Abeselom Gebreyesus 4/24/13 Period 6

UTC NFD Essay In Uncle Toms Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe portrays the theme of abolition using a different perspective than Frederick Douglass does in his novel, The Narrative of Frederick Douglass. Both novels have varying social and cultural contexts, being that the two authors have diverse backgrounds. While Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass both present compelling anti-slavery arguments, they come from entirely different places. They were each raised with different conceptions of slavery, and even though the authors were anti-slavery, they had different reasons as to why. Frederick Douglass had experienced first-hand what slavery could do to a person. He fought to make sure that no one else would have to go through that experience. Stowe, having being a free white, did not have any knowledge of how it felt to be a slave. This did not hinder her ability to write a novel detailing the evils of slavery. Although many people have criticized Stowe for not being able to relate to Uncle Toms Cabin, it still sends the same anti-slavery message as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. One way that they were socially different was due to location. Harriet Elisabeth Beecher or Harriet Beecher Stowe was born June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, CT (Harriet Beecher Stowe's Life). Connecticut is a northern state and Stowe lived her childhood in the north. As a child, she received an education and was able to read and write. Slavery was not abolished in Connecticut during much of Stowes life, so she still saw some slavery. Stowe wrote Uncle Toms Cabin in 1851 and slavery was abolished in Connecticut in 1848. This was different from Fredrick Douglass who was born on Feb. 7th near Easton, Maryland (A Short Biography of Frederick Douglass). Douglass was born into slavery in the south and was forced to escape from slavery. He was not allowed to be educated as a child. Douglass learned to read and write secretly and became an educated slave. Frederick Douglass wrote The Narrative of the Life of Frederick

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Douglass in 1845. The two locations and backgrounds of both Stowe and Douglass helped to establish a specific theme of abolition. One way that both Uncle Toms Cabin and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass contained similar social views is in religion. Religion is a big part of the authors backgrounds. Stowe comes from a family of ministers and Douglass was traded into the home of a minister. In The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass was able to teach slaves on Sundays because it was when the slaves had off for the Christian Sabbath. In Uncle Toms Cabin, Many of the characters and ideas were Christian and cherished Christian values and beliefs. For example, when Stow describes religion, she writes Religion! Is what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath. (Stowe, 124) This is an example of how both authors integrated their cultural background into their writing of a novel. Another way that Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe were socially related was in profession. Both authors devoted their lives to becoming abolitionists and ending slavery. This would make them more relatable socially because they would have something in common. A social difference was that Douglass was African American and Stowe was white. This was a social difference because blacks were not seen as equal to whites. One way that both of the works culturally impact the theme of abolition is in the way that they are written. Frederick Douglass has written a direct depiction that is a not-fiction account of his life in The Life of Frederick Douglas. The book talks about Frederick Douglass life as a Southern owned slave and includes horrible details involving his actual comrades and relatives.

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These are real life experiences and cannot compare to the fiction that Stowe writes. Stowe is an educated, married women and a Northerner, and her anti-slavery beliefs are formed by principle rather than personal experience (Okerbloom). Stowe created a novel based on her personal revulsion to the institution of slavery and brought fictional characters to life by capturing the imagination of her readers. While Stowe's characters are vivid, she cannot create the same emotion as Douglass creates when he speaks from his own horrifying experiences. This creates a certain depth to his book that is not found in Uncle Toms Cabin. Even though Stowe had a relatively comfortable lifestyle compared to Douglass' difficulties, they do share similar struggles. As a woman, Stowe was often constrained by society, and was not allowed to vote or have one of her writings or books published in her name. She was only able to write during her free time, which was very limited because of her chores as a housewife and mother. However, unlike Stowe, Douglass often faced the familiar struggles of a slave. In The Life of Frederick Douglas, Douglass describes the toll of being in slavery when he writes My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute! (Douglass, 49) Stowe never had to worry about hunger and torture, both mental and physical. She was never made to feel like an animal or someone's possession. The social and cultural contexts of the novels and authors impact the theme of abolitionism by defining the concept of freedom. While both authors were writing about the same issue, their concept of freedom came from entirely diverse situations. Uncle Tom's Cabin can be seen as a fictional depiction of the fundamental evils of slavery. But because Stowe never had to live life as a slave in America, her emotion could only bring so much to the story. In contrast, Douglass narrative is a non-fictional emotional journey that followed the transformation

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of how a man was made a slave (Douglas, 53) and how a slave was made a man (53). In both books, the reader was able to see how each authors background shaped what they wrote and the way they wrote it.