Mrs. Stowe and the Women Images in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.doc

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1、斯托夫人和汤姆叔叔的小屋中的女性形象Mrs. Stowe and the Women Images in Uncle Toms CabinContentsAbstract.1Key words.1Introduction.2Writing direction.2Analysis of the women characters.4The characters attitudes towards destiny.9Origin of history.11Conclusion.12References.12Mrs. Stowe and the Women Images in Uncle Toms C

2、abin摘 要：通过对书中几位女性形象的分析，本文着重探讨了作者哈里叶特比彻斯托对于奴隶制的看法以及她所认为的基督教在改变社会方面发挥的作用。以上这两点都是与她本人所处的时代与生活环境密切相关的。并且，本文对伊莉莎的反抗精神给予了更多的关注。尽管斯托夫人提倡非暴力的反抗和基督教的博爱精神。但她对奴隶细致入微的刻画更进一步激发了奴隶的反抗斗争。这也就是林肯称她为：“引起一场大战的小妇人”的原因所在。关键词：伊莉莎 伊娃 奴隶制 基督教 废除Abstract: By analyzing the women characters in this novel, this thesis discusse

3、s Harriet Beecher Stowes idea about slavery and christianitys role in changing the society, which was deeply rooted in her time and place. Moreover, this thesis speaks highly of Harriet Beecher Stowes courage in giving Elizas rebellious spirit. Detailed description of slavery in Stowes novel did pro

4、mote the anti-slavery campaign. President Lincoln reportedly called her “the little lady who wrote the book that made this big war!”Key words: Eliza Eva slavery Christianity abolition Mrs. Stowe and the Women Images in Uncle Toms CabinIntroduction:It was in the days when African slavery flourished u

5、nder the free skies of America. Evil times had befallen the house of Shelby and pressing debt required the sacrifice of a portion of the holding of the Kentucky planter in human chattels. Uncle Tom instead of the freedom that had been promised him as the reward of a lifetime of devoted service, foun

6、d himself torn from wife, home and children, transferred to the hand of unscrupulous trader, and consigned to the terroridden slave-markets of the lower Mississippi. So trusted had the black man been that numerous avenues of escape lay open to him. But Tom is a kindhearted docile black slave, sincer

7、ely believes in God, submits to the oppression of the slave owners, and hopes to gain freedom loyally and forbearingly. His fidelity to his master was too strong, and fearing to involve himself in further difficulties, he bravely faced the misery of the future. Luckily, on the voyage down to the Mis

8、sissippi, Tom encountered a fairy-like little girl named Eva, who clung to him as to an old and beloved friend. The little girls father Augustine.St.Clare bought him from the trader for the reason that Tom won little Evas life back from the swirling waters of the Mississippi into which she had falle

9、n. Though St.Clare promised Uncle Tom his freedom, but the light of joy disappeared after the sudden death of him. As the plot progressed, Tom was bought by an other planter Simon Legree who made Tom suffered the cruel treatment at his hands. Simon Legree the uniformly evil villain threatened Toms b

10、elief in God, but Tom withstanded his doubts and died the death of a Christian martyr.When Uncle Tom gradually fell into worse states of oppression, Harris family also in their escape to freedom. Eliza Harris, in the dead of winter, over the ice-bound waters of Ohio river, by the “underground” to Sa

11、ndusky, and thence to freedom in Canada. Just like his wife Eliza, George Harris who loves his family deeply and willingly fights for his freedom. Not surprisingly, the action of George in the escape narrative moved increasingly northward, with Canada representing its endpoint and the attainment of

12、freedom by the escaped slaves.At the end, the escaping group in which there were George and Eliza and it also including Cassy and Emmeline who had suffered the cruel treatment of Simon Legree was reunited in Canada after many years. In Kentucky, George Shelby, the son of Toms former master, set all

13、the slaves free in honor of Toms memory when his father died. He urged them to think back to Toms sacrifice every time they look at his cabin and to lead to pious Christian life, just as Tom did. Writing direction:Obveriously, two main stories dominate the novelthe story of Uncle Tom and the story o

