Race and the American Novel Part 1: Uncle Tom's Cabin Personal Synthesis

Power: Part 3

          A common theme that permeates "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is the presence of a gross inequality in America.  I believe that throughout America's short history inequality has been traditionally fueled by religion, and its worst quality: Justification.  Every religion and religious document is extremely open to each readers own interpretation, and due to this, anybody can justify any action or cause with holy righteousness; many American "accomplishments" have been credited to Christianity.  This is aptly pointed out in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" during Haley and Tom's boat ride downriver.  On said trip a heated debate arises over slavery, a clergyman proclaims, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be, the scripture says," as justification of slavery, and a young man interjects his own interpretation of the divine, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," to condemn slavery.  (Stowe 112-113)  Both of these men are quoting from the same book, yet they have reached very different conclusions regarding the Bible's message, and can both charge their beliefs with holy Justification.

          For African Americans this inequality was legally binding and all encompassing, as they had no rights, no voice, and no help.  George Holmes would have us believe that life for slaves wasn't so bad, that in fact there were laws in place protecting them.  Laws such as, "The slave is entirely subject to the will of his master, who may correct and chastise him, though not with unusual rigor, nor so as to maim or mutilate him, or expose him to the danger of loss of life, or to cause his death. [...]  If any slave be mutilated, beaten or ill treated contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, when no one shall be present, in such case the owner or other person having the management of said slave thus mutilated, shall be prosecuted without further evidence, unless the said owner or other person so as aforesaid can prove the contrary by means of good and sufficient evidence, or can clear himself by his own oath." (Holmes 511)  In my opinion, these laws only point out how outrageously unequal blacks were to whites in the eyes of the law itself, by allowing violence by and loop holes for slave owners.

          This inequality also greatly affected women.  Nineteenth century ideological beliefs dictated separate spheres for gender roles; men were to work, provide, make decisions, and generally hold power, while women were meant to have children and take care of the home.  As we learned in class the ideal 19th century women was pious, pure, domestic, and submissive to man and god.  This is disturbingly portrayed in "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; the unnamed women in the story has so little power in her marriage that she can't even get her room changed.  Even though she has expressed to her husband that she has some serious issues with her current room, the cult of domesticity has permeated her mind to a point that she thinks, "I would not be so silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim." (Gilman 488)  Why should her comfort be ignored for his? or anybodies?  In fact, she's the "sick" one, shouldn't her comfort be paramount?  I believe that in terms of power and equality, Women have been historically just above African Americans, and even though women were legally people, they were, like slaves, an extension of their husband/man, and held little to no power to do anything about their situation. 

           Equality in the United States today is still severely lacking, but has made some very promising progress since the time of Uncle Tom.  Slavery was abolished in 1863, the 15th Amendment (1870)passed giving African Americans the right to vote, the 19th Amendment (1920) passed giving suffrage to Women, and through the Civil Rights and Women's Movements of the 1960's, segregation was ended and many limitations confining Women and African Americans roles in America have been lessened.  Unfortunately sexism and racism are still alive and well in America, and although many of our old problems have been alleviated, many new problems rise as our society evolves.  

          Inequality in today's America is fueled not by religion anymore, but by capitalism, and in our capitalist nation, the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.  I believe that this economic inequality grew largely due to our ambiguous past.  Historically in the U.S., the only people that could own property, a business, and accumulate real wealth were white men, in particular those white men of Anglo-Saxon decent.  Because of this limited population of "qualified" business owners (assuming most businesses and wealth are passed down and inherited), many of today's most prominent businesses and most of Americas wealth is owned and controlled by one percent or less of the total population.  Unfortunately for most of us then, in America money is power.

Works Cited:
Holmes, George F., "Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin": (504-514). The Southern Literary Messenger 18. Oct.1852.    Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." 1892. 1865-Present. Ed. Nina 
     Baym. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 485-97. Print. 
     Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 2 vols.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Ammons, Elizabeth, and Cairns Collection of American Women Writers. Uncle Tom's  Cabin : Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism / Harriet Beecher Stowe ; Edited by Elizabeth  Ammons. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print. Norton Critical Edition.