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2 4/27/12 Context Impacts Theme Essay Despite their different social backgrounds, ethnicity, and religious education, Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin and Fredrick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass books displayed similar abolitionist ideals. Even with their differing upbringings and circumstances, the themes of these books remains largely similar; that slavery is immoral. Through their works of literature, these two authors created different conditions in their books that intertwine during the social period to create a largely similar outcome. Their lives are vastly different, leading these works to reach similar conclusions about slavery, but making their arguments using real life examples, for Douglas, and an imagined drama, for Stowe. The context of these two authors further impacted the themes of these two novels, despite their common message of abolitionism. Harriet Beecher Stowe was the 6th of 11 children, daughter to a reverend minister in Litchfield, CT (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). Growing up as an evangelist and influenced mainly by what was considered true Christian ideals, her parents raised their children in the North to firmly believe on the grounds of equality for all, including slaves, and to be true abolitionists (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). As she had no experience with the cruelty of slavery, her background and childhood were nowhere near the same exposure of Frederick Douglass. The article states, Harriet believed her purpose in life was to write. Her most famous work exposed the truth about the greatest social injustice of her day-human slavery (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). She was a privileged child, having always been supported by her father and siblings to further her education past ornamental arts and into academic fields, and to hope that she as well as her brothers and sisters would shape the world and follow Gods word and

Georgina Burros Pd. 2 4/27/12 their will to influence society and fight for the less advantaged (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). Her groundbreaking work, Uncle Toms Cabin, was a fictional novel in which she exposed the extreme cruelties of slavery, resulting in some negative criticism as she had never experienced slavery herself, and was an advantaged young lady that had never encountered the horrors she wrote about. This story was fictional but did portray many of the realities. This is shown on page 10, when a man is interested in selling a Kentuckian plantation owners slaves, Fact is, I could never do things up the way some fellers manage the business. Ive seen em as would pull a womans child out of her arms, and set him up to sell, and she screechin like mad all the time, and set him up to sell, and she screechin like mad all the time,--very bad policy--damages the article--makes em quite unfit for service sometimes. (Beecher Stowe). Frederick Douglass narrative contained a similar overall message that was similar to Uncle Toms Cabin, that slavery was immoral. However, the context of Frederick Douglass life, being a slave and having to struggle for his freedom, his right to learn to read and write and the challenge to become integrated as an equal member of society was exhibited in the true autobiography of his life, in which he escaped slavery (A Short Biography of Frederick Douglass). Being part of the lowest and most infringed upon social group of the time period, his writing rings true. His personal experiences are much more credible that Stowes work and lend more of a realistic theme to the book than Uncle Toms Cabin. As it is based on his life, he is able to accurately tell all of the cruelties he endured, including the racial discrimination and disadvantage he received as an African American (A Short Biography of Frederick Douglass). He goes through the book, telling his life up until the point where he escapes from slavery. He further explains how being a slave was not like how many others believed, how the cruelties

Georgina Burros Pd. 2 4/27/12 were unprecedented and the masters were not true Christians as they whipped their slave on many different occasions, and how slaves held a compassionate relationship among one another. He states in the narrative, I was however, somewhat indebted to the society of my fellow slaves. They were noble souls; they not only possessed loving hearts, but brave ones. We were linked and interlinked with each other. I loved them with a love stronger than anything I have experienced since. It is sometimes said that we slaves do not love and confide in each other. In answer to this assertion, I can say, I never loved any or confided in any people more than my fellow slaves, and especially those with whom I lived at Mr. Freedlands (Douglass 83). The social and cultural contexts of the work are similar. Though they are set in separate circumstances and areas of the country, their characters were part of the two lowest and disadvantaged social groups of the time period; women and slaves. Uncle Toms Cabin depicts the story of a Kentuckian slave who is sold down South, and at the hands of an evil plantation owner is whipped to death. This book exposed the extreme cruelties of slavery to the public, putting the spotlight on the horror of this issue. Stowe writes, The tragical fate of Tom, also, has too many times had its parallel, there are living witnesses, all over our land, to testify (Beecher Stowe 475.) As Douglass and Beecher Stowe continue to write about the horror of this issue, their abolitionist values and religious motivation formed a great factor in the books. As both authors are in favor of helping the less fortunate, the messages remain similar. However, the context of the authors and their social and cultural messages are also different due to a variety of factors.

