Genre Blog: Drown

A common theme that is present within Drown is change. The narrator begins the story talking about how things used to be with his friend Beto, "Days were spent in the mall or out in the parking lot playing stickball, but our nights were what we waited for (Diaz 92)." The narrator was used to spending days with his best friend who was two years older than him, but when it came time for Beto to go off to college the narrator wasn't sure how to deal with that and what was happening between the two of them. The narrator also isn't sure how he should change his life. He's not sure what choice he should make whether it is going into the army, staying on his path that he is on now, or going to college like Beto. I can relate to the feeling of change that the narrator is experiencing. The future can bring a lot of change and that can create a lot of stress. A lot of people experience the fear of change due to future things. There's always and internal debate of where to go to college, if college is the right path, or so many other options that can be considered. It's also hard to go from being in a place where you know everyone to a place where you know no one.
The quote that was stated above is important to this text because even beyond that quote the narrator in reminiscing almost the whole time. Although it's not directly stated, he is realizing that things aren't the same nor will they ever be. It seems that Beto has outgrown their old ways of selling drugs and committing crimes. He has moved on to being a good student at college and has gotten out of the city where he grew up and I think that's what changed Beto. The narrator doesn't really know if he wants to leave his city, but Beto is a good example that if someone can leave, the path they take will be better than one that will be taken by staying in that city. Beto said, "I don't know how you can do it, he said to me. I would just find me a job anywhere and just go (Diaz 91)." For the narrator, though, I don't think he can really just up and go like Beto. He has to worry about his mother. He doesn't have a father around so he feels like he needs to the man of the house and make the money for his mother. The easiest thing for the narrator to do to get money is sell drugs and steal things because that's what he grew up doing. As much as the narrator doesn't want change, I think the change he fears most is leaving his mother alone to change himself. At the end of the story where she tells the narrator to check the windows makes it seem like the narrator himself isn't the only one committing crime in that neighborhood, and to leave his mother alone with that kind of activities going on has got to be scary. I think this does connect to real life situations, there are plenty of kids/young adults who grow up in more poverty stricken areas without a father and they feel it is there job to care of their mother and it plays out just like this story. They could go to college to get themselves out of that situation and better themselves, but when it comes down to making that change they feel obligated to stay home to take care of their family by making money anyway they can and protecting them as well.


Díaz, Junot. Drown. London: Faber and Faber, 2008. Print.

Beloved Literary Analysis

The theme I chose in Uncle Tom's Cabin was religion because it was so predominant, but when reading Beloved the theme of religion was almost nonexistent. I think the reason for religion not having such a large role in Beloved was because Morrison doesn't have a motive behind her book. She wants to tell the raw, real truths of slavery and the lasting impact it made on so many African Americans. The few connections that can be made to religion within Beloved is Baby Suggs. She would preach to the community at her in the woods "'Listen here, girl,' he told her, 'you can't quit the Word. It's given to you to speak. You can't quit the word, I don't what all happen to you.' (Morrison 105)" which makes her seem like Uncle Tom for a little bit. She has that God-like stature when she is mentioned in the novel, whereas Uncle Tom was straight out depicted in words as "“a sort of patriarch in religious matters (Stowe 27)."
It's pretty obvious that religion isn't a very big theme within Beloved, but why? I think that it has something to do with what Jeanna Fuston-White was talking about within her article. "Beloved represents a working out of subjectivity through the representation of history," rather than what Uncle Tom's Cabin stands for. Morrison indirectly shows that almost no amount of religion can force you to overcome what has happened to a person. Hypothetically, if Sethe were a very religious person, I believe that the story or plot line would play out almost the same. Sethe is essentially scarred and wasn't like Uncle Tom who grew up with fairly decent slave owners who taught him unshakable faith. Sethe had a terrible upbringing with no education at all, let alone a religious education. "Morrison's narrative work poses a strong theoretical challenge to the Modernist tradition of knowledge, reason, language, history, and identity.(Fuston-White 461)." Although Beloved has an inconceivable, almost crazy scenario it does a great job of telling the truths and realities of African American slaves.
Although Uncle Tom's Cabin was recognizably one of the great novels, a lot of reviewers will argue that it embraces white-washing the true stories that did happen to slaves at that time " It is not only a white intellectual tradition that has required the black experience of slavery to be viewed through a white lens (Fuston-White 461)". Beloved doesn't do that, and if it included as much religion as Uncle Tom's Cabin it would. In Uncle Tom's Cabin all the slaves on the Shelby plantation knew about and were so passionate about religion because it was taught to them by white people. If it weren't for the white people within the book the slaves probably wouldn't even believe in a religion. Even within Uncle Tom's Cabin the solution for the white slave owner to deal with misbehaving slaves is to teach them religion, "Miss Ophelia busied herself very earnestly on Sundays, teaching Topsy the catechism (Stowe 213), forcing their religion on them. I also think that the absence of religion within Beloved was a literary move by Morrison. "Morrison found that American slave museums represented slavery through works of handicraft made by slaves, rather than with chains or restraining devices (Fuston-White 463)" Overall I think Morrison was really passionate about telling the real, sometimes even rare, stories that were a result of slavery and that's what drove her to peal away any white influence, namely religion, within Beloved.

