In five pages this paper discusses the enduring appeal of this abolitionist novel in a consideration of the author's employment of parody and melodrama for striking social commentary. Two sources are cited in the bibliography.
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found within the society itself as well as the real and unreal expectations. These issues are found reflected in the attitudes and beliefs of the people and in literature.
Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin is based on stereotypes, yet seeks to present the slave as a human being with foibles and greatness. Her use of parody
has caused many modern readers to criticize the book as perpetuating stereotypes, however, (Thesis) through the use of melodrama and parody, Uncle Toms Cabin made a strong, abolitionist statement.
The story is focused on the life of Tom, a Christian slave. He is born into slavery and is first owned by a family in Kentucky that treats
him fairly and with a certain modicum of respect. The family becomes indebted, however, and Tom is sold to Simon Legree. This infamous character is the epitome of
evil: cruel, unforgiving and hedonistic. Stowe presents the distinction of good versus evil as the theme for the book and does so in a way that has caused considerable
debate over time. At the time of publication it was recognized as an abolitionist treatise in the form of parody. "Many northerners were shocked into a hatred
for the institution so melodramatically described"(Anonymous 1094). The storys popularity was such that, when introduced to Stowe during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is said to have called her
the little lady who made this big war. The novel also affected the American language: Uncle Tom became an epithet for passive, usually older blacks (paradoxically, considering that Tom
will answer to no white man, only to God), and Simon Legree became a synonym for evil and for slavemasters of all types (Anonymous 1094). The character of Tom represents,