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.
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