Fuston, Jeanna. "From the Seen to the Told": The Construction of Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's "Beloved." African American Review, vol. 36, no. 3, Fall2002, pp. 461-473. EBSCOhost

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mineola, NY: Dover Pubublications, Inc., 2011. Print

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Paris: C. Bourgois éditeur, 2008. Print.

Beloved Contemporary Connections

An issue within the United States that has somewhat passed, is the election, but just because the election is over doesn't mean anything because Donald Trump is our new president. The election has caused many disputes and riots among many racially diverse groups.  A study done by Philip Klinkner from Hamilton College analyzed a survey done by the American National Election Study (ANES) to determine what this past election was about and the title says it all, "It’s Not the Economy, Stupid: Why Race, Religion, and Immigration “Trump” the Economy in the 2016 Election." Kinkner looked at the responses to several questions, "those who express more resentment toward African Americans, those who think the word 'violent' describes Muslims well, and those who believe that President Obama is a Muslim... (Klinkner)." Klinkner found that those who fit that criteria or answered with those anwers were usually had a higher support for Trump (Klinkner). "For example, moving from the least to the most resentful view of African Americans increases from Trump by 44 points, those who think that Obama is Muslim (54 percent of all Republicans) are 24 points more favorable to Trump, and those who think the word 'violent' describes Muslims extremely well are about 13 points more pro-Trump...(Klinkner)" He also found that attitudes about legal immigrations did not show favoritism towards either candidate. The everyday person was under the impression that the state of the economy was what would put either candidate over the other, but through this analytical article, it shows that the contributing factors were race, religion, and immigration. This connects to my theme of religion because people are discriminated constantly just because of what they believe in. In today's world Uncle Tom's Cabin would be ridiculed for such a religious presence, so many people are just against having any type of religion because those religious views get mixed in with politics and today no two people can agree to disagree. This event relates with Beloved because it shows how race is still playing a role in America so long after the abolishment of slavery. It also related to my overall theme of religion because it shows a different take on it compared to my previous blogs, it shows how people who fully believe in their faith are discriminated against.

Another article that pulls in both religion and race is about a letter that Iran's former President wrote to Trump, who recently had an executive order that banned travel from several countries. In his letter Ahmadinejad wrote about "the spread of  discriminatory, racist and profit-driven attitudes in human relations, as well as expansion of false boundaries and causing rifts among the people (Sepahvand)". The former President also used the fact that society is changing and becoming more accepting everyday and by placing the travel ban its just hindering the progress of an ever changing society (Sepahvand). This article related well to Beloved because Sethe, Denver and then Beloved are very isolated from society after what Sethe did, but not everyone in their community fully understood what Sethe had been through and that's what cut them off from everyone else. It wasn't until Denver reached out to them that they saw how much help she really needed.


Sepahvand, Mehdi. "Iran’s Ex-President Writes to Trump of Racial Discrimination." Trend Capital.English, Feb 26, 2017, Business Premium Collection.

Klinkner, Philip. "It’s Not the Economy, Stupid: Why Race, Religion, and Immigration “Trump” the Economy in the 2016 Election." ResearchGate. Hamilton College, June 2016. Web. 3 May 2017.