14、f George and Eliza. One story serves as a slavery narrative, chronicling Uncle Toms descent into increasingly worse states of oppression. The other story is an escape narrative, chronicling Eliza and Georges flight to freedom. Its not surprising that a lot of reviewers are paying more attention to d

15、ocile Uncle Tom or George who can bravely pursue his freedom. And the term “Uncle Tom ”became an insult, conjuring image of an old black man eager to please his white masters and happy to accept his own position of inferiority. And some are grasped by the white slave owner of St.Clare who appears in

16、 the middle of the novel. Well, today it is my aim to focus on women images in this novel. Why do I choose them as the protagonists in my article?Firstly, as an authoress, Mrs.Stowe portrayed many kinds of women in the book; most of them are morally conscientious, committed, and courageousindeed, of

17、ten as more morally conscientious, committed and courageous than men. The political views and religion faith of the authoress in some sense have been transmitted to the women images at the same time. And Jane. J.Tompkin has revealed that the book is written by woman and about woman. So, it is necess

18、ary to follow Mrs. Stowe to analyze the women images just because she is a female.Secondly, as a female reader, the women images in the book attract me deeply. Though the description of the destiny of Uncle Tom have took a large number of spaces and his sincere believe in God have aspaired more and

19、more readers, I still incline to concern the lively destinies of women images. Their influences in the book is inestimable. Eliza who proves the force of her motherly love as well as her strength of spirit by making a spectacular escape. Her crossing of the Ohio River on patches of ice is the novels

20、 most famous scene. And Eva is an absolutely perfect childa completely moral being and an unimpeachable Christian. She becomes one of the most important figures in Toms life and one of the texts central Christ figures. Miss Ophelia who opposes slavery in the abstract. However, she finds actual slave

21、s somewhat distasteful and harbors considerable prejudice against them. After Evas death, and through her relationship with Topsy, Ophelia realizes her failings and learns to see slaves as human beings. Meanwhile there are some women who do not act morallysuch as Prue in her drunkenness or Cassy wit

22、h her infanticide. But the womens sins are presented as illustrating slaverys evil influence rather than the womens own immorality. Not all women appear as special as them, rather, they are the best represents of that period which the author concerns. And they are worthy to be concerned.Thirdly, all

23、 the women characters are not representatives of individual ones, but the representatives of the black group. The cruel treatment they suffered is the treatment suffered by the black slaves. The sorrowful living conditions are in some senses the reality in south America before America Civil War. So

24、successful is the novel in describing the miserable life of the women slaves and the evils of slavery, and in characterizing that its women characters have become the popular representatives of the unusual history. So, if some one wants to grasp the social background of the novel and to dig into the

25、 power of its anti-slavery theme, women images can be a key to the destination. Analysis of the women characters:In the novel, Eliza clearly carries another kind faith which will obtain final freedom by resisting .She is Mrs. Shelbys maid, Georges wife, Harrys mother, she is an intelligent, beautifu

26、l and brave young slave, she has been brought up more indulgently by the Shelbys. While her husband ,George, is already bitter because his master had put him to work in the fields when he is capable of doing better work, he promises to his wife that some day he will has his revenge upon his hard mas

27、ters .When Eliza hears what he says ,she begs him not to try anything rash, but when Eliza learns that host Shelbys spculation on the stock market fails, and Mr. Shelby determines to pay his debt in kind to sell Tom and little Harry of her ,she immediately proves the force of her motherly love as we

28、ll as her strength of spirit by fleeing with her son in that very night ,as a female reader, my tears gush out ,and readers can also share my feeling by reading chapter seven “mother s struggle”: “if it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader,

29、tomorrow morning,- if you had the seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve oclock till morning to make good your escape,- how fast would you walk? How many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling at your bosom, - the litt

30、le sleepy head on your shoulder, - the small, soft arms trustingly holding on to your neck?”Having finished reading this passage, the readers and I must be moved by it.” The descriptions of the mother love about Eliza in the article have great relations with Stowes own experience. Harriet Beecher an

31、d Kelvin Stowe had seven children after getting married in 1836. For these children, Mrs. Stowe put all mother love into them which is different from the love of male. On July 24th, 1849, one of her son died young unfortunately. This made her very miserable. While finishing her own works, she could

