March 20, 1852 was an important day for the United States of America. Harriet Beecher Stowe finally published her highly controversial story, Uncle Tom's Cabin, on this very date. Recent harsh changes in fugitive slave laws inspired the creation of this anti-slavery novel. The author described the story as a series of sketches depicting life as a slave on a plantation. Uncle Tom, Arthur Shelby and Emily Shelby are the central characters in this story. Uncle Tom is a very religious black man who regularly prays to God to help him keep his spirits up during his suffering as a slave. Although there appears to be a large predominance of religion as the main theme of the novel, there are a range of others that include race, gender, and oppression. This novel served as a cry for help in supporting abolitionism through the use of rhetorical devices and dramatic narratives. After the publication of this novel, the start of the American Civil War followed nine years later. Historians generally believe that Stowe's controversial novel constitutes the final tipping point that brought our country into the American Civil War. During this period, southerners felt a strong distaste for the novel and the author. Uncle Tom's Cabin serves not only as a piece of American history, but also as a reminder that literature can have a far greater impact on society than anyone imagined. This essay will discuss the impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin in providing historical context while giving credence to a story whose characters and plot grabbed readers' minds and refused to let go. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayAt the time of the release of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the United States of America was changing rapidly. During the 1850s, the United States of America grew in both size and socio-economic issues. Franklin Pierce became the fourteenth President of the United States, the Fugitive Slave Act was signed into law, and the National Convention on Women's Rights was held in Massachusetts (Unsigned, History). Yet the 1860s would be defined by the American Civil War which took place from 1861 to 1865. Scholar Edward B. Rugemer discusses the five important causes that contributed to the war between 1850 and 1865. The first major problem in America began with the difference between northern and southern culture. Because of the cash crop, cotton, the South was dependent on plantations, which led to white slave owners ruling the top of the social hierarchy (Rugemer 56). The North did not approve of slavery (hence no plantations), which allowed the culture of the people of this region to flourish in a variety of industrial professions, leading to a diversity of citizens. The second major problem was the complex distribution of federal and state rights that flowed from the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution (Rugemer 58). The third issue that sparked the Civil War was the Compromise of 1850. This document created an imbalance in the distribution of slave and free states in America (Rugemer 60-61). Abolitionism became the fourth reason for the Civil War (Rugemer 62). Growing tensions over slavery sparked a culture clash between citizens of the North and South. Finally, the election of President Abraham Lincoln contributed to the genesis of the American Civil War (Rugemer 64). Lincoln's progressive anti-slavery views had many supporters, but just as many opponents. This enormous divergencein the reception of Lincoln's presidency led the American people to hate their own brothers. During these five major events, Uncle Tom's Cabin was released. This story became very popular among the American people since the content of the novel directly correlated with what was happening in the real world at the time. To understand how a story could generate as much controversy as that of Uncle Tom's Cabin, it is essential to understand how the book came out and what critics have said about the novel. Harriet Beecher Stowe was already a successful author before the release of Uncle Tom's Cabin, having published Mayflower as her first novel. Uncle Tom's Cabin did not begin as a published full-length novel. Susan Belasco explains that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the story in several installments and published them in an anti-slavery newspaper called National Era (Belasco 319). Eventually, as readers became aware of the story, it was published as a novel a year later, in March 1852. Once the novel went on sale, it sold approximately three hundred thousand copies in less than six months. Many Southern states banned the novel. During this period, the bestseller was also read by people outside the United States and became the second best-selling published novel in history (after The Bible). Following its publication, many responses from various authors were written, including anti-Uncle Tom's Cabin novels. Examples of anti-Tom novels included Aunt Phillis' Cabin and Southern Life As It Is (Belasco 319). These versions of the original text would alter the storyline, eliminate characters, and parody. The popularity of the novel would be beneficial in waking the United States of America from its racist practices. After the novel's release, critics were divided on their reactions to the novel. Some critics of the novel have praised Stowe's incorporation of religious nuances into the story and its portrayal of Tom and Eva as endearing characters. The National Era magazine said: "Mrs. Stowe has here accomplished a thing so great and so good for humanity, for liberty, for God, that we cannot help but apply her sacred words" (Unsigned, Bailey ). For many readers of Uncle Tom's Cabin, attention was drawn to the novel when anti-Tom novels and short story responses referenced the story, inspiring potential readers to become interested in reading of what this controversial story contained. Over time, there were eventually three versions of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel. There was the serialization, the Norton edition and the “Splendid Edition” (Belasco 322). The only things that differed in these stories were occasional single-word translations in certain passages containing dialogue between characters. The instant fame and popularity of Stowe's novel brought him financial success and assurance that his story was effective in informing people about abolitionism. All the attention to Uncle Tom's Cabin acted as propaganda. Regardless of praise or criticism, the novel's abolitionist message spread across the country and tensions began to rise. The way Uncle Tom's Cabin is designed has a lot to do with the way Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the novel. She was, after all, an author associated with the American Renaissance, which explains her effective playwriting style. The new ideas and ways of thinking of this culture inspired many authors to translate this into their writings, something that Harriet Beecher Stowe accomplished. In specific terminology, she was a popular sentimentalist writer.According to Dr. Ashley Reed, these sentimental stories involved family relationships, religious conversion, and moral development (Reed). All of these concepts are prevalent themes in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel is steeped in a myriad of social issues, but ideas of relationships, religion, and race resonate throughout Stowe's work. Scholar Curtis Evans dissects the novel to understand the ways in which the author draws attention to her call to action. He expresses that the emotion of doubt acts like a character in the novel. Doubt torments Tom's Christianity and peace between blacks and whites (Evans 498). Stowe also appealed to readers by using extreme racial stereotypes to disturb readers. As an example, Stowe describes blacks as "unlike the harsh and dominant Anglo-Saxon race."