The Cabin of Uncle Tom

Author: (American) Harriet Beecher Stowe / Sun Lin / Zhang Yimin / Shu Hong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-06-21
Features: Uncle Tom's Cabin is the highest achievement of 19th-century abolitionist literature and a pioneer of the post-war realist novel movement. It widely and profoundly reflects the darkness and backwardness of the southern slave society, exposes and condemns the barbarity and reaction of slavery, and played a very important role in awakening the public to oppose slavery, promoting the abolitionist movement, and the Civil War. It also had an immeasurable impact on the awakening of oppressed peoples around the world. After more than 100 years of testing, its great achievements and influence have been increasingly recognized by world opinion. Uncle Tom's Cabin broke the long-standing dominance of romanticism in fiction, employing realistic techniques and interwoven narrative to present the development of the story, achieving good artistic effects. It is written with delicate prose, vivid descriptions, and successful portrayals of various types of characters. World literary masterpieces, with their beautiful language, rich artistic expression, and the broad social reality and profound ideological connotation they reveal, have long been loved by readers. The reading of world literary masterpieces plays an irreplaceable role in helping people understand the cultural psychology and aesthetic tastes of different times and ethnic groups, and in cultivating the sound personality and deep humanistic spirit of young people through subtle influence. To meet the needs of the general readers, this illustrated edition of The Treasury of World Literary Masterpieces has been launched. Although titled "World Literature," the selected works are exclusively foreign literary works. The publisher has long been committed to foreign literature publishing and has a considerable number of renowned domestic translators. Especially in the publication of foreign literary masterpieces, the publisher has gradually achieved its own unique character and won the deep love of the general readers. The selection of this series of works refers to the extracurricular reading recommended by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and expands the scope further on this basis. Most of the selected works are the famous translations accumulated by the publisher. To enhance reading interest, each work is accompanied by exquisite illustrations. The publisher will further get closer to new and old readers, striving to make this series comprehensive, rigorously selected, meticulously edited, and finely produced, making it convenient for readers to read and collect. The publisher also hopes that new and old readers will pay attention to this series and continuously propose good suggestions to better meet the needs of the general readers. Uncle Tom's Cabin, also translated as Clotel and Uncle Tom's House, was written by American female writer Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896). Harriet Beecher Stowe was born into a ministerial family and had once been a teacher. She lived in Cincinnati for 18 years, just across the river from the southern slave-owning towns, which gave her the opportunity to meet some escaped slaves. The tragic fate of the slaves deeply moved her. She herself had traveled to the South and personally experienced the situation, and Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in this context. The book was first serialized in the National Era in 1852 and immediately caused a strong reaction, receiving unparalleled popularity. Within years, it was printed more than 100 times domestically and sold over 300,000 copies, later being translated into more than 20 languages and published worldwide. Critics believed that the book played a major role in inspiring anti-slavery sentiment among the public and was considered one of the causes of the American Civil War. Later, when President Lincoln met Stowe, he jokingly called her a "little woman who wrote a book that started a war." This witty remark fully reflects the immense impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The story begins with a slave owner and a slave trader bargaining. Shelby, a slave owner in Kentucky, loses money in the stock market and decides to sell two slaves to pay his debts. One is Tom, who was born on Shelby's plantation and served as a small household helper in his childhood, much beloved by his master. As an adult, he became the head of household staff, loyal and devoted to his master's interests. The other slave to be sold is the mixed-race daughter of Eliza, Harry, the son of Eliza. Eliza is not a slave who submits passively to her master's will. When she accidentally overhears her master intends to sell Tom and her son Harry, she flees with her child at night, jumping into the ice-covered Ohio River and escaping to a free state, then fleeing to Canada. Her husband, George Harris, a slave on a nearby plantation, also escapes and reunites with her, bringing their child with them. After enduring many hardships, they successfully reach Canada with the help of abolitionist organizations. Tom, however, has a different fate. He knows and supports Eliza's escape but does not flee himself. Since he was taught by slave owners to fear God, endure suffering, and be loyal to his master, he has no complaints when his master decides to sell him to pay debts and willingly submits to his master's will. He is sold to New Orleans and becomes the slave of the slave trader Haley. During a drowning accident, Tom saves the life of the young daughter of a slave owner, Eva. Her father, St. Clare, buys Tom from Haley and makes him a household servant, driving the carriage for the family. Tom and the little girl develop a bond. Soon after, the little girl suddenly dies, and St. Clare, following his daughter's wishes, decides to free Tom and the other black slaves. However, before the legal procedures for emancipation can be completed, St. Clare is killed in an accident. St. Clare's wife does not free Tom and the other black slaves but sends them to the slave auction market. From then on, Tom falls into the hands of an extremely cruel slave owner on the "Red River" plantation, Legree. Legree treats the black slaves as "talking animals," whipping them at will and inflicting private punishments. Tom endures this inhuman torture but does not think of finding a way out for himself, instead silently adhering to the principle of being a good person. The two female slaves on the plantation decide to flee to save their lives and hide. Legree suspects Tom of helping them escape, ties him up, and whips him severely until he is near death. But Tom eventually shows his resistance to the slave owner and says nothing. When Tom is on the brink of death, his former master, George Shelby, the son of the slave owner who sold him earlier, comes to buy him back. Because Tom was the childhood servant and playmate of young Shelby, Tom is already too injured to receive his former master's belated help and dies with his body covered in wounds. George Shelby violently knocks Legree to the ground and buries Tom on the spot. After returning to his hometown of Kentucky, young Shelby frees all the black slaves he owns in Tom's name and tells them, "Whenever you see Uncle Tom's cabin, you should remember your freedom." Uncle Tom's Cabin portrays both different types of black slaves and the faces of slave owners. It vividly depicts Tom, a black slave who accepts the Christian spirit instilled by slave owners and endures suffering passively, as well as black slaves with a spirit of resistance who refuse to let slave owners decide their fate, such as Eliza and her husband George Harris. At the same time, it reveals the inner worlds and different behaviors of various types of slave owners. Through the descriptions of Tom and the couple George Harris, the book tells readers that Tom, who submits passively to his master's will, cannot escape a tragic fate, while George and his wife, who dare to resist and fight, are reborn. Therefore, Uncle Tom's Cabin had a positive impact on social development, especially in supporting the abolitionist movement in the United States and the victory of the just side, represented by Lincoln, in the Civil War. As a literary work, the famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said it was "the greatest victory in literary history."