The Character Analysis of Uncle Tom’s cabin.doc

汤姆叔叔的小屋中的人物分析the character analysis in uncle toms cabincontentsabstract.1key words1i. the motivation and significance of choosing this title.2 .the family background the authoress.3.background on uncle toms cabin.5 .short summary of uncle toms cabin6 .the character analysis.8i. tom.8ii. little eva8iii. sambo&qimbo.9iv. eliza.9.the bible gives a great influence upon the character10.something about mrs. stowes solution to slavery.12 .conclusion.14reference.15the character analysis of uncle toms cabin摘要：本文作者从圣经原型的角度出发，试图分析汤姆叔叔的小屋中的一系列人物形象，比如汤姆叔叔、小伊娃、萨姆波和昆波以及几位虔诚的理想基督教徒母亲，重点分析了本文的主人公汤姆对黑人，白人及对生死的态度。认为汤姆与圣经中的耶稣有着极其相似的经历，从而进一步揭示这部小说中的宗教理念。反对奴隶制精神与基督教精神和谐地并存在这本著作中，已经有许多文章对此著作中所体现的废奴精神以及男女平等主义作过评论。因此，这篇论文主要是针对此著作中所体现的基督教精神作一探讨。并且，本文探讨了斯托夫人解决奴隶制的办法，认为用宗教感化的方式不可能解决奴隶制。本文作者希望这篇论文对读者能从新的角度来欣赏这本经典著作有所帮助。关键词：圣经原型 人物形象 基督教理念abstract: the author of this thesis attempts to analyze various characters, such as uncle tom, little eva, sambo and qimbo and some pious, ideal christian in uncle toms cabin in terms of biblical archetype. the analysis emphasizes on toms attitudes toward blacks, whites and his attitude towards death. i try to reveal the christianity in this novel. the protagonist of the novel tom shares a similar experience and temperament with jesus christ. anti-slavery spirit and the spirit of christianity co-exist quite harmoniously in uncle toms cabin. many articles have been written to discuss the anti-slavery spirit or feminism in it. however, this thesis will mainly focus on christianity in uncle toms cabin. this thesis also probes into mrs. stowes solution to the institution of slavery. i found that the solution to slavery shouldnt depend on the way of moving the white by religion belief. i hope this thesis will be of any help to readers to appreciate this classic novel in a new way.key words: biblical archetype ,character ,christianitythe character analysis of uncle toms cabini. the motivation and significance of choosing this titleits commonly agreed that uncle toms cabin is an anti-slavery novel. yet, anti-slavery spirit is not contradictory or incompatible with spirit of christianity. in fact, they co-exist quite harmoniously in uncle toms cabin. feminism is also quite evident in this book. many articles have been written to discuss the anti-slavery spirit or feminism in it. however, this thesis will mainly focus on christianity in uncle toms cabin. in this thesis, i attempt to analyze various characters, such as uncle tom, little eva, and some pious, ideal christian believers. i try to reveal the christianity in this novel, and to probe into mrs. stowes solution to the institution of slavery. i hope this thesis will be of any help to chinese readers to appreciate this classic novel in a new way.i found this book very hard to start with. i think the reason for this was possibly that harriet beecher stowe uses a lot of references to the bible and does seem to preach a lot. i found the sermons a bit off-putting, and i often needed a break from the book. there is no other story line to provide relief from the subjects of racism and christianity, so it made the book quite hard going. in 1852, when this novel was first published, i can imagine that it would have had a huge impact on christian americans and spread the abolitionist message far around the country, but for my reading it now, i found it harder to imagine society attitude at that time. it is also hard to imagine the reactions the book would have provoked in 1852, as there is no black slavery today. however, i still feel the book has relevance to racism and christian attitudes today. i think it might have helped if i had spent some time reading about the events around 1852 in america to understand the background of the novel more. it is a powerful book and it was written to be controversial and motivate america to abolish slavery. to do this it follows the lives of several black slaves throughout the novel. many incidents in the novel were based on real observation. i think it is a successful book as it opened my eyes to see how cruel slavery really was. i was amazed at the difference in attitudes of the slave owners towards their slaves in the novel- augustine st clare being so indulgent of his slaves and the contrast of simon legree treating them like dogs, and refusing to believe they were human. harriet beecher stowe uses christian ideas of heaven and souls to persuade her readers that the black slaves were indeed people. she also uses the religious character of uncle tom to infer that many negroes were more religious than their masters (a factor that must have been very important at the time the book was written). stowe also uses conversations between characters to explore christian attitudes towards slavery- how parts of the bible can be misused to support slavery when the whole of the bible could not possibly be seen to support the trade. she also explores attitudes towards the education of slaves and peoples opinions on the way they should be treated.it is well known that western literature is based on two pillars-the greek culture and the hebrew culture. in the hebrew culture, there is a book, namely, the bible that accumulates its rich cultural heritage. most western authors are influenced by those two literary origins consciously or unconsciously. they, without doubt, also influenced harriet beecher stowe (1811-1896), a nineteenth century american female writer. yet, with her strong religious background, she tended to be influenced deeper by the latter than by the former. born into a family of religion, harriets father, lyman beecher was one of americas most celebrated clergymen and the principal spokesman for calvinism in the nineteenth century; her mother, was a woman of prayer who died when harriet was four years old; her