The novel entitled Uncle Tom’s Cabin is written by an
American author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. This novel is published in Indonesia by Dian Rakyat in 2000. This edition is published by arrangement with
Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, Denmark. This book is about 116 pages. It was a depiction
of life for African-Americans under slavery; it became
influential in the United States and United Kingdom. It energized anti-slavery
forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin tells us about a
slavery, forced miscegenation, eugenics, the
destruction of families.
This novel is easy to be
understood because it uses the simple language. And for some new words, there
are footnotes which make us easier. The story is very interesting, and from
this story, we can get a lot of moral value, about humanity, belief, and love.
Those are the strength of this book. The weaknesses are
“Uncle tom’s cabin “
is a very old novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) . This novel shows up
about slavery in America at that time . The
author, Herriet Beecher Stowe tries to prove to the reader that slavery is
wrong. She makes the reader feel the evil and cruelty of the antagonist
characters. She clearly describes this while delivering a very interesting
novel in the same time. It also shows us that not all relationship between
black and white people is bad. We learn that not all whites were bad and not all blacks
were good, but that there were quite a mixture of characters and relationships.
Because of the background of Harriet Beecher Stowe which
is religious, “Uncle tom’s cabin “contains
full of moral value . She was born in
the middle of puritanical family whose father a theologian and husband a
priest. That environment encourages her to bring the religious views in her
writing. This novel teaches us how we have to believe in our God, whatever
happens in our life. The America that Stowe grew up in
was very different from the country we know today. At that time, slavery was
accepted , although they knew that slavery is unfair and immoral. “Uncle tom’s
cabin “ also became one of causes of the American Civil War (1861-1869).
In this novel we can find that Eva, the master’s daughter of Tom who is a
little girl, can say something that looks impossible to be spoken by a little
girl. She even preaches the slaves like what the priests do. Before dying, she gives a lock of her hair to each of the
slaves, telling them that they must become Christians so that they may
see each other in Heaven. It shows how Eva suddenly jumps into maturity. It is a little bit weird
for a little girl. Besides that, this novel tells us the passiveness of the slaves.
For example, Uncle Tom
himself, were too subservient to whites. He became the stereotype of the
passive slave who would do anything his master told him, because it was his
duty as a slave.
This book is worth to read because of those strenghts,
like the moral values, and the simple language that easy to be understood.
There are the footnote for some new words that make us eassier to understand the story. This
book can give an inspiration about the humanity and the message that everyone
in this world are same. We have the same right, and the same chance to move
forward no matter with the ethnies and races.
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