Critical Commentary Beloved

In the article "From the Seen to the Told": The Construction of Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved the author Jeanna Fuston-White talks about how in the novel the characters break out of the confines that is built by society because of their race, "Morrison's characters, who have been rendered voiceless and helpless by their society, speak, command reason, and demonstrate agency (Fuston-White 462)." She also discusses how Morrison wrote the book in a way that differentiates between "seen" and "told". Fuston-White says, "Therefore, she creates a new way of knowing and of telling the story that empowers the powerless, and that recalls the 'disremembered and unaccounted for,' those 'Sixty Million and more' who died as captives in the Middle Passage, never making it into American slavery (463)." In this article I think the author is analyzing Beloved as a representative of those who didn't make it through the middle passage and not solely Sethe's lost child.
This article adds to the understanding of the novel because it brings a whole new vantage point. I read several different takes on the book and quite a few stated that Beloved could represent the route to America and the other well-known hardships of African Americans, but in class we didn't really discuss that take on Beloved's character. It also helps to better understand the situation that Sethe was in when she decided to commit infanticide, I've never heard or read anything about slaves or previous slaves doing anything like that so at first it shocked me, but after reading "From the Seen to the Told": The Construction of Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved it provokes thought about if this was an actual reality for some African Americans. Personally, I never really thought about that while reading the book, I was too much in shock to even think past what Sethe had just done. It also provokes thought on what other horrific events or thoughts could have gone through slaves or previous slaves minds whether it was on their way over to America or after they had been freed or escaped. I really do like the analysis of Fuston-White, she says that Beloved is a thought provoking book, but to me, her article brings you to think about what she's saying, but then you're drawn into thinking about the novel and the characters and the events.

Fuston, Jeanna. "From the Seen to the Told": The Construction of Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's "Beloved." African American Review, vol. 36, no. 3, Fall2002, pp. 461-473. EBSCOhost.

Symposium Blog

The symposium presentation that I will be discussing is the one about biofeedback and anxiety. I thought overall the presentation was a really good one along with the idea. Anxiety gets to all of us, 6 million to be exact. It's good to have coping mechanisms that aren't always drug related. In extreme cases medications can be used with biofeedback mechanisms to help relieve the anxiety. I was also apart of the experiment done, but I was in the control group. I would have like to have been in the groups that learned biofeedback exercises because who doesn't want ways to deal with stress an anxiety. I wished that they would have given more examples to the audience to teach us, but also to other visually help us see what the exercises were and how they could possibly help us deal with stress. Their results were that those with the biofeedback mechanisms did in fact have less anxiety when reading embarrassing stories. I did find it interesting that they mentioned that theater members could act not embarrassed, but their vital signs showed that they were experiencing anxiety.

Beloved Reader Response

The common census on Goodreads.com is either absolutely hate it or absolutely love it, there is no middle ground. There are several reviews in the hatred category that comment on how incredibly complex Beloved, the character, is, to which I strongly agree with. Throughout the novel I found myself mad at the fact that I didn't know what she even was and she didn't even have to be anything because it's just a book. Also many others who said they didn't like Beloved felt that the book was written well, but thought it was boring and just had too many metaphors and hidden meanings. Personally I can see how that is bothersome in a book because so many are use to the metaphors and hidden meanings being in poems rather than novels. There were many that did like the book as well. Positive reviews loved how it showed the impacts of slavery and loved the characters.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved?from_search=true


On Amazon.com the was one review that although wasn't the overwhelming consensus, but it spoke to the recent happens within the world today. The reviewer said that he chose to read this book because he wanted to better understand the perspectives of how African Americans perceive and experience life after the killings of unarmed black men by police officers. This shows how relevant the book can be and how it bring understanding to a wide variety of situations. Overall the reviews on Amazon are a lot more positive with a lot more love for how Toni Morrison wrote Beloved. These reviewers love all the unanswered questions that are posed throughout the book and all the ethical dilemmas that Sethe is faced with. I can see why people do like the sense of mystery and wondering about the unanswered questions, but I just can't agree. Words do not describe how bad I want to know what the heck Beloved is.

https://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Toni-Morrison/dp/1400033411/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493071740&sr=1-1&keywords=beloved+toni+morrison

Barnes & Nobel had many positive reviews as well, but a lot of them noted how comprehensive this book is and that it takes time to completely understand the book and characters. A review that really resonates with me is from someone who first read it in college and then reread it some time later. In this very moment I don't really like Beloved it takes so much brain power to keep track of what's going on and is the past being talked about or who's talking. The reviewer mentions that there is a lot of historical background that helps with understanding. If the book and the historical moments where taught simultaneously I think the book would have more meaning and it would reinforce the historical moments that can be seen within the book. Overall, Barnes & Nobel had good reviews of the novel.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/beloved-toni-morrison/1001875673?ean=9781400033416



