Stereotypes In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel that changed a lot of American’s views on slavery. When Harriet Beecher Stowe first published the novel the year was 1852.and there was unrest among the northern and southern states. A law had been passed called the Fugitive Slave Law, which ordered citizens of non-slave owning states in the north to return run away slaves, when caught, to their owners in the south. To someone who was against slavery it must have been a heart wrenching moment to abide by this law and return a human being to there “rightful owner”. So there was obvious tension between the north and the south. After the law was passed Stowe’s sister-in-law said to her “if I could use a pen as you can, I would write something that will make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is” to which Harriet replied “I will if I live”. This was when she began writing her novel and within a year of being published Uncle Tom’s Cabin had sold over 300,000 copies and opened many people’s eyes to the wrongs of slavery. She did this by showing families being broken up during slave trades, and Tom being mistreated even after being shown as a kind and

religious man. “It is not possible to measure precisely the political influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. One can quantify its sales but cannot point to votes it changed or laws that it inspired” (McPherson 89). Stowe’s novel was considered so important that when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe he is quoted as saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this Great War” (McPherson 90). It is safe to say that this novel had a humongous impact on life as we know it.

The image of “Uncle Tom” has been used time and time again to sell products since his introduction. One that everyone still recognizes today is Uncle Ben, from Uncle Ben’s Rice fame. He first appeared in the 1940’s but his image is clearly related to the “Uncle Tom” of old. Converted, the brand that makes and distributes Uncle Ben’s, has slowly tried to stray away from the “Uncle Tom-like” image, knowing the negative message, but to this day the box still has a picture of a smiling old black man on the front telling all us white folk that its contents come out “Perfect Every Time” (Uncle Ben).

The wild hair and ragged clothes were exaggerated throughout the performances of Tom-shows and have survived long after the productions have ceased. After reading the first scene containing Topsy, I immediately related her behavior and appearance to a common image of black children. The most obvious of these is Buckwheat from The Little Rascals fame. As with Topsy, Buckwheat and all “Picaninnies” are characterized as being out of control and animal like in nature. Topsy, in Aiken’s adaptation, doesn’t know how old she is, doesn’t have a mother, and doesn’t even think she was born. She is a troublemaker who does lots of bad things and declares “I’s so wicked!” when asked why she does such bad things. Ophelia (a white woman) is asked to care for her and before even talking with her declares “Good gracious! What a heathenish, shiftless looking object!… what in the world have you brought that thing here for?” (Aiken, pars 58-59).

The most obvious of these stereotypes has to be Uncle Tom himself. I had heard the term “Uncle Tom” long before I had any idea what Uncle Tom’s Cabin was about. What this term reminds me of is a scene in the film Chasing Amy written and directed by Kevin Smith. In this particular scene a black man, touting camouflage and a handgun professes that blacks in comics and action movies never get to be the good guys. When the character Lando Calrissian from Star Wars gets brought to his attention he declares that Lando was an “Uncle Tom” only doing the biddings of his white allies without complaining. This was my first recollection of this term and after reading the play I can see how this term’s connotations evolved into what they are now. In this play Uncle Tom is an obeying servant, saying, “yes mas’r” often and fearing that “mas’r isn’t good to himself”, not once caring that he is owned and traded at will. Tom’s first owner, Shelby, praises his work ethic, declaring that he is a “good, steady, sensible, pious fellow” and that he “let him go to Cincinnati alone, to do business for (him) and… Tom comes back sure enough; (he) knew he would” (Aiken, pars. 20-24). He may be trusted but as with the stereotype, all “Tom’s are chased, harassed, hounded, flogged, enslaved, and insulted, (yet) they keep the faith, n’er

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