"Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The main ideas of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is to show examples of the life and struggles of an African American during slavery. It also shows the cruel aspects of slavery and how white slave owners treated and traded them like a totally different species of humans. After this book was written and published it is said that these issues sparked the American Revolutionary War.
Above is a short video of Uncle Tom's Cabin with pictures of slaves and how they were beaten and mistreated.
After reading Uncle Tom's Cabin it really made me think of other texts and movies. The first movie series that came to mind was "Spartacus: Blood and Sand". I thought of this movie series because of the different similarities that Uncle Tom's Cabin shared with it. They both show how having the thought of someone being taken from you can feel and how it may affect you. In "Spartacus" him and his wife have been captured and seperated only to be forced into slavery. For Spartacus to gain his freedom back he must fight as a "Gladiator" or die trying. The same theme applies in Uncle Tom's Cabin. When Eliza finds out that her son could be traded to another slave owner and that she would never see him again she does the unthinkable. She runs away knowing that they may go through many obstacles in their journey, but just like Spartacus she is fighting for her freedom.
Below is a video of the trailer for Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
After doing a little research I also found a cartoon that was made for "Uncle Tom's Cabin". It shows an evil slave master who is auctioning his slaves but the slave owners only want the youngest one. It is a replica of the story because they scream the name Eliza which means they are coming for her child and just like in the book when she finds out that they want her son she runs away. As you will see in the video I've posted below, they chase after Eliza and her son just as they do in the book.
Many say that when Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this book it began the start of the American Civil War which in the end abolished slavery. But why is it that even in today's society slavery still lives. If you have been looking at the news then maybe you have heard about the short film Kony 2012. This film tells us about the war in Uganda that many of us didn't even know existed. It shows us how the issues are represented in our culture today because Joseph Kony (the man who started the war) orders the abduction of children to become either slaves to his army, or either child-sex slaves. Just like in Uncle Tom's Cabin people are running for their lives in search of freedom from being enslaved. It is saddening to know that even though slavery is abolished in America, these people still have to live in fear of becoming slaves and losing their family.
Below are two videos of Kony 2012: One with the story of one of the victims due to the war, and another of the whole Kony 2012 video.
In the end Uncle Tom's Cabin really did give an in depth description about the different issues and struggles that slaves had to endure back then. Being able to connect the story to these different films and cartoons really shows what an impact it has made in history. This book should really be used in Early American Literature and now because not only does it give a good description of how the life of a slave was then but it also shows similarities in how slavery is still alive and how it is represented in other countries today!
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, poet, and he led the Transcendentalist movement during the 19th century. He is also well known for his famous quotes that he would state in his essays. While reading his essays i became quite fond of Emerson and his quotes. One of my favorite quotes was "To be great is to be misunderstood." This quote really sparked in my mind and the first person that I could think about who is the most understood person in our society today is this man below.....