When Harriet Beecher
Stowe published her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, she gained
instant notoriety. Her novel helped spread the reality of the cruelties
and injustices of the American slavery system nationwide and eventually
across the globe. However, Mrs. Stowe was not without critics. Shortly
after the release of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, William Lloyd Garrison,
a famous abolitionist and founder of the Liberator published
a scathing review of Stowe’s novel arguing that her stance on slavery
was a double standard. Stowe’s novel clearly does contain racial double
standards; however, this attributed to the novels popularity amid a
northern white audience in the mid-nineteenth century.
William Lloyd Garrison
was a well known abolitionist. His review of Stowe’s novel may have
seemed shocking at the time of its publication since both he and Stowe
were abolitionists. However, his accusations of racial double standards
throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin are not far fetched. One of Stowe’s
main criticisms throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin is that slavery
is unjust to slaves. She finds slavery to be an evil which should be
eliminated form American society. She obligates blacks to end their
own enslavement. Her opinion on how blacks should end their enslavement
is extremely passive. She advocates that blacks should remain obedient
and subservient to their masters while remaining pious and faithful
to God. In the end, blacks will gain a greater freedom than the physical
world has to offer them. By having faith in God and refusing to act
out violently against their masters despite the hardships that they
may have to endure, they will eventually be rewarded with eternal salvation.
Stowe embodies these ideas in the character of Tom.
Throughout Stowe’s
novel, Tom places his faith in the Lord an accepts his fate no matter
what happens. An excellent example of Tom’s unrelenting faith in the
Lord and his refusal to act out violently against his master is his
struggle with Simon Legree. Legree is an evil man and an extremely
cruel master. However, no matter what he is threatened with Tom never
physically fights back against Legree. This is demonstrated in Uncle
Tom’s Cabin prior to Tom’s first beating. Tom says:
Mas’r
if you mean to kill me, kill me; but as to raising my hand agin any
one here, I shall never,--I’ll die first! No! no! no! my soul an’t
yours, Mas’r! Ye can’t buy it! it’s been bought and paid for, by one
that is able to keep it;--no matter, no matter, you can’t harm me! (Stowe
508).
These
statements by Tom are a clear demonstration of Stowe’s beliefs, which
are expressed throughout the novel. Tom is defiant against Legree,
but it is for the safety of another individual, another one of God’s
creatures. He never raises a hand in opposition to Legree, nor does
he resist when Legree sends him to be whipped as punishment for his
defiance. Instead, Tom boldly states his faith in the Lord, proclaiming
that Legree may physically take his life, but he will never be able
to own Tom’s soul because his soul belongs to the Lord.
Garrison
views Stowe’s beliefs as a racial double standard. He states his opinion
at he very beginning of his review of the novel when he writes, “we
are curious to know whether Mrs. Stowe is a believer in the duty of
non-resistance for the white man, under all possible outrage and peril
as well as for the black man” (Garrison). In other words, if white
people were to be enslaved and treated under the same conditions which
black people were in the mid-nineteenth century, would Stowe still advocate
non-violence and piety as a solution to the problem? He then continues
by pointing out that the reason he believes she advocates nonviolence,
obedience and piety by slaves are because they are black. I agree with
Garrisons accusation. I think Stowe’s beliefs stem primarily from her
lack of first hand interaction with southern black slaves. She portrays
her characters through the beliefs of a romantic racialist. Stowe writes,
“the negro, it must be remembered, is an exotic of the most gorgeous
and superb countries of the world, and he has, deep in heart a passion
for all that is splendid, rich and fanciful” (Stowe 253). This depiction
of “the negro” is a perfect demonstration of Stowe’s use of romantic
racialism. She is making a generalization about an entire race. She
views black people with the same stereotypes as most mid-nineteenth
century white Americans did. What makes a black person different from
a white person other than the color of their skin? It is easy to answer
that question from a twenty-first century viewpoint. The answer is
nothing. There is no difference between a black person and a white
person except for the outside skin color. We are all human which means
that blacks have the same mental capacity, same emotions same everything.
However, in the ante-bellum time period the answer to the above question
was much more difficult, because people truly believed that blacks were
different from whites not only physically, but that they were inferior
in intellect, morals, and maturity. I think that because Stowe was
a white northern woman with little one-on-one contact between herself
and southern slaves , she subconsciously prescribed to general stereotypes
about black people and wrote them into her characters.
Garrison
not only highlights that Stowe’s romantic racial beliefs “is everywhere
taken for granted, because the VICTIMS ARE BLACK” (Garrison), but he
also argues against her religious stance when he asks:
Is there one law of
submission and non-resistance for the black man, and another law of
rebellion and conflict for the white man? When it is the whites who
are trodden in the dust, does Christ justify them in taking up arms
to vindicate their rights? And when it is blacks who are thus threatened,
does Christ require them to be patient, harmless, long-suffering, and
forgiving? And are there two Christs? (Garrison)
Garrison
is addressing a main conflict which is present in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
If God/Christ are supposed to be just and fair, how can they make one
group of people ”superior” to another? This issue is clearly addressed
in Uncle Tom’s Cabin when Marie St. Clare is waiting for Tom
to prepare the horses in order attend church. During this scene in
the novel, Stowe delves into Mrs. St. Clares thoughts and shares them
with her audience. She writes:
perhaps as God chasteneth
whom he loveth, he hath chosen poor Africa in the furnace of affection
to make her the highest and noblest in that kingdom which he will set
up, then every other kingdom has been tried, and failed; for the first
shall be the last and the last first (Stowe 275).
Marie
is rationalizing the fate of slaves by pondering whether or not God
had a greater purpose for them. Religion is a conflicting struggle
throughout the novel as certain characters embrace it and other characters
reject it. Garrison brings up the issue of religion in Uncle Tom’s
Cabin because it seems hypocritical to say that slaves must behave
and worship the Lord when in return for their piety they are beaten.
However, it is okay for white people to beat a fellow human being, because
they are white and the other is black. How can God allow that?
I
think it is very interesting how Garrison places religion and violence
together in his statement. It is very fitting when you apply it to
the American Revolution. It was okay for us as white colonialists to
fight against the British monarchy for our independence and for our
religious freedom. However, Stowe seems to think that it is not okay
for blacks to fight against whites in order to gain their independence
and religious freedom. This is extremely hypocritical.
While
I do agree with Garrison’s arguments that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is
based on racial double standards, I think Stowe was very meticulous
in how she presented her concepts to her white northern audience. In
order for Stowe to get her message out to people, she had to create
a novel that people would want to read. To do this, she had to make
the issue of slavery palatable to her readers. Stowe had to prescribe
to romantically racial concepts in order to not offend her audience.
Stowes use of romantic radicalism worked. Her novel became a success
across the world. However, the usage of romantic racialism in turn
created racial double standards throughout the novel.
William
Lloyd Garrison’s complaint of racial double standards in Uncle Tom’s
Cabin is a valid argument. I agree that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe
upholds a different set of morals for white people as compared to black
people. However, I believe that this dichotomy of values for blacks
versus whites is a result of the author’s desire to appeal to an audience
in order to have her opinions voiced to the public and make them aware
of the cruelties of slavery.
Works Cited
1.) Elbert, Sarah.
Lecture Notes for History 351.
2.) Garrison, William.
"Liberator," March 1852.
3.) Stowe, Harriet.
Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly. 1852. USA: Penguin
Books, 1986.
