Uncle Tom’s Cabin Themes with 20 examples

Name:
Institution:
Course:
Date:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s cabin is an anti-slavery novel written by an American author and a teacher, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book, published in 1852, advocated for freedom of all human beings and is believed to have laid the groundwork for the civil war in America. In addition to slavery theme, the book also brings out other themes such as race, religion, gender, love, suffering, violence among others. The following are some of the themes and their examples as depicted in the book.
The evil of slavery
Having been published after enactment of Fugitive Slave Act of 1950, the novel is advocating for the abolishment of slavery. For examples, evil of slavery is shown;
1. In as much as Arthur Shelby believed in fair treatment of slaves, he decides to sell Tom as a commodity to raise funds to pay his debts and save his farm. This negatively affects Tom’s family.
2. At St. Clare’s Marie denied their slaves to mourn the death of her daughter Eva who was very close to them, in an attempt to seek attention.
3. Contrary to St. Clare and Shelby, slaves in ruthless Legree’s plantations, suffered all sorts of atrocities from beating, sexual abuse and murder. Simon Legree hated Tom because he had refused to beat his fellow slaves and eventually orders his death when he refuses to betray the escaped slaves.
4. The book also talks of Prue, a constant drunkard who was whipped to death for drinking as a result of losing her son to hunger.

5. Slavery affected many families as a result of separation, and this is seen in the case of Tom being sold and being separated from his family which greatly affect them.
6. Also, the case of family separation is seen when Eliza, a personal maid decides to run away in the middle of the night since she could stand being separated from her son who was about to be sold by her masters.
7. In another example, Cassy, a slave woman had ended up killing her third born since she could not endure the pain of losing another of her children to slavery after her previous two children had been sold.
Gender
The another theme in the book is the role of genders especially the part of women and femininity both as mother and as important advocates of emancipation from slavery. Examples of this theme are portrayed where;
1. Eliza as a mother believes she has the responsibility of protecting her son from being sold into slavery. This forces her to run with him in the middle of the night after overhearing a discussion from her masters that Harry was about to be sold.
2. In fighting against slavery, Eva failed to understand why one man would treat the other with such cruelty and believed the every human being should be set free
3. Women were also regarded to be inferior, naïve and their place in society was at home to manage the household. This is portrayed clearly when Mrs. Shelby offers to help her husband on the matter of the firm, but Mr. Shelby declines to tell her that women don’t and will never understand the matters of business.
4. In as much as women were perceived to be inferior, the novel also shows them as strong beings in the society. Mr. Shelby is quoted saying that his mother did not have human weakness or error.
5. Women are seen to be very influential when Senator Bird agrees to shelter Eliza an escaped slave after her wife had scolded the Senator against the Fugitive Slave Act which was being put in place. She vows to break it.
6. In an attempt to show the importance of a strong female figure in homes, Stowe describes Simon Legree’s home to be in a deplorable condition since he had a meek and equally filthy slave woman.
Religion
In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Religion plays a paramount role in the abolition of slaves. The following are instances where religion is depicted;
1. When Senator Bird comes home in the news of Fugitive Slave Act, his wife says she will is ready to break the law since she reads the Bible who tells her to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked.
2. Uncle Tom is believed to have died as a martyr since he refused to give up the escaped slaves and as a result beaten to death in Simon Legree’s plantation.
3. Eva who was a stronger believer believed that it was against Christian morals and beliefs to enslave another human being and advocated for its abolition.
4. After Eva’s death, Mr. St. Clare and Ophelion change their mentality and advocate for emancipation from slavery after accepting Christianity.
5. Young Douglass does Christianity work by running a Sabbath school to help improve the lives of his fellow slaves under the ownership of Mr. William.
6. Slaves who were not Christians are seen to be very ruthless like Simon Legree who even kills Tom because of his loyalty to religion and his fellow slaves
7. Tom Loker converts to Christianity after being saved by religious slaves whom he had gone hunting. He stops hunting them and advocates for their freedom.