How Does Harriet Stowe Use Religion
Courtney Mehmen
How does Stowe use religion and the characters in the book to argue that slavery is inherently evil and immoral? In what specific instances do southerners use religion to defend slavery?
In the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Stowe, she writes many different dynamic opportunities to show us how she felt about the problems of America in the 1850's era. She was very avid about anti-slavery and wanted to show the North what truly happened in the South when it came to slavery. She also uses feminism (or, oppression of women) as a base idea in her book, as well as religion which promotes the idea that slavery is against Christian ethics. In the first chapter of the story, Mr. Shelby is making a heavy decision to trade his slave or lose this property. He is talking with Mr. Haley about the best slave he has- Tom- to trade for settlement of the property. Tom is described as, "steady, honest, capable... good, sensible, pious fellow...he got religion (1,2)." Tom is one of their hardest and most honest slaves they have. Even under the harshest conditions, later in the book, Tom chooses to keep his faith. Even as he was being sold from the Shelby's and departing from his wife, he reminded her that their god was a just god and to keep her faith. The Shelby's choose to treat their slaves kindly, unlike the South and it is …show more content…
She strongly states all terms and purposes of which she wrote the book. Her passionate writing beheld the truth behind the slavery in the South which was brought attention to the North. She held accountable the evils of those who were ignorant and those who defied their Christian principles. In this book, she showed through both religion and characters that slavery was an absolute
How does Stowe use religion and the characters in the book to argue that slavery is inherently evil and immoral? In what specific instances do southerners use religion to defend slavery?
In the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Stowe, she writes many different dynamic opportunities to show us how she felt about the problems of America in the 1850's era. She was very avid about anti-slavery and wanted to show the North what truly happened in the South when it came to slavery. She also uses feminism (or, oppression of women) as a base idea in her book, as well as religion which promotes the idea that slavery is against Christian ethics. In the first chapter of the story, Mr. Shelby is making a heavy decision to trade his slave or lose this property. He is talking with Mr. Haley about the best slave he has- Tom- to trade for settlement of the property. Tom is described as, "steady, honest, capable... good, sensible, pious fellow...he got religion (1,2)." Tom is one of their hardest and most honest slaves they have. Even under the harshest conditions, later in the book, Tom chooses to keep his faith. Even as he was being sold from the Shelby's and departing from his wife, he reminded her that their god was a just god and to keep her faith. The Shelby's choose to treat their slaves kindly, unlike the South and it is …show more content…
She strongly states all terms and purposes of which she wrote the book. Her passionate writing beheld the truth behind the slavery in the South which was brought attention to the North. She held accountable the evils of those who were ignorant and those who defied their Christian principles. In this book, she showed through both religion and characters that slavery was an absolute