Georgina Burros Pd. 2 4/27/12 As Harriet Beecher Stowe had no realistic and personal experience of slavery, her book is purely fictional and her values are represented clearly as the text is influenced by her gender, religion, and social views on slavery. Many of the characters developed, such as Mrs. Bird, a timid senators wife who believes in helping runaway slaves and womens rights, represent Beecher Stowes cultural values. The theme of abolitionism is impacted by her style of writing, and her work is fairly influenced by her evangelist ideals and fight for womens rights. Since she was raised knowing that slavery was awful, she was influenced by her childhood and race, being taught as a young lady in an abolitionist family that slavery was wrong. While she did do some preliminary research, her theme of abolitionism, while accurate and groundbreaking, is not as credible as Douglass. An article states that, In writing the book, Stowe drew upon her personal experience: she was familiar with slavery, the anti-slavery movement, and the underground railroad because Kentucky, across the Ohio river from Cincinnati, Ohio, where Stowe had lived, was a slave state (Harriet Beecher Stowe). Clearly the social and cultural context of this author and her views shaped this novels and altered the overall theme and outcome of the book, and its everlasting historical importance upon society. In conclusion, Frederick Douglass tells a narrative in which he shares the story of his life as an escaped slave, and how the cruelty is past what anyone should ever endure. An example of this is on page 100, Just as I did that, one of their number gave me, with his heavy boot, a powerful kick in the left eye. My eyeball seemed to have burst (Douglass). His personal experience and place in society further prompted him to write the book in which he explained the importance of abolitionism and how he was disadvantaged at gaining fundamental and basic human rights (A Short Biography of Frederick Douglass). He later became a personal advisor to

Georgina Burros Pd. 2 4/27/12 President Lincoln, a womens rights advocate and one of the leading faces of the abolitionist movement (A Short Biography of Frederick Douglass). His narrative speaks truth and resonated with thousands of abolitionists worldwide, including Harriet Beecher Stowe. Their messages were similar, but Frederick Douglass personal experience as a slave, his social context, impacted the theme of abolitionism more as his words were true, as he was an escaped slave. The context of Uncle Toms Cabin and the Narrative of Frederick Douglass both shared the same theme of abolitionism. However, the text of the work and their social circumstances of each author, regarding gender, race, social class, and religion impacted the overall theme in similar and different ways. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass corresponded with one another in letters discussing abolitionism. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, After all my brother, the strength & hope of your oppressed race does lie in the church (Letter from Harriet Beecher Stowe). As Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave, he knew about the horrors of slavery. While Harriet Beecher Stowe was not a slave like Frederick Douglass, she knew about the circumstances of slavery. The two authors were connected on many different social activism issues, but were different due to their backgrounds and education. They did achieve one identical accomplishment, being that their works influenced history and educated many individuals on this social issue. The context that each of these authors lived in impacted the theme of their books, as their different views and experiences led them to write works that had different tones, settings, and plot lines, but were both tied together with one main theme, that abolitionism fights against the extreme injustice done to many African Americans in the United States during this era.

Georgina Burros Pd. 2 4/27/12 Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of Frederick Douglass. New York: New American Library, n.d. Print. Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Penguin Group, n.d. Print. "Harriet Beecher Stowe's Life." Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. . Okerbloom, Mary Mark, ed. "Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography." A Celebration of Women Writers. UPenn Libraries, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. . "A Short Biography of Frederick Douglass." Frederick Douglass Comes to Life. Fremarjo Enterprises, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. . Stowe, Harriet Beecher. "Letter to Frederick Douglass 1851." Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. .