When considering the way in which Stowe represents gender, it is necessary to highlight the fact that men and women inhabited different sectors within the American society of the 19th century. Men belonged almost exclusively to the world of public work, while women were confined to a private sphere within the home. Different stereotypical gender characteristics – compassion and domesticity in women, and control and chaotic violence in men – can thus reflect the different spheres to which they belong. Furthermore, we cannot examine how Stowe approaches gender as a singular concept; masculinity and femininity are challenged by their synthesis with other concepts such as religion and slavery. A person's gender is thus labeled according to the antithetical sphere to which their characteristics most precisely align. This is why Stowe does not approach gender from a biological perspective, but rather from a social perspective, consistent with what is expected of men and women within society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an original essay Thanks to assumptions within American society about masculine and feminine attributes, Uncle Tom can be considered "feminine" because it does not completely meet the expectations of Americans. masculinity. Throughout Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Humble, Tom inhabits the world of slavery where the owners are mostly incapable of religion. The characterization of behavior is therefore mainly based on gender. Therefore, when Tom displays Christian attributes such as compassion and unconditional love, he can only be described as "feminine" because the source of these emotions is typically feminine. This gender expectation is not only contextual, but is constructed within the novel: education and guidance come naturally from female characters such as Eva and Rachel Halliday, while the patriarchal influence of Legree and M . Shelby only causes chaos and evil. Therefore, to examine the construction of gender through Christianity, one must consider Tom's interaction with a male figure. Although Legree is probably the cruelest slave owner, Tom swears that: "If taking every drop of blood from this poor old body could save your precious soul, I would give them freely, as the Lord gave His for Me. » [1] While female submission seems apparent through the act of "giving" physical force to another, this act is elevated in Tom's presentation through a religious context. By sacrificing himself to believe that all souls are “precious” despite their sins, it aligns him with Jesus; his behavior is therefore not subject specifically to Legree but heroic for the good of humanity. By being forced to submit to the life of a slave, it can be argued that Tom has no choice but to display Christian values; he either seeks a higher salvation by showing humanity where Legree is lacking, or he submits to a hatred that leaves him damned spiritually as well as physically. If the emotion of compassion can be described as feminine, its sacrifice is physical and therefore remains predominantly masculine. This suggests pain and toil that only men would encounter while working and women would not encounter while residing at home. Therefore, Tom's gender construction depends not only on his personal identity and actions, but also on the faith of others. Those who remainIntrinsically unfaithful people can only attribute their kindness to femininity through a lack of knowledge about Christian values. Through Stowe's interaction with the broader issues of slavery, the woman's role is not centered on seeking relationships. Without this romantic preoccupation and lack of objectification, the novel's presentation of gender is more flexible. However, women can only display masculine traits through a perversion of their own femininity. In The Feminization of American Culture, Douglas sees a “continuation of masculine hegemony in different forms”[2]. Previously, work and home were contained within separate masculine and feminine spheres, but this is complicated by the introduction of race. Dinah is a woman in sex, but she is unorganized and works without “logic or reason” (Stowe, p.620), characteristics of chaos that are typically representative of masculinity. The kitchen can also act as a symbol of the slave economy, which Dinah attempts to organize through what she calls “times of clarification” […] and make ordinary confusion seven times more confusing. (Stowe, p. 315) By attempting to rectify this process of domesticity and instead producing it as "more confusing", it suggests that the feminine sphere also needs to be reformed before addressing the faults of the masculine sphere. However, as with slavery, the focus remains on outcomes. St. Clare only cares that Dinah “is giving you a momentous dinner” (Stowe, p. 316); this almost identifies Dinah as a slave trader due to her preference for a chaotic method but efficient results, as slavery produces in the same way. Dinah herself, as a purchase, also brings the economic to the domestic. The expectation of American women was to influence men by being a "wise and proper influence"[3] in the home. By placing a lower class of slaves in the household, it makes it impossible to fulfill the expectations of the American wife. Stowe thus reverses gender by presenting a female character who exists in a female world, but this “continuation of male hegemony” is essentially an economic purchase invested by men. But one must also ask whether this lack of femininity is due to patriarchal influence or an initial lack of femininity in Dinah; although she belongs economically to Saint Clare, she inherently lacks a feminine nature embodied in domesticity and organization. Stowe's narration not only serves to describe events, but becomes a "penetrating"[4] voice in itself. Gender roles are therefore reversed thanks to Stowe assuming a voice that can reach everyone through the publication. It also transcends its sphere through the subject; Stowe addresses the typically masculine themes of slave auctions and violence beyond the home. Once her character's problems have been resolved as much as possible, she uses "Concluding Remarks" to bring those problems into reality: "But, she asks anyone who knows the world, are such characters common, somewhere? (Stowe, p.621) Instead of using a first person, she consciously places herself in the third, emphasizing the ability of her gender to speak publicly where women were usually silent. The reader is also asked to think about the type of person he or she is. She seeks answers only in a specific group, those who "[know] the world", thus suggesting a challenge to look within oneself after a novel's examination of others. Stowe acts almost as a conscience, reiterated by Jane P. Tomkins, who suggests that "the novel, 1994)