(Stowe xiii) to attract attention. In terms of religion, Tom and Eva are used as Christ-like characters in the story to appeal to Christian readers (Evans 498). Describing the mistreatment of innocent slaves brought readers to their feet and made them want to end slavery in their Anglo-Saxon environment. As the story progresses, a bond is created between the readers and the characters. This creation of an emotional attachment is essential to Stowe's call to action. Harriet Beecher Stowe's role as one of the leading faces of the abolitionist movement could perhaps be because her past experiences were relevant to many readers of Uncle Tom's Cabin. If its story of slavery put a nation on its feet, the story of the inspiration behind the novel could also explain the novel's success. Thomas Hagood explains that the child characters Eva and Topsy were influenced by the death of Stowe's baby, Samuel Charles Stowe. The pain and agony of losing a loved one was one of the key events that gave birth to the idea for Uncle Tom's Cabin. Because it had a connection to death, Stowe's goal was to eradicate the mistreatment of slaves and "motivate Southern readers to 'introduce into our system the law of kindness'" (Hagood) . Another surprising fact that made the idea of ​​slavery too unbearable for readers was the fact that the novel was inspired by and contained many true stories (Reed). In a film or text, when readers are told that the story is inspired by real events, this creates logos that help convince the reader. In the case of abolitionism, knowing that slavery harmed innocent people, Americans had to eradicate the practice. As people rallied behind a woman who had witnessed disturbing acts, the army of abolitionism continued to grow and sparked the start of a civil war. The emotional connection that readers felt towards the characters in the story is due to the literary techniques employed by Harriet Beecher Stowe. his novel. Even though Uncle Tom's Cabin was officially banned in America's southern states, the novel was read nationwide because of the sympathy Stowe built for the novel's characters. These characters became icons before the Civil War. Harriet Beecher Stowe used rhetorical strategies, persuasion techniques, and writing style to get the audience to support the oppressed characters in the novel. Direct address and apostrophes are used in Uncle Tom's Cabin, two literary techniques popular at the time (Reed). Motifs are also incorporated into the story through the images of dead children, runaway slaves, and grieving mothers. These motives made readers uncomfortable, butnevertheless attracted them into the story. Stowe infused persuasion techniques into his novel. The incorporation of whites and blacks reading, praying, and supporting each other creates a pathetic appeal to emotion in readers. Barbara Hochman notes that when black people read the Bible in the story, it creates a sense of ethical appeal for the audience who realize that slaves were capable of having spiritual beliefs and being literate (Hochman 118- 121). Reading such a racist novel, some readers would have been very offended, but the novel's dramatic characterization helped reveal the negativity and stigma of slavery in America. The writing style of Stowe's novel was of the literary sentimentalism genre. Kevin Pelletier states that "The epitome of 19th-century sentimentalism, Uncle Tom's Cabin bases its anti-slavery politics on the belief that every reader can learn to sympathize with American slaves and ultimately come to love them... love is at the heart of Uncle Tom's Cabin. (Pelletier 266). This sentimentality infused into the novel really plays on the idea of ​​what people's emotions can persuade them to do. By writing a sentimental novel, the audience can make a deep connection with the story and be persuaded to respond to the novel's call to action. The impact of setting up all these elements of Uncle Tom's Cabin creates characters that audiences will think about for generations to come. In a visual take on Uncle Tom's Cabin, the publishers made abolitionism the main theme of the novel's covers. While the interior pages were filled with controversy and turmoil, the exterior covers of the novel were just as controversial. The images depicted in the different editions of the novel made potential readers of the novel judge the book by its covers. Exploring the visual archeology of Uncle Tom's Cabin reveals that there were a plethora of concepts used by publishers to promote the novel. Samuel and Tara Fee both discover that the first edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin contained a cover depicting several slaves in front of a cabin. This represented the theme of home in the novel, which made readers associate their family with Tom's, creating an emotional connection for potential buyers of the book (Fee 41). Another issue of the novel had a cover depicting Christ preaching to wounded slaves. This image of Christ and his disciples furthered one of the novel's main arguments regarding the importance of religion (Fee 42-43). The third and final issue of Uncle Tom's Cabin had a very simplistic cover, with no images. On the cover, the words “245,000 copies already published in America” were printed directly under the title (Fee 45). This publicity showed that the novel had been very successful and encouraged potential readers to indulge in purchasing, reading, and ultimately endorsing a popular American story. The imagery of abolitionism was therefore another driving force in the novel. The different images among the drawings challenged traditional ideas of literary and textual interpretation. In doing so, he opened the door to a new freedom of expression. As the popularity of literature increased, so did the popularity of theater during the era of Uncle Tom's Cabin. While the physical text of Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel has provided many American citizens with insight into the abolitionist movement, many people tend to overlook the theatrical performances of the novel. During the antebellum period, theater could offer entertainment and politics combined in one show. There were 2016.