research on time. iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Tittle: The fate and the dignity of slaves in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe I certify that no part in this study has not been copied by me from any other person‘s report without acknowledgment and this work is written by my best under the instruction from my supervisor. Date of submission: May, 2019. Student Supervisor Dinh Quynh Nhu Pham Thi Tuan iv ABSTRACT “Uncle Tom's Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe has always been known as one of the world’s most anti-slavery literary works. Published in 1852, this work had a considerable impact on stereotypes about Negroes. This study is aimed to investigate the fate and the dignity of black slaves represented in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. To achieve the aims of the study, the two main research methods used are literary analysis and literary comment. The results of the study revealed a dreadful life that black slaves had to suffer when they were ill-treated as working tools, trading goods or bad creatures. Along with the analysis of the slaves’ tragic life, some of their valuable characteristics were also discussed. v TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................. iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................1 1. Rationale of the study ..............................................................................................1 2. Significance of the study ..........................................................................................1 3. Research methods of the study ..............................................................................2 4. Scope of the study .....................................................................................................2 5. Aims of the study and Research questions ..........................................................3 6. Organization of the study........................................................................................3 PART 2. DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................4 1. An overview of novel ....................................................................................................4 1.1. Definition of novel..................................................................................................4 1.2. Elements of novel ...................................................................................................4 1.2.1. Plot.....................................................................................................................4 1.2.2. Character .........................................................................................................4 1.2.3. Setting ...............................................................................................................5 1.2.4. Theme ...............................................................................................................5 2. American Literature in the first half of the nineteenth century ....................6 2.1. Historical background ..........................................................................................6 2.2. Literature movement ............................................................................................7 2.3. Slavery in American Literature in the first half of the nineteenth century ...........................................................................................................................................8 3. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” ...................................................................................................9 3.1. Harriet Beecher Stowe..........................................................................................9 vi According to Tonkovic and Nicole (1997), life and career of Harriet Beecher Stowe were recorded clearly. .........................................................................................9 3.1.1. Biography...................................................................................................... 10 3.1.2. Writing career ............................................................................................. 10 3.2. The work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” ....................................................................... 11 3.2.1. General information ................................................................................... 12 3.2.2. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Summary ............................................................... 13 3.2.3. Elements of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” .......................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOG Y .............................................................................. 18 1. Research methods of the study ........................................................................... 18 2. Data analysis procedures...................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 3: DISCUSSION ....................................................................................... 21 1. The fate of slaves ........................................................................................................ 21 1.1. Slaves as working tools ...................................................................................... 21 1.2. Slaves as goods for trading ............................................................................... 23 1.3. Slaves as a creature ............................................................................................ 26 2. The dignity of slaves .................................................................................................. 29 2.1. Morality ................................................................................................................ 