brother, henry ward beecher, was the best known pulpit orator of his times. in 1836, she was married to calvin stowe, a biblical scholar. in a word, harriet beecher stowe was bred, and lived all her life at the atmosphere of christianity that inevitably influenced her masterpiece uncle toms cabin. in fact, all the characters in uncle toms cabin can be put into four categories: perfect christians, imperfect christians, half-christians and non-christians. tom and eva are those rare real christians or perfect christians who really live up to the principles of the bible. imperfect christians include those like mrs. shelby and miss ophelia etc. they believe god, but their selfishness or hypocrisy prevents them from being good christians. for example, mrs. shelby rationalizes her actions by gild(ing) it over with kindness and care (p.33). she is angry about her husbands sale of tom and harris because she doesnt know how she can ever hold up her head again among them (p.32). miss ophelia, though has missionary zeal, dares not to be tough to topsy, the slave girl she is reforming for she still has the sense of white superiority at the bottom of her heart. there are also some half-christians or going-to-be christians, such as st. clare and george harris. st. clare is always skeptical towards religion and doesnt believe god until his daughters and his own deaths. harris is another example. he is rebellious at first, but when his family reunion comes to a reality, he becomes more content and comes nearer to god. while simon legree is a typical example of non-christian whose tough nature refuse to be touched by any good word. he doesnt repent even at his last minute. this kind of categorizing might be oversimplifying. yet, this is a pattern that i found in uncle toms cabin. so in this sense, uncle toms cabin is a book soaked with spirit of christianity.ii. the family background of the authoressharriet beecher stowe was born in litchfield, connecticut and brought up with puritanical strictness. she had one sister and six brothers. her father, lyman beecher, was a controversial calvinist preacher. when stowe was four, her aunt, harriet foote, deeply influenced stowes thinking, especially with her strong belief in culture. samuel foote, her uncle, encouraged her to read works of lord byron and sir walter scott. when stowe was eleven years old, she entered the seminary at hartford, connecticut, kept by her elder sister, catherine. the school had advanced curriculum and she learned languages, natural and mechanical science, composition, ethics, logic, mathematics: subjects that were generally taught to male students. four years later she was employed as an assistant teacher. her father married again and became the president of lane theological seminary. catherine and harriet founded a new seminary, the western female institute. with her sister, stowe wrote a childrens geography book. in 1834 stowe began her literary career when she won a prize contest of the western monthly magazine, and soon stowe was a regular contributor of stories and essays. her first book, the mayflower, first appeared in 1843. in 1836 stowe married calvin ellis stowe, a professor at her fathers theological seminary. he was a widower; his late wife had been stowes friend. the early years of their marriage were marked by poverty. over the next fourteen years stowe had seven children. in 1850 calvin stowe was offered a professorship at bowdoin, and the family moved to brunswick, maine. in cincinnati stowe had come in contact with fugitive slaves. she learned about life in the south from her own visits there and saw how cruel slavery was. in addition, the fugitive slave law, passed by congress in 1850, arose much protest - giving shelter or assistance to an escaped slave became a crime. and finally a personal tragedy, the death of her infant samuel from cholera, led stowe to compose her famous novel, uncle toms cabin. it was first published in the anti-slavery newspaper the national era, from june 1851 to april 1852, and later in book form. the story was to some extent based on both true events and the life of josiah henson. i could not control the story, the lord himself wrote it, stowe once said. i was but an instrument in his hands and to him should be given all the praise. when abraham lincoln met stowe he joked, so youre the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war. the novel was smuggled into russia in yiddish to evade the czarist censor. it also remained enormously popular after the revolution. stowes popularity opened her doors to the national literary magazines. she started to publish her writings in the atlantic monthly and later in independent and in christian union. for some time she was the most celebrated woman writer in the atlantic monthly and in the new england literary clubs. in 1853, 1856, and 1859 stowe made journeys to europe and became friends with george eliot, elisabeth barrett browning, and lady byron. however, the british public opinion turned against her when she charged lord byron with incestuous relations with his half-sister. in lady byron vindicated (1870) she accused lord byron in the writing. both the magazine atlantic, where the text first appeared, and stowe, suffered.in stowes appeal, we hear echoes of the two main themes of uncle toms cabin: motherhood and christian duty. she asks mothers to not allow more families to be broken apart, as were tom and elizas. she also tells christians that they have a duty to educate slaves. indeed, stowe is preaching to her readers, and her words evoke images of punishment upon the judgment day. stowe wants her readers to feel that time is short before they are punished for the sin of allowing slavery to exist; stowe demands nothing short of immediate action, that is, complete and full abolition