Here are some interesting facts about the 1500's and the origins of many common sayings

By Brian Freeman

· Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

· Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water.

· Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animal (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying it’s raining cats and dogs.

· Things often fell into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

· The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a Thresh Hold.

· Everything was cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

· Sometimes they would obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around the chew the fat.

· Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

· Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale paysan bread which was so old and hard that they could use them for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

· Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

· Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would some times knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up -- hence the custom of holding a "wake."

· England is old and small and they started out running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

Quick Look at Biblical Allusions

By Brian Freeman

Biblical allusion is a literary device that authors use as a brief reference to a person, event, or place from the Bible. Biblical allusions often compare characters struggles with a character from the Bible. This allows the reader to associate the character with one that is easily recognizable. When a writer uses the allusion it can be clearly seen or more subtle in its construction. The use of Biblical allusions is often used in African American literature. The allusion was often used to associate the character with one from the Bible but often was used to directly show the Whites of the time the hypocrite way. Many slave owners claimed to deeply religious but yet they held entire families against there will and forced them work. Three great examples of Biblical allusions in African American literature is Zora Hurston “Sweat”, Harriet Jacobs “Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl”, and Phillis Wheatey “On Being Brought from Africa to America”

"Sweat" is a short story written by Zora Hurston that is rich in moral and religious parallels. The story is set in the deep south of America in the early 1900 when the south was a place of racial division and gross inequality. This story is about a common African American working woman in the Deep South and how she clings to her faith in God to see her through the hardships caused by her unfaithful and abusive husband. Delia Jones the main character is a hard working woman who uses her faith in God to guide and protect her from her husband's relentless physical and emotional abuse. Her husband Sykes Jones is completely opposite and has no virtue or faith in God. Zora Hurston uses the first biblical allusion when she has the main character finally have enough of her husband domestically abusing her. Delia Jones says, “Mah cup is done run ovah.” which is a reference to “My cup runneth over,” Psalm 23.5.

One of the best examples of biblical allusion from “Sweat” is the use of Biblical story from Genesis of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. The symbolism of snakes in "Sweat" subtly and cleverly illustrates Sykes as being an evil antagonist character. The