Uncle Tom's Cabin

Although some aspects of Uncle Tom's Cabin do seem to contradict some of the theories about children's literature that we have formed in class, others seem to fall in alignment as well.

One main thing that differs is the setting that we see the majority of the children living in. Many of the children talked about are slave children. Instead of being the typical carefree child, these children are often in harsh setting where the majority of the time they must act and work as adults. It is a darker setting than we have previously seen children in. They are not living the seemingly perfect, obedient lives with the one character flaw, but instead are surrounded by a culture of flaws within the slave holding south. Many of the situations we see children put in are very adult natured and typically seen as way beyond their years.

Some of the things that were indeed seemingly similar to me was the emphasis placed on family and a strong didactic nature to the storyline. First, much of these chapters' focus was in an essence on the importance and value of family. Without this focus, Eliza would never have felt it necessary to run away in the first place. It is for her son's best interest that she escapes. Harry is her driving force, her life source. We see from both Eliza and Mrs. Bird how important the role of family plays. For instance, Mrs. Bird is not all together against slavery, however, she is against the inhumane treatment of slaves as well as splitting between families. Finally, I do believe that Uncle Tom's Cabin has a didactic nature within it. First and foremost, it has a huge religious influence to it. Many times scripture is even alluded to. This fact alone has a large didactic nature to it. Any time scripture is quoted in literature, it usually has a heavy impact on the story line. We can see within the story, that the Bible is being used to teach both young and old. Also, Uncle Tom is a teacher figure within the story. For example, on page 105, we see Tom reprimanding the children for wishing harm on their slave masters. Tom is quick to rebuke the children and teach them that they must instead pray for the slave master's souls. Throughout the excerpt, we see Uncle Tom's compassionate, selfless, willing to teach nature. As a result, Tom is a hero and many people look up and respect him.