of the brutal institution of slavery. stowe uses several generalizations about black people that are very racialized. though some of the things she attributed to blacks were positive, any kind of broad canvas of attributes to one race is misleading and wrong, its called stereotyping.the emphasis on christianity may have been effective in changing some peoples minds about slavery, but slavery was also enforced using religion as well. also, stowe seems to think that slaves were only good if they were very christian, not taking into account that slaves already had their own religions and moral base while in africa.iii. background on uncle toms cabin harriet beecher stowe is considered by many to have written the most influential american novel in history. indeed, uncle toms cabin was the first social protest novel published in the united states. in analyses of uncle toms cabin, many critics feel that stowes writing was deeply influenced by the fact that her father, husband, and brothers were all ministers. because she was a woman and therefore could not preach, stowe let her christianity inspire her first, most important and influential novel. stowe was also inspired by her personal experience with the antislavery movement during her childhood on the northern side of the ohio river, a border between slave states and freedom. with the urging of her sister-in-law, stowe decided to use her writing skills to further the abolitionist, or anti-slavery, cause. thus, uncle toms cabin was born. it began as a series of stories throughout 1851-52 for the national era, a washington abolitionist newspaper. upon its publication in 1852 by the boston publishing company jewett, uncle toms cabin became so popular that it sold more copies than any book before that with the acception of the bible. stowe toured the united states and europe to speak against slavery and wrote a key to uncle toms cabin a year later, in 1853, to provide documentation of the truth upon which her novel is based. today, uncle toms cabin is valued because it raises still pertinent issues of racism in the united states, as well as inspiriting feminist thought on the role of women and the conjunction of race and sex. some criticize the novel, however, for being racist because of its sentimental and stereotypical characterizations of slaves. the triumph of the novel is not that it shows the widespread experience of slavery in the south, but rather that it portrays the personal tragedies the system caused. so too, uncle toms cabin challenged northerners to end their hypocrisy and recognize their participation in the propagation of slavery. moreover, it argued that slaves were not property, but human beings with emotions like those of the readers. for this reason, stowe chose to portray intimate stories to show the harm being done to individual humans. to the modern reader, uncle toms cabin may appear over-sentimental and preachy, but stowe wanted to inspire a strong emotional reaction of indignation in her readers.iv. short summary of uncle toms cabin: uncle toms cabin, described by stowe herself as a series of sketches depicting the human cruelty of slavery, opens with a description of arthur shelbys kentucky plantation during the antebellum period. although shelby is not characterized as a cruel master, he has nevertheless incurred serious debts- prompting him sell some slaves to avoid financial ruin. mr. haley, the slave trader, purchases uncle tom, shelbys loyal servant since childhood, and five-year-old harry, a beautiful and talented child who sings, dances and mimes. shelby regrets taking the child away from his mother, eliza, as much as he regrets betraying uncle toms faithfulness. eliza overhears mrs. shelby, a very religious woman, protesting her husbands decision, and decides to flee the plantation with her son. george, her husband from a neighboring plantation, has already left for canada via the underground railroad, a secret network of people who usher runaway slaves to freedom in the north. eliza plans to do the same, and tries to convince uncle tom to save himself and come with her. uncle tom, however, must remain loyal to his master, despite his betrayal and the risk of death at the cruel hands of a new master, and does not accompany eliza on her journey to the ohio river. haley searches for eliza in vain, for she is spurred on by fear of losing her child and reaches the river quickly. amazingly, eliza crosses the river by jumping from one ice flow to the next. upon reaching the shore in ohio, mr. symmes, a man who has observed her brave feat, listens to her story. fortunately, symmes hates slave traders and thus takes eliza and harry to the house of senator bird, where they receive food and lodging. ironically, bird has just voted for a bill prohibiting aid to fugitive slaves, but the senator is very moved by elizas story. he thus changes his convictions and takes the runaways to a quaker settlement, where they stay with the halliday family. coincidentally, elizas husband george has sought refuge in this very community, and the young family is reunited. the quakers help the family board a ship for canada before haleys hired slave hunters, loker and marks, can capture them. after the hunt for eliza and harry fails, haley returns to shelbys to collect the other half of his purchase, uncle tom. the slaves at the plantation are very mournful, but tom remains placid and tries to read his bible for comfort. on the steamboat to new orleans, where tom is to be sold, tom befriends an angelic little girl, little eva st. clare. uncle tom saves the five-year-old beauty from drowning, and she convinces her father to buy tom for her own family. tom finds life on the st. clare plantation agreeable, for although he is head coachman he spends most of his time with little eva. the love