Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

What do you get when you mix Charles Dickens and William Faulkner? You might be surprised, but the answer is Harriet Beecher Stowe in the form of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Published in 1852, Cabin apparently galvanised anti-slavery opinion in the Northern United States on the eve of its Civil War. As it was the second best-selling book of the 19th century (guess what was #1) it might be good to gain familiarity with it.

The book's title character is a Kentucky slave who is sold "down river" (every slave in the Upper South's worst fear) to Louisiana. As a sub-plot, it tracks the progress of George, Eliza, and their son: slaves who are attempting to escape to that land of freedom, British Canada, by way of the exotic port of Sandusky, Ohio. George and Eliza are tracked by bounty hunters and helped by Quakers along the way. I tended to find these sections more interesting than those that focused on Tom, even though they became few and far between.

Regarding Tom's owners, the infamous Simon Legree only appears in the last quarter of the book. His first stop in Louisiana is at the St Clare mansion, which, if memory serves, is the longest section of the book. There, he becomes the personal friend and attendant of the St Clares' young daughter, Eva. In the tradition of a Dickensian heroine (or did Stowe come first?), Eva is nothing but purity and goodness, whose only flaw is a poor physical constitution. Eva's mother Marie seems to be the literary role model of the self-centred hypochondriac, which is also seen in Faulkner's Sound & Fury.

At the St Clares', Tom's life seems pretty good by the standards of the slaves of the day, and the reader (or listener) has plenty of opportunity to hear from Augustine St Clare, who seems to be the most interesting and realistic character in the book.

Good things can't last, of course, and Tom eventually winds up on Legree's plantation, setting up the final showdown between good and evil and all that.

The book is interesting in several ways, including what one can read into the author's views on slavery and racial issues. From Stowe's occasional, but repeated racial stereotyping, it's clear that one can be against the legality of slavery and still be completely against the legal or moral equality of the races. I've seen it claimed that Cabin was the source of long-lasting stereotypes of former slaves, but I wonder if she was just reflecting the existing views of the time.

As almost an epilogue, African colonisation is discussed, and favourable press is given to the thought of transporting ex-slaves to Liberia (where they apparently can become American-Africans). Of course, I have the hindsight of 155 years of history that Stowe didn't have, but I don't think that experience of Americo-Liberians (or Africo-Liberians) was as rosy as predicted at the time.

What would you consider to be the worst aspect of slavery? It Stowe's eyes, it apparently was the internal slave trade, which resulted in the breaking up of families.

Also, the term "Uncle Tom" has developed a specific meaning in United States English. As a man of strong character who stuck to his principles and morals at great personal cost, Uncle Tom was definitely not an Uncle Tom.

The book's a little long and doesn't quite flow the way a modern novel would. Some readers may not enjoy the prominent place Christianity is given. It does have its ups and downs, but overall I give it a Recommended rating.