About the religious-philosophical problem of selflessness and bearing in "Uncle Tom´s Cabin" (PDF)

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: 1.0, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: Reaching for Christianity is one, maybe the most central theme in "Uncle Tom¿s Cabin". Stowe uses her view on religion as her main instrument to abolish slavery. The textual construction of Christian values throws up questions about their persuasiveness to a modern reader. To find answers to such questions it is necessary to itemize Stowe¿s schema in order to question them from a modern point of view.

Harriet Beecher Stowe originates from a strongly Christian affected background. Her father, brother, and husband were all theologians. Stowe liked to say God inspired her to write "Uncle Tom¿s Cabin" and that he even dictated her. It also must be mentioned, that most of her female readership also had a Christian background. This was not only based on the long American tradition of Christianity, but also on the idea of being the chosen country, pronounced in the Manifest Destiny. A whole country built itself upon the idea of a self given authority, which the white America saw as God given. This supported the common understanding of a new American race, which white America saw superior to the Afro-American population. White America not only thought of itself as more knowledgeable, but also as dominant rulers in the name of Christianity. But how is this evident in "Uncle Tom¿s Cabin"? Which religious aspects need to be reviewed and which deserve critic?