Essay on "Hochman on Uncle Tom's Cabin"

Essay 3 pages (1099 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a literary and socially relevant classic. The articles and books that offer praise for Stowe's novel are numerous and opinions vary widely. But the one main salient theme that runs through many of the critiques and reviews -- and is implied by others -- is that the novel has a universality. Human nature will always be drawn to stories like Stowe has written. The specifics of whippings and injustice aside, a story of human suffering juxtaposed with an unflinching sense of survival instincts has a purpose in the big picture. For that reason this paper will embrace Uncle Tom's Cabin as a "Purpose Novel"; in the words of Hochman (p. 261), "Stowe's purposiveness…necessarily drew attention to the problem of race, a problem that seemed all the more intractable as the institution of slavery receded into the past."

Body of the Paper -- Purposefulness of the Novel

The fact that Stowe's novel embraces many themes is not a unique idea in the sense of any analysis of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The purpose of any novel is first to entertain, but also it is to inform, and moreover a novelist seeks to stimulate the reader to conscious thought about the characters, settings, conflicts, resolutions, and emotions. In Chapters XX through XII the theme of love is presented in several contexts. Given the first thought that comes to mind when thinking about the novel, love is not likely to come up. But love is evident, both romantic love and Christian love, and it is woven into the novel for a purpose. On page 223 (Chapter XXII) Aunt Chloe is now working for a confectioner in Louisville, to raise money to buy Tom back.

Her skill was so excellent that she was "gaining wonderful sums of money, all of which, Tom was informed," was to be used toward his "redemption money" (Stowe, p. 223). The use of the phrase "wonderful sums" had a specific purpose. Money itself isn't wonderful per se, it's useful and necessary. But when the raising of the money is being done to free someone from being enslaved, it becomes wonderful. And so it would seem the purpose of Stowe placing Chloe in profitable employment is two-fold: for one, the romantic love that Chloe feels for Uncle Tom drives her ambition to earn money towards his release; the second purpose is to show, as Stowe does often in the novel, that women are perhaps a cut above men when it comes to smarts and survival instincts. Stowe's reviewers have posited numerous times that there is a feminist theme and pro-woman purpose running through this book, and clearly there are many signs and symbols that show her clear intention in that regard.

Another purpose for this passage is the universality portrayed through the emotions. On page 260 of her essay, Hochman quotes Charles Dudley Warner -- who had equated Stowe's talent with Cervantes and Homer -- saying that Uncle Tom's Cabin fulfilled "…the one indispensable requisite of great work of imaginative fiction… it appeal[s] to universal human nature in all races and situations and climates." And so while it may not have been Stowe's purpose to make this story universal, in hindsight, from a strictly editorial / literary point-of-view, the universality of the theme and the plot… READ MORE

How to Reference "Hochman on Uncle Tom's Cabin" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

Feminine Mechanics of Political Intervention of Uncle Tom's Cabin Term Paper

Tom Tigone

Women, Men, and Intimacy in and Around Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin is quite consciously and unmistakably a book about slavery -- the ownership of one human… read more

Term Paper 7 pages (2189 words) Sources: 7 Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Uncle Tom's Cabin Research Proposal

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Stowe's (2005) Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling book of its time period, but there are many people who have a love/hate relationship with it. At times,… read more

Research Proposal 3 pages (1024 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Term Paper

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Specifically it will discuss some critics' reactions to Stowe's writing. Critics have called Stowe's writing "sentimental" and "spiritual" among other descriptors (Diller 21).… read more

Term Paper 2 pages (732 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Uncle Tom's Cabin Essay

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin: Sentimental Fiction As Political Catalyst

It is said that when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, he "greeted… read more

Essay 5 pages (1883 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Grapes of Wrath the Jungle and Uncle Tom's Cabin Book Report

Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. Specifically it will discuss how Steinbeck's work compares to the others… read more

Book Report 2 pages (656 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>