As I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin it became apparent to me that the children throughout the story served a dual purpose: to demonstrate to the readers the horrors and afflictions that parents feel when their children are ripped away from them and also as the classic symbol of hope. Their role as a symbol of hope is presented differently than the other readings we have completed because the hope lies in the parent’s desires to not be sold away from one another. When Eliza makes it to the Birds home and falls asleep, her determination to cling to her child is evident as the texts describes how “her arm encircled him with an unrelaxing clasp, as if she could not even then be beguiled of her vigilant hold” (278). It is clear that her hope lies in the well-being of her child and staying united with him.
In the MacLeod reading it discussed how fiction of this time was a reflection of “hopes for the future” but “hope was shaded by anxiety- and the juvenile stories carried doubtful messages” (93). I think that Uncle Tom’s Cabin mirrors these assumptions in a very real way. The depiction of children as sweet and innocent juveniles is tainted by the fact that they are experiencing horrors unimaginable to us as a society today. It is inconceivable to imagine the desperation described when George is telling Mr. Wilson of his mother watching her children “sold before her eyes, one by one, all to different master” (308). All the hope that this woman had to look to was her children staying with her but that was stripped from her.
It is horrifying to think of this story as a didactic tool for children because it is exposing them to such hideous aspects of human kind. Although we saw the same scenario of Ellen being torn away from her parents and experiencing similar heartbreak, the two situations differ completely in the overall turn out. The Wide, Wide World used strangers as a symbol of goodness and helpfulness, whereas this story does not seem to demonstrate the same benevolence of the strangers who are slave traders.
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If this story was ever read to children, one purpose I could see it serving children is the fact that it would teach them to be more appreciative of what they have. Children would learn really young that slavery is cruel and wrong, and that it takes children just like them away from their mothers and fathers. I think one of the main things Stowe wanted to represent was that slaves were just as human as everybody else and everybody has a mother and a father and nobody whether slave or not wants to be ripped apart from their parents.
ReplyDeleteI liked your idea of how children in Uncle Tom's Cabin severed a dual purpose in the story. I can only imagine how it feels to lose your child, so I can see why Lucy would jump off the boat after going through something like that. I also liked how you said that hope was shaded by anxiety because that's how I felt most of the children felt throughout the story. Overall very good posting.
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