 

Genre Blog: Poetry; Diving into the Wreck

The theme that plays on throughout the poem is illusion. Many poems have that sense of illusion, but I think this poem does especially. It is a confessional poem so the actual meaning of the poem is going to be something personal or a topic that was rarely talked about at the time. I think a quote that really shows the illusion within the poem is "There is a ladder. The ladder is always there helping innocently close to the side of the schooner. We all know what it is for, we who have used it. Otherwise it's a piece of maritime floss some sundry equipment (2)."  Without research or digging deeper into our own minds, it's not straightforward and ultimately, it never really will be. All those objects can have different meanings to different people. That goes for the entire poem as well and I think that's part of the illusion, no one will really ever know without asking Adrienne Rich what the poem was actually about.

I researched about Adrienne Rich and this poem as a project and through that research I gained knowledge about confessional poetry. I learned that it's usually about a personal experience and Rich was a mother of three boys before the age of 30 (Poets.org 3). After that period in her life she began to write about the Vietnam war and women's rights (3). Some will argue that the poem is about gender identity or just the struggle of identity in society. It makes sense because women weren't really allowed to be outspoken and they didn't really have much of a role in society at the time the poem was written. It was also unusual for women to speak out publicly about wanting to have a better and bigger role in society. Also at that time it would've been completely outrageous for a woman to speak about gender identity.

The quote above could take on so many meanings depending on who's reading, but personally I think it's talking about the ladder being the choice to be outspoken. The ladder is close to the schooner, the boat, because they're all in the 'same boat' and some people in the boat have chose innocently to climb down that ladder and be outspoken and that ladder leads to wreck of what comes from being outspoken as a woman. Without the ladder being used, it's just there until someone else decides that they no longer want to sit around and they want to fight for equality with the rest in the wreck.

With this thinking about the poem it gives too much definition to the poem. I think poems are about having that sense of illusion, that way there can't be just one strict meaning, even if the author intended one, because it doesn't appeal to a wide variety of readers. Confessional poetry is about things that aren't talked about publicly, feelings, death, dark subjects and no one ever really knows what one is going though so even Diving into the Wreck can be thought of in some other way with some other situation and that's okay because that's poetry. Even with knowledge of Rich's past I think it's okay to take her poem that she intended to have a meaning for and put your own meaning to it. The meaning doesn't even have to be a woman experience. Some writers are working hard to make confessional poetry not so feminine. I think that it is important because some readers generalize confessional poetry which isn't fair to the writers who don't fit into that generalization.

Baym, Nina. The Norton anthology of American literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. Print.

"Adrienne Rich." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 02 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017

Confessional Poetry

Confessional poetry according to poets.org "is the poetry of the personal or 'I' (para. 1)." This type of poetry started in the 1950's and 60's. The topics were typically about topic that were regularly accepted or talked about in public, such as, death or suicide (1). An aspect of this type of poetry is the way they talk about their emotions with the word choice and how things are said (3). Some critics of the style of poetry say that it's self-absorbed or attention seeking.


Lady Lazarus written by Sylvia Plath draws write from her own life. The poem sounds like it is about suicide. Various stanza make it sound like she is her own enemy, "Peel off the napkin. O my enemy. Do I terrify?- (Plath 4)" In fact, in Sylvia's own life she faced suicide twice, this first time is what sparked this and many other works. She called on that experience to help her write poems. From the poem itself you can tell that she was unsuccessful in her attempt to kill herself, "And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty. And like the cat I have nine times to die (7)." That line does, in fact, reflect on her life. When she was 30 is when she committed suicide was successful. I believe that Plath wrote this poem as a form of therapy. An article title Seeking Solace: Confessional Poetry by Krista L. Klanderman gives details about how she used confessional poetry to help her fight depression after she tried many other forms of therapy, "After days of panic attacks and body numbing depression I sat alone in my room and wrote the following words:

Life has its ups and downs.

And that’s just it.

When we’re happy it seems nothing can bring us down.

When we’re sad it seems nothing can cheer us up.

But in the end we prove to ourselves

we’re wrong

because,

Life has its ups and downs.

