Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin is arguably the most influential novel
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin is arguably the most influential novel ever written. It changed the course of U.S. history (For more on the influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, see the video, David Reynolds: Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin.). In “Articulating Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Jim O’Loughlin argues that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was so popular and influential because Stowe reflected “existing tropes and public concerns in a compelling narrative form” (O’Loughlin, 2000, p. 594). Moreover, Stowe created powerful images that took on a life of their own, evolving into racist stereotypes.
Summarize O’Loughlin’s argument in two to three pages. In what ways did Stowe reflect her culture, and in what ways did she influence it? In what ways did Uncle Tom’s Cabin positively influence American culture, and in what ways did it negatively influence American culture? Be sure to cite specific passages from the texts to support your interpretation.
Paper must:
Comprehensively summarizes O’Loughlin’s argument of how Uncle Tom’s Cabin both reflected and influenced its culture.
Provide thorough textual evidence to support interpretive claims.
Reference
O’Loughlin, J. (2000). Articulating “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. New Literary History 31(3), 573-597
Riss, A. (1994). Racial essentialism and family values in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. American Quarterly 46(4), 513-544