29 2.2. Faithfulness and honesty ................................................................................... 30 2.3. Courage ................................................................................................................. 30 2.4. Leniency ................................................................................................................ 31 2.5. Stance..................................................................................................................... 32 PART 3: CONCLUSION.............................................................................................. 35 1. Major findings ........................................................................................................ 35 2. Implications to language teaching and learning ............................................. 35 3. Limitations............................................................................................................... 35 4. Suggestions for further study .............................................................................. 36 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 37 vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Human beings have the capability to express thoughts by words in both spoken and written form. In terms of written form, literature is considered one of the most typical forms. According to World English Dictionary, literature is “written material such as poetries, novels, essays, etc, especially works of imagination characterized by excellence of style and expression and by themes of general or enduring interest.” Although the above definition is framed lexically, literature itself is beyond that definition, for it plays such a significant role in human life. Literature is said to be a life-view mirror reflecting almost every aspect of life in which the pen holders transfer those life materials to the so-greedy-to-know readers. It also serves as a means which has been used for thousand years of the fact-based education to teach about human’s lives and moral values. Getting exposed to literature, not only do readers shorten years to fullfill knowledge by accessing to the storehouse of all knowledge and wisdom but they also live a thousand lifes. It is the magic merit brought by literature that makes me fond of and take it as my graduation paper’s topic without hesitance. The author of this thesis has been paying special attention to study American Literature. When approaching American Literature, the author was strongly impressed by Harriet Beecher Stowe who is a famous American writer. In his works, she kept to the principles of Romanticism while her method of writing was also influenced by Realism because of historical background. After reading several works written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author found “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” most interesting because of the way she described black slaves characters. This inspires researcher to carry out the study “ The fate and the dignity of slaves in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe”. This study is expected to introduce new views on slaves’ fate and images in Stowe’s writings. 2. Significance of the study 1 American literature records that there are several works that pique researchers’ interest in doing research on the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. I just stood chances of getting exposed to a few research papers that dig deep in this work. Almost all of them documented the American history of slavery, gender relation. Those studies had powerful emotional, social and political impact on present. For example, the study “The moral value of slavery as represented in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin” conducted by Paz (2014) investigated how the moral power of women, the morality of slavery and the conflict between this institution and Christianity are presented in the book. The study named “Impact of religion on race and slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was to trace the emergence of new trends of slavery in the modern world, and to highlight the perspective of slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin in relation to attitudes of one race to another and influence of religion on both. (Bhise, 2015). However, there are also other aspects of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” that remain unknown or unstudied, for example, the matter of the Whites’ treatment towards the black slaves the and good-natured traits of slaves. Therefore, the researcher has decided to conduct on the topic of “The fate and the dignity of slaves in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe.” This research paper is likely to be a further step in the process of studying new facets of this work. It gives a more profound insight of the work as regards its values. In addition, in terms of the issue of education, this research can enable teachers to investigate the valuable collection of the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” ‘s angles and can give students a key to the door of literary world of this work. 3. Research methods of the study This research paper is essentially a literature research paper, therefore, it requires specialised methods in literary field. For this thesis, the researcher has decided to use these following methods: literary analysis method and literacy comment method. 4. Scope of the study Within the scope of the topic, this study focuses only on the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe. In addition, some references can be expected to take into consideration in order to serve the aims of the study. 