Those short, clichéd sentences drew me out of my funk (Klanderman 4)." In Klanderman's case writing down what she calls "'words to live by"' were more powerful than talking to doctors and other kinds of therapies (4). Although Plath's and Klanderman's writing styles weren't exactly the same, it shows the different dimensions to confessional poetry. It can be dark and talk about personal things, but it can also be truthful and help to end dark times.

Another poem that is also considered confessional poetry is Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich. The poem is more open to meanings. Taking into account Rich's background and writing style of Vietnam War era and women's rights movement, Diving into the Wreck could be, generally speaking, about the identity of some type whether that's gender identity or just finding oneself in society. It's like she's diving into unchartered waters in the poem, "First having read the book of myths, and loaded the camera, and checked the edge of the knife-blade, I put on the body-armor of black rubber (Rich 1)." Also, throughout the poem it goes back and forth between being alone and then seeing others in whatever 'wreck' she is in. I think that signifies a feeling, like in certain situations one can feel completely alone, but in reality they aren't, by searching they will find others in the same boat that they are. I think the last stanza in the poem really captures that meaning very well, "We are, I am, you are by cowardice or courage the one who find our way back to this scene carrying a knife, a camera a book of myths in which our names do not appear (10)."

An article called Fatherhood in Confessional Poetry: One Facet of Men's Autobiographical Writing by Brian Brodhead Glaser gives an interesting comparison to the other two poems. In his article he tries to show the changes happening to confessional poetry, "Confessional poetry is being redefined. The term has always been ambiguous. (Glaser 25)" I think his main focus to show others that confessional poetry is changing because he is a man and as he states in his paper, "...in the rise of critical histories and theoretical works emphasizing the connections between autobiography and gender, a number of critics have approached the genre of confessional writing more broadly as a women's writing, exploring how writing works with and works out issues of women's experience and gender identity. (26)" Glaser also quotes Thomas Travisano and Adam Kirsch who both also argue against the term "confessional", "'how the confessional paradigm has prejudice, is still prejudicing, artistic evaluation.' (26)." Glaser does make a very good argument, both authors from the poems above were both women who both discuss identity issues and women's experiences. In his article, Glaser wants others to be able to see confessional poetry as a "men's autobiographical writing" (26). This article is important because it shows a literary movement within confessional poetry.

  

"A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 09 Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017

 "Adrienne Rich." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 02 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

Beckmann, Leipzig Anja. "Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)." Sylvia Plath Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

Glaser, Brian Brodhead. "Fatherhood in Confessional Poetry: One Facet of Men's Autobiographical Writing." College Literature, vol. 36, no. 4, Fall2009, pp. 25-45. EBSCOhost


Klanderman, Krista L. "Seeking solace: confessional poetry as therapy." MINDS@UW (2008): 1-77. Ebscohost. Web. 22 Mar. 2017

Rich, Adrienne. Diving into the wreck: poems 1971/1972. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.

 

Genre Blog: Drama; Streetcar Named Desire

One of many themes with in Streetcar Named Desire is abuse/gender roles. Stanley and Stella have a very specific type of relationship throughout the book. A quote that displays this is when Stanley says, "All Right. I'll wait till she gets through socking in a hot rub and then I'll inquire if she is acquainted with the Napoleonic code. It looks like you have been swindled, baby, and when you're swindled under the Napoleonic code I'm swindled too. And I don't like to be swindled. (Bayum, Levine 1171)"

The theme of gender roles goes back to last semester when I took Women in Pop Culture. We learned a lot about feminism and how gender roles were developed. Before first wave feminism it was common for men to be extremely overbearing compared to today where equality isn't achieved, but it's closer than it used. I think back when the play was written abuse in married couples was more common and that's why Stella always brushes it off throughout the play. Men were highly entitled in 1947 when the play was written and women were used to that. I also think Stella was a more outspoken women who really did try to rule her house just as much as Stanley. Also when Stella found out that Stanley had raped Blanche she really didn't have a choice, but to trust her husband over her sister which is an interesting dynamic.

