Uncle Toms Cabin Essay Example for Free

Uncle Toms Cabin Essay For a democratic society with its democratic form of government system it is but an obvious choice to opt for a society that is predominantly color blind. The basis norm of a democratic society is to provide its mass with a structural form that offers equality in terms of justice and social characteristic. It is an unwanted phenomenon but it is also extremely true at the same time that racism is a curse that exists among us whether we like it or not. It could be summarized that racism is the result of having negative judgments, beliefs, and feelings towards certain identifiable groups. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is such a text that reveals the moral and physical injury caused due to this racism. However, it should also be noted that the aspect of this text is multifold and the author juxtaposed various elements into the reading that cannot be ignored. It can well be stated that the book is based on three major matrixes. The first one is the evil of slavery where the black community is a harmless and helpless being in the hands of their master race subjected to occasional pity at times and at the most, the second one is the faith in god or Christianity and the third one is the extremely stereotyped representation of the black community. But the problem is that every aspect is viewed from the parameters of the White man and the Black man is only the receiver, both in beating and mercy. The very first page of the text denotes the black community as a class who are only to be empathized and pitied, if not anything else. This becomes very evident during the conversation between Shelby and Haley. â€Å"Tom is †¦ steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock†. To this remark from Shelby the statement that Haley makes is outrageous. He says, â€Å"You mean honest, as niggers go†. (Stowe, 1976) This dialogue is a clear indication of the position that the black community hold in their masters’ mind. There are only two alternatives of evaluating a black man. One is to show him pity and the other is to evaluate him as a trade commodity. The humanist feeling is completely missing in the dialogue between these two, one of whom, Shelby, is portrayed as a good and gentle man. Even to Shelby the existence of Tom is a little more than walking and talking machinery so very evident in the colonial era. This hard pill of ‘colonialism with brutality’ needed some spooning with sweetness to become a favorable aromatic digestible element for the general people of the imperial states. As a result this phrase ‘white man’s burden’ came into existence as a remedy to the enlightens of the industrial revolution and people were ready to buy this theory as this theory easily softened the guilt feeling of the educated class and apparently justified the brutal acts and decisions taken to control and cover the colonial agitations. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin follows the same principal but in a more compassionate manner but ignoring the essence of the rights of a human completely. The aspect of Christianity appears time and again as a soothing instrument in this book. It is as if to state that in a time of cruelty and helplessness the only possible cure is religion. In this case, this particular religion is White man’s religion that the white man preaches to the black man as a comforting medium. Right from the beginning we find that there is a clandestine flow of Christianity with George Shelby defining the greatness of his religion by mentioning that â€Å"What a thing it is to be a Christian† (Stowe, 1976) Tom is completely impressed by Christianity and we find that he in turn sermonizing St. Clare and telling â€Å"look away to Jesus†. (Stowe, 1976) Even Little Eva is described in the text as â€Å"ideal Christian†. (Stowe, 1976) It is true that there is noting wrong with Christianity but the problem is that it is not the only religion in the world and the writer almost seizes to believe that Tom or any other Black man can have a faith or religion from his birth origin. It should be remembered that no religion in the world is greater than the other and in this context even African totem worshippers have the right to faith and it is no less important to them than an urban cultured white Christian. Stowe completely ignores this fact and the reason behind that is the text is written by a white person and the aspect of showing mercy is the predominant essence. It can well be stated that the author, in pursue of raising voice against racism, actually ignited more racism in the text by stereotyping the black community. Carefree characters like Sam are shown and represented as â€Å"happy darky† in the novel while young women like Emmeline, Cassy and Eliza are represented as sex objects. The elderly black women like Mammy is portrayed as loving and affectionate Topsy is typed as a black child and appears to be the representative of all black children. Even in Tom’s character we see the die hard urge to please the master or the white man and developed as the most wise and prototype character of the book. The author makes it a point to establish the statement that Tom is an ideal black personality and is the noble hero of the story. It is as if the black community has no backbone at all and they lack a huge identity crisis much like Topsy, who states about the basic existence as â€Å"I spect I growed. Dont think nobody never made me†. (Stowe, 1976) This is a very strange condition as the author intends to write against the evils of slavery and turns the novel into a perpetual justification of slavery where the readers are deem to believe that a black man is only capable of becoming a slave of a white master. In conclusion it should be stated that all the basic matrixes are aligned in the same context of a white writer who recognizes the need of showing mercy to the black community but simply forgets the fact that it is not a matter of mercy that should be accountable but right that is fundamental. In this context, Stowe, though very compassionate and sympathetic, ultimately remains at the position of the master race and thus tells us the melodrama of Tom’s suffering and the bliss of Christianity while molding the entire black community into a single stereotyped population. References: Stowe, Harriet Beecher; (1976); Uncle Toms Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly; Dunedin: Allied Publications