2 5. Aims of the study and Research questions 5.1. Aims of the study The study is hoped to fulfill the shortcomings of former research studies and to contribute another dimensional perspective to the activities of teaching and learning the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Firstly, the aim of the study is to give readers the valuable insight into the fate of niggers in American society in the first half of nineteenth century illustrated vividly in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Secondly, it is good-natured traits of slaves that the researcher wants to investigate in order to take a new perspective towards this work. 5.2. Research questions The study seeks to answer two following research questions: 1. What is the fate of negroes in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe? 2. What is the dignity of slaves in the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe? 6. Organization of the study This study consists of three main parts. Part 1, Introduction, which includes the rationale, the significance, the scope, the aims, the methods used and the organization. Part 2, Development, some following facets are going to be displayed in three chapters. Chapter 1, Literature review, is to provide an overview of novel, an overview of the American literature in the first half of nineteenth century. Chapter 2, Methodology, presents research instruments employed. Chapter 3, Discussion, deals with slaves’ fate and dignity. Part 3, Conclusion, gives the summary of the research outcomes, its limitations and suggestion for further study. 3 PART 2. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. An overview of novel 1.1. Definition of novel Novel is the word derived from the Italian word “novella” which means new. However, because of the rise of the tendency of the shorter examplary histories, the English word “novel” was originally used from the seventh century. (Doody, 1996) Novel is actually a genre of fiction. A novel can be defined as “a living thing, all one and continuous, like any other organism, and in proposition as it lives will it be found that in each of the parts there is something of each other parts” (James, 1884, p. 6). From another point of view, novel is understood as “ a form of a fiction in prose, extending to over 50,000 words” (Forster, 1927, p. 8). Though this term can be defined differently by many professionals, it is simply defined, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, as “an imaginative prose narrative of significant length and a certain complexity dealing with human experience, usually through a related sequence of events” involving a group of people in a specific setting. 1.2. Elements of novel According to Burgess (2019), there are several elements of novel. 1.2.1. Plot The novel’s story and its plot are two things that are usually confused. Plot is the storyline that tells the ordered arrangement of touchpoints in a story based on their time-sequence. It arises out of the internal and external conflicts in the story, which builds to a climax. Sometimes, climaxes help novel come in a new state of awareness - mainly self-knowledge - on the parts of the major characters. 1.2.2. Character 4 Character is one of the elements of novel that can be either the people, animals or creature attributing in novel. It is character that is the foundation of a novel because the flow of novel will involve the emotional and mental condition of characters. There are numerous ways in which the writer and reader can define characters in a story. Forster (1927) divided characters into two main groups: Flat characters and round characters. He stated that in terms of flat characters, they are just extras in a novel which despite being necessary because they support and boost the image of the round characters, this type of character doesn’t change the story progresses. Round characters, on the other hand, are all the major characters, including the hero or even the villain. They are portrayed in more detail throughout the story. It’s important to note that different genres and stories require different types of character development. 1.2.3. Setting When it comes to the setting of a story, it is an instant common thought of time and place. More than that, the setting should be understood as the background in which the story takes place. It consists of the physical location (real or invented) and the social environment of the story (including chronology, culture, lifestyle of the characters...). Whatever the locale of the story, fictional characters are concerned with being in an interactive environment because the setting actually develops who characters are. 1.2.4. Theme It is undeniable that all fictional books have themes. Unlike plot which is the outward details, theme is the main idea the writer wants the reader to understand and remember. Usually, it is likely to be a hidden element, but incredibly essential as all events go round that invisible framework. It can be expressed in a short statement about a particular topic such as human nature, life, or the universe. Oftentimes, there is more than one theme that exist altogether in one novel, especially in great works. 5 2. American Literature in the first half of the nineteenth century 2.1. Historical background Howe and Walker (2007) viewed American history chronologically by the following events. After having defeated the British colony, in the late eighteenth century, America was legally established. The first half of the 19th century stood out with two significant trends. The first one belonged to Manifest Destiny which gripped America, and the creation of a continental power was made possible by the first war in Europe than war in North America. The other trend which dominated the first half of the 19th century was slavery. History.com Editors (2009) documented that period of enslaving slaves in America was practiced in 1619, when first 20 African slaves were carried to Jamestown. Since then, the institution of over 200-year-slave trade officially got started. Throughout the 17th century, European settlers in North America considered African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful indentured labour, who were mostly poor Europeans. Although it is impossible to give an exact number, some historians have estimated that nearly 7 million black slaves who were the healthiest and ablest men and women were imported to the New World during the 18th century. At that time, that American economy developed dramatically but considerably lack labour force led to the use of slavery as manpower, especially in southern America. Both tobacco cultivation in Virginia and shipbuilding in Rhode Island, industries throughout the states were supported by slavery. Their duty is to work mainly on the tobacco, rice and indigo plantations of the southern coast, from the Chesapeake Bay colonies of Maryland and Virginia south to Georgia or amused their masters oftentimes. According to Slavery in America (2009), by 1850, the product of slave labor took about 80% in the total of American exports. The estimated value of enslaved people rose 500% during 70 years from 1790, from $200 million to around $3.059 billion. According to History.com Editors (2009), working with full thrust in poor condition and working until the day was over, slaves didn’t receive any better life but lived under the govern of slave owners, instead. They were not permitted to learn how to read and write. Even slaves’ behavior and movement were restricted, as well. Several masters derived pleasure from taking sexual liberties with female slave who were forced to esteem it a favour, while inobedient slaves were brutally punished. A strict hierarchy among slaves (from privileged house slaves and skilled artisans down to lowly field hands) helped keep them divided and have fewer chances to organize 6 against their masters. Moreover, though slave could marry and raise large families without legal basis; most slave owners would divide slave families by sale or removal. However, it was not until the Civil War broke out in 1861 that marked an end of slavery in the United States. While most writers in the South used pens to oppose against the abolition of slavery, those in the North, in contrast, supported it. (Robert J. McNamara, 2018) It can be said that the slavery system in America in the first half of the nineteenth century left an indelible mark on so many people including a number of pen holders, which sparked off an intensive debate on the issue of slavery in the American literature in the first half of the nineteenth century among them. Since then, two major trends in American literature were practiced which would be presented later in the next section. (Luebering, 2017) 2.2. Literature movement Luebering (2017) showed that the history of American literature stretched across about 400 years, which is a humble figure in comparison with other countries over the world. By the first decades of the 19th century, truly American literature began to come out. Though derived from British literary, some very first American short stories and novels being truly native published from 1800 through the 1820s began to depict American society in an unprecedented manner. According to Luebering (2017), the first half of the nineteenth century witnesse d the development of romanticism in the period between 1830 and 1865. This literature trend highly valued the individual over the group, the subjective over the objective and individuals’ emotional experience over reason. It also recorded the wildness of nature over human-made order. Romanticism as a worldview was taken in the early 19th century by numerous American writers. There appeared a number of key new literary figures namely Washington Irving with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) or Nathaniel Hawthorne with “The Scarlet Letter” (1850). While the Romantic period was associated with liberalism and radicalism, in the long term its effect on the growth of nationalism was probably more significant. American Realism (2006) presented that whereas Romanticism reached its peak in this time, Realism trend, which was more of a mirror reflecting the American 7 society with the true face of slavery institution in America, just started its very first stage. It began to lead to the term called Romantic realism which combined elements of both Romanticism and Realism. The terms "romanticism" and "realism" have been used in varied ways, and are sometimes seen as opposed to one another. (Stauffer and Ruth M, 2006) Art scholar John Baur described it as "a form of realism modified to express a romantic attitude or meaning.” (Goodrich et. Al, 1961, p. 121) A number of novelists applied this term to themselves such as Ayn Rand who described herself as a romantic realist (Rand, Ayn, 1971). She once wrote: "The method of romantic realism is to make life more beautiful and interesting than it actually is, yet give it all the reality, and even a more convincing reality than that of our everyday existence." (Rand, Ayn, 1995, p. 242–243) Literary works following this trend though being touched by romance, they were transitional to realism, portrayed the facts but avoided older sentimental or romantic formulas. One of the most typical work in this period was “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe . 2.3. Slavery in American Literature in the first half of the nineteenth century As stated above, slavery prevailed in the United State in hundreds of years. Howe and Walker (2007) pointed out that although, by Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln brought back the North-South Union in the territory of the United States, the tidal wave of public disapproval against slavery ebulliently continued on American literature. A number of authors in the Romantic period respectively was just off to a good start of a moving spirit in the fight against slavery. The greatest writers associating with the movement of can be listed such as John Greenleaf Whittier who wrote “simple but emotional poems” on behalf of abolition namely “Voices of Freedom” (1846), “Songs of Labor” (1850). (John Higgins, 2006) or Wilbur H. Siebert with the famous work “ The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom” (1989). Abid Anwar in Slavery in American literature (2011) clearly presented the slavery trend in American literature. These abolitionists might have seen slavery with a humanistic mindset, although a large number of them resided in the North. They strongly supported conservation of slavery in the interest of the southern economy. 8 John Pendleton Kennedy, in his famous novel “Swallow Burn” (1832), portrayed the intimate relationship between the white masters and the black slaves. This novelist illustrated how the masters expressed their love and affection upon their slaves. The issue of slavery continued to stimulated the feelings of creative writers long after the Civil War ended, so the best literary pieces were published after the political upheaval and the social crises. Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage (1825) and Vincent Benét’s John Brown's Body received great critical acclaim for its instances of creativity based on the issue of slavery and the American Civil war. It can apparently be observed that it was slavery that was the inspiration for writers of generations to exploit in different extents. In terms of various themes namely life, love, belief of slaves, a number of works were born. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”(1884) by Mark Twain condemned the deceitful equal rights for all men in the United state because 200-year-slave-trade was practiced in that land. When looking at ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' by Mark Twain, we cannot help but consider the way the practice of slavery is addressed and understand how Mark Twain’s feelings of disgust about the institution of slavery were exposed. (Jacob O'Leary, 2012) The work “Gone with the wind”(1936) by Magaret Mitchell showed slaves as well-treated and normal employees, but as human being, the rights of the blacks and the whites were unequal because any intention to escape from being enslaved would be punished. (Tim A. Ryan, 2008) The land of American literature at this time could not have flowered fully if the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was profoundly enlighted by Romantic realism movements, had not come out the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, an antislavery novel. (Essays, UK. 2018). This work depicted Realism trend via public opinion towards slavery in the USA. Also, it was full of lofty sentiments. (Anwar, 2011) 3. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” 3.1. Harriet Beecher Stowe According to Tonkovic and Nicole (1997), life and career of Harriet Beecher Stowe were recorded clearly. 9 3.1.1. Biography Harriet Beecher Stowe, also known as Harriet Elizabeth Beecher was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the seventh member in of one of the 19th century’s most remarkable families. Her father was the prominent Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher, and her mother died when Harriet was a child, Harriet’s brothers were ministers, including the famous leader Henry Ward Beecher. Her sister Catharine Beecher was an author and a teacher playing an important role in shaping Harriet’s social views. Another sister, Isabella, became a leader of the cause of women’s rights. Harriet enrolled in a school founded by her sister Catharine, following the traditional academic course reserved for young men at that time. At the age of 21, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her father had become the head of the Lane Theological Seminary. There, she also joined the Semi-Colon Club, a literary salon and social club whose members included the Beecher sisters. It was in the literary club that gave her a chance to meet her like-minded friend, Calvin Ellis Stowe, who later became her husband. He was a professor at the seminary and an ardent critic of slavery. Supporting the Underground Railroad, they housed many fugitive slaves who tried to escape from north to Canada. She died on 1 July 1896 in Hartford, Connecticut aged 85. Her house “The Harriet Beecher Stowe House” was next door to fellow author Mark Twain. 3.1.2. Writing career Tonkovic and Nicole (1997) pointed out main events in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s life. Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of the great figures in American literature. Writing came naturally to her. But it wasn’t until she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, with Catharine and her father in 1832 that she found her true writing voice. In Cincinnati, Stowe was a teacher at the Western Female Institute, another school run by Catharine, where she had some first steps in her writing career with several short stories, articles and co-authored a textbook. Stowe’s uncle invited her to join the Semi-Colon Club, which gave Stowe the chance to improve her writing skills and open network with 10 several publishers and influential people in the literary world. At this time period, she was under the impact of American Romanticism. (Tonkovic and Nicole, 1997) In 1846, she published “The Mayflower: Or, Sketches of Scenes and Characters Among the Descendants of the Pilgrims.” In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed by Congress, which forced Stowe’s family to move to Brunswick, Maine. There, that she herself witnessed slaves dying during a communion service at Brunswick's First Parish Church and her child’s death inspired her to write her story. She said that, "Having experienced losing someone so close to me, I can sympathize with all the poor, powerless slaves at the unjust auctions. You will always be in my heart Samuel Charles Stowe.” (Hedrick, 1994, p. 208) On March 9, 1850, Stowe wrote to Gamaliel Bailey who was an editor of the weekly anti-slavery journal The National Era what she planned to bring the story about the problem of slavery to life. (Hedrick, Joan D. 1994) Shortly after on June 5th, 1851, the newspaper The National Era published the first installment of her “Uncle Tom's Cabin” in serial form with the original subtitle "The Man That