The quote above is important because not only does it show gender roles and Stanley's need to get his chunk of Stella's share, but it's also a turning point within the book. After the quote is said, Blanche begins to act differently which gives readers a hint that there may be something being hidden from then. The gender roles comes out in that quote because it shows that Stanley could possible to jealous of what Stella once has, he often gets mad when he is compared to where Stella came from, so I think that this is his way of taking part of that away from he so he has part of it. Who even really knows if the Napoleonic code it a real thing-which it is, but only in Louisiana was it adopted as a code stating that men have a piece in their wife's dealings. Wikipedia says that the most common use of the Napoleonic code defined as a men having a piece in their wife's dealing is in this play alone (paragraph 25).

This play was written so long ago that viewers or readers of the play wouldn't have even batted an eye at the abuse that took place throughout the book. I'm almost positive that gender roles were never even discussed once as the play came out either. If feminism and the fight for equality would have been as prodomient as they are today I'm not sure that the play would have had the abuse that it did. Personally, I don't think that it plays such a huge role that it's necessary to include every detail of it. Again, if the public were as sensitive as the public today many people would think the play is really messed up because the physical and sexual abuse it's a necessity. I do feel that the play could go on without those aspects, but of course it wouldn't be the same.

Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton anthology of American literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. Print.

"Napoleonic Code." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Mar. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Literary Analysis

Religion is such a big theme within Uncle Tom’s Cabin for good and bad reasons. The Shelbys instill religion in the slaves that they own which results in slaves that can be fully trusted and who can carry on that faith even when they are in not ideal situations. Uncle Tom is the most religious character throughout the entire book. When first introduced to Uncle Tom he is described as “a sort of patriarch in religious matters (Stowe 27)” which right away gives readers a sense of the Christ-like figure that’s been talked about in class and that was mentioned in comments of some reviews. It was mentioned in one of the reviews that in the book the characters are either good Christians, bad Christians, or a wannabe Christian and I think that is true. The Shelbys are very good Christians, Mrs. Shelby is quoted saying, “’O, Mr. Shelby, I have tried-tried most faithfully, as a Christian woman should do- to do my duty to these poor, simple, dependent creatures’ (29),” that shows that she really is a Christian woman, but is also problematic. The stereotypical Christian that everyone thinks of is always caring, kind, doesn’t say a bad word about anyone the question arises how can Mrs. Shelby speak like that about the slaves her husband owns if she claims to care so much. Stowe uses the religious aspect to provoke some thought, because what she said wasn’t “Christian-like” but in the same sentence she calls herself a Christian woman.

As the story progresses the masters the Uncle Tom experiences get progressively worse, Mr. Shelby was great, St. Clare was great but his wife wasn’t, and then to Legree which we all know is the worst place Tom has been at, but as the places get worse for Uncle Tom his faith gets stronger. He knew that God was testing him and although his faith seemed to waiver at times, he stuck with it even when he was basically on his death bed, “’The Lord God hath sent his angel, and shut the lion’s mouth for this time,’ said Tom (323).” I think Stowe uses Tom to show what good religion can do, no one else seems to be as pure and perfect about religion as Tom and there’s plenty more instances were religion is playing a role in this book and none of those will compare to the faith of Tom. I can see why Stowe does that, throughout the book those with the best faith are the slaves, for the most part, and it makes sense because at the time this book was being written whites didn’t think slaves were good people or even equal, but by showing that slaves have one of the best faith out of anyone it gives a common ground for whites and blacks, just like in the Appeal, in Four Articles says whites can’t bare blacks enough to worship God together. Religion is used in such a variety of ways throughout the book and I think that’s a reason that some readers at the time were so drawn in, it’s relatable to them and it shows so many different variations of Christianity.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mineola, NY: Dover Pubublications, Inc., 2011. Print.
Walker, David. Walker's appeal in four articles. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1989. Print.

Critical Commentary

In Everybody’s Protest Novel by James Baldwin it is explained that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a bad novel, but for different reason than what was seen in the modern-day comments on various book sites. Baldwin calls into question Stowe’s literary abilities, because after all she wasn’t a writer, she was an abolitionist or as Baldwin calls her a “pamphleteer” on page 533 of the second edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Although it was called a bad novel that’s not to say that it didn’t do the job it was intended to do, it was meant to show the horrors of slavery, which it successfully did. The text by Baldwin also talks about Stowe’s literary choices she made with the characters, “apart from her lively possession of field-hands, house-niggers, Chloe, Topsy, ect.- who are the stock, lovable figures presenting no problem- she only has three other Negroes in the book (Baldwin 534).” That is followed by how right away two of three can be ignored and the one left is Uncle Tom (534).  Overall the text seeks to analyze the choices made by Stowe and how those effect the story. The part that relates to the theme of religion is on page 535 where a brief paragraph describes how Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a theological terror that sparks the novel right away (535). Baldwin comes the religion used in the novel to “medieval times which sought to exorcize evil by burning witches (535).” This helps to gain understanding of the novel because give such a comparison makes it easier to come to terms with religion is used to terrorize some people, which is actually part of what Stowe does, she makes people question how religion can be used to justify something so terrible. Personally, I do agree with most of what Baldwin says within the text, he brings up very good, interesting points, some unrelated to the theme of religion, but nevertheless it makes readers think about things, such as, why is there basically one black character in a book written to abolish slavery. It was a very thought provoking text to read.

Baldwin, James. Everybody's protest novel. Indianapolis: College Division, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1949. Print.

Reader Response

The overall tone of reviews on Goodreads was that most people either just liked it or they liked it and hated it at the same time with various reasons defending their position. The review I chose was one that didn't mind the book, but also didn't like it as well. The reviewer gave 3 reasons as to why the book was interesting, one being that feminism was involved, two being Uncle Tom as Christ, and three was "The unrelentingly Christian aspect of the novel," The reviewer puts it well, "Either you're a Christian and good or not Christian and bad. Or, you are struggling between the two, and trying to attain the title of Christian." I do believe that really is the dynamic within the characters. The Shelbys are good Christians, but overall the slaves are the best Christians compared to anyone in the book. Overall, I agree with this review and most reviews on Goodreads.

On Barnes and Nobel, the comments were shorter and less descriptive, mostly people thinking that this is a very good book to read in high school. The Christian views on the book persisted here as well. The review I chose from Barnes and Nobel called Uncle Tom "...quintessential Christian" which I agree with. He also goes on to say that "anyone who suggests this is anything but a great read either hasn't read the book, didn't understand the book or simply doesn't have a conscience." I think that's a little harsh, as seen on Goodreads there are reasons to not like the book. Many comments have said that the end of the book is extremely preachy, but that understandable because religion is such a large theme throughout the book and when the book was written that what many people thrived on.

On Amazon, many people were saying that this book is very relevant in today’s world, not because of the religion or even racism, but because "Stowe understands the frailty and weakness of human nature and she writes the stories in the context of slavery but it's much more than just the horrors of slavery." I like what this reviewer is saying, although back when this story was written it was all about the abolition of slavery, but when read today it can be interpreted in a different meaning that being that humans act on other things like greed and that can be costly to someone else. The reviewer says it best when they say "She has a message that is not only applicable to the 19th century, but to us today as well."

"Goodreads." N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2017.  <https://www.goodreads.com/>.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin." N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <https://www.amazon.com/>.

Noble, Barnes &. "Books." Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <http://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/>.

Textual Background

I chose Appeal, in Four Articles from pages 423- 426. This artifact is like a calling to all colored people around the world to come together, it also questions why white people have made them to be slaves. This text contributes to the understanding of Uncle Tom's Cabin because it's written by a black man, it gives insight into what they are thinking and it's solely for them, there isn't any immediate white culture forced into it. It goes into the cruelties that they faced. It also brings religion into play because during the text there is a lot of referencing to God and religion, which is my theme of choice. Uncle Tom's Cabin constantly uses religion as a justification for nearly anything, good or bad. This helps understand why so many slaves, namely Uncle Tom, preach the word of God and that's what keeps him going through all his hardships that he faces throughout the book especially when he's practically on his death bed, "Nerve and bone of that poor man's body vibrated to those words, as if touched by the finger of God; and he felt the strength of a thousand souls in one" (Stowe 349). The quote that really jumps out in the Appeal, in Four Articles is "They will not suffer us to meet together to worship the God who made us" (Walker 425). Although not every slave owner believes in God or is extremely holy, but this does resonate with quite a few slave owners like the Shelbys and when Uncle Tom is helping St. Clare realize there is a God just before he is about to die. The quote also reinforces Stowe's agenda of abolishing slavery, if they all worship the  God that made them then why can they not worship together. The religion theme is really versatile throughout the whole book, it's used to justify slavery, justify why events happen, and it's used by Stowe to help end slavery.


Walker, David. Walker's appeal in four articles. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1989. Print.