32、completely understand the experience of the pitiful woman slave whose child will be separated from her. Based on this feeling and strong mother love, Mrs Stowe did not wish Eliza to be separated from her son, so she gave the strength to Eliza to resist, Eliza has her son in arms at night, when facin

33、g the capturing of slaves dealer, the future of her son and her is up to her. A thousand lives seemed to be concentrated in that one moment to Eliza, her room faced by a side door to the river, she caught her child, and sprang down the steps towards it, the trader caught a full glimpse of her just a

34、s she was disappearing down the bank; and throwing himself from his horse, and calling loudly on Sam and Andy, he was after her like a hound after a deer .In that dizzy moment her feet to her scarce seemed to touch the ground ,and a moment brought her to the waters edge, right on behind they came an

35、d nerved with strength such as God gives only to the desperate, with one wild cry and flying leap, she vaulted sheer over the turbid current by the shore, on to the raft of ice beyond, it was a depredate leapimpossible to anything but madness and despair; and Halay, Sam and Andy ,instinctively cried

36、 out ,and lifted up their hands ,as she did it .The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and created as her weight came on it ,but she stayed there not a moment .with wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake; stumblingleapingslipping -springing

37、 upwards again ! her shoes are gone her stockings cut from her feet while blood marked every step; but she saw nothing, felt nothing, till dimly, as in a dream, she saw the Ohio side, and a man helping her up the bank.” This exciting scene of escaping on the ice-cubes floating on the river of Ohio h

38、as touched more readers. At this very moment, the image of Eliza has a deeper meaning than the spirit of her husband George Harris. And this scene also represents the more general instances of peril and heroism involved in any slaves journey to freedom.As the novel progresses, we can find that Mrs.

39、Stowe focuses on the relationship between women such as Eliza and their families, demonstrating how slavery breaks these in,Mrs. Stowe may have hoped that her women readers would identify particularly themselves with these wronged women characters, convince them the evil of slavery . If Elizas attem

40、pt to escape explores the theme of slavery from the standpoint of a noble hero ness, the story of Pure explores the same theme from the standpoint of a tragic victim, although Stowe has had her characters discuss at length the evils of slavery, she now illustrates her point graphically, intending to

41、 shock the reader on a deeply emotional level. Until Stowe introduces Pure, all of the slaves seem to receive comparably decent treatment; the most cruelty they suffer seems to come when they are between owners, in trade and in transit. But slavery ruins Pure, even before it literally claims her lif

42、e to sell and she has been destroyed morally and psychologically.Prue, a slave from down the street, comes into the kitchen bearing hot rolls to sell. Prue says she is miserable and wishes she were dead. In response to the remark of another slave, she admits getting drunk in order to alleviate her s

43、orrows because a former master used her to breed children to sell at the slave market. After being sold to her current master, she gave birth to another baby and gratefully anticipated being able to raise the child, having had so many taken from her over the years .However, her mistress soon fell il

44、l, and the long hours that Pure had to spend at her bedside, away from her own baby, caused her milk to dry up. Her owners refused to pay for purchased milk, and the baby died of starvation. Undoubtedly, she has been treated as nothing more than an animal -useful for breeding other animal to selland

45、 she has been destroyed morally and psychologically. Here, as a female reader, it is natural that we can associate it with the black slaves miserable conditions before American Civil War, especially the living conditions of the black slaves of the women. They do not only bear ultra excessive physiol

46、ogical work, but also should stand the family collapse and childrens miserable condition. So most of the slave women refuse to give birth at that time. They force themselves to have abortion with the medicines, like Sue, etc. Though the method is not right, is the cruel slavery existence right in Am

47、erica at that time? The answer to be, the existence of the cruel slavery is not only right at that time, but also received the protection from the law. The US Congress has passed “slave law that captures escaping “in 1850. These legal provisions, the white man cant offer any help to the escaping bla

48、ck slave, let alone offer the place used as refuge for them. The northerners who shelter the escaping slave in the south will bear legal responsibility. Northerners should return black slave of the North to their “owner” in the South. This Bill stimulated the North anti-slavery campaign with strong condemnation. A lot of slave abolition people make up “subway to help the South black slave run away to the North free state or go up to north to Canada in the dark,