Was A Thing". (McFarland, P. 2007) In 1868, Stowe became one of the first editors of Hearth and Home magazine, one of several new publications appealing to women. Her inspiration for women was praised in “Woman in Sacred History” in 1873. (Biography.com Editors, 2014) “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was the work bringing good reputation for her during her entire writing career. With that anti-slavery work, she was highly regarded by both readers and Abraham Lincoln. The goal of the book was to educate northerners on the realistic horrors of the devastating facts of slavery that were happening in the south. The other purpose was to try to make people in the south feel more empathetic towards the people they were forced into slavery. (Anwar, 2011) 3.2. The work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Among a few novels which I had a chance to study at university, the work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” written by Harriet Beecher Stowe has had the most considerably significant impact on me. There, page by page, the novel vividly drammatizes the experience of slavery in the North and the South of America in the first half of the 11 nineteenth century. In that dark period of time, the plight of slaves among the whites was described strikingly in the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. In addition, the novel gives readers a concrete outlook of the dignity of slaves exuding from their miserable situations. Therefore, besides its literary merit, this novel of Harriet Beecher Stowe is highly regarded due to its great influence in shaping public opinion against slavery, especially in Europe. However, these facets of the topic has still been new to anyone before me to deal with, and I consider it an opportunity to express my own perspectives about slavery in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. As regards my limited experience, the research paper of mine would pay attention to analyse “The fate and the dignity of slaves in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe”. 3.2.1. General information Introduction to Uncle Tomitudes: The Popular Reaction to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (2015) gave general information about this work. Due to the death of Stowe’s son and the pass of Fugitive Slave Act, she considered those facts as inspiration to write “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” on the purpose of indicating the inhumanity of the law and showing her sympathy with the poor and slaves. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin or or Life Among the Lowly”, novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, first published in the form of serialisation on National Era in 1851 and in book form in 1852. As an abolitionist novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin gained wide popularity, particularly among white readers in the North, by vividly depicting the experience of slavery. It was the first time the white in particular and other people in general could understand thoroughly the miserable life of those who used to be known as inferior. This book received a lot of attraction of readers all over the world. 300,000 copies are sold in the North alone just in the first year of publication. (Wheatcroft, 2011) Any of Stowe's readers could hardly impose the Fugitive Slave Law which was passed in 1850. Despite being banned in most of the south, this work was likely to put another log on the fire. The number of copies of this book was sold even more in Great Britain than in the United States. In the British Isles, the book consumption reached up to the top of a million and a half. This influential power of prose made 12 many members of the British Parliament take pleasure in the idea of a divided United States. Ten years after the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the British people made it difficult for its government to support the Confederacy, even though there were strong economic ties between them and the South. (Wheatcroft, 2011) However, a number of slavery supporters denounced this book. They blamed Stowe for having wrongly dramatized slavery and slave owners and announced that apart from runaway slaves, all enslaved blacks were in the good care of kind-hearted masters. However, being accused of giving distorted information about slavery, Stowe made up her mind to confirm her story by starting to write “ A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.). Categorized in to Romantic Realism, this work not only pointed out the bitterness of feeling in extreme abolitionists but also inspired the free colored people with self-respect, hope, and confidence and encouraged people to have a kindlier feeling toward the negro race . (Wheatcroft, 2011) 3.2.2. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Summary This following summary is based on Uncle Tom's Cabin - Summary (2007). “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” opened with a conversation between Mr. Shelby and a slave trader, Mr. Haley. Due to a serious depth, Mr. Shelby was compelled to sell his loyal servant-Tom and five-year-old Harry who is a cute and talented child of his wife’s favorite slave’s son in order to avoid financial ruin. As Eliza, the mother of Harry overheard that shocking news, she quickly decided to run away with her son to Canada where her husband planned to escape. Before fleeing, she persuaded Uncle Tom to go with her, but Uncle Tom accepted being sold to affirm his loyalty to his master - Mr.Shelby. Knowing Eliza and her son’s escape, Mr. Hadley ran after her and almost caught her. Luckily, she escaped into Ohio by jumping on pieces of floating ice across the river. Then, Mr. Haley raised a group of slave catchers to follow her and returned to collect the other slave, Tom. Tom accompanied Mr. Haley on the way to the South. On the steamboat to New Orleans, Tom saved little Eva from drowning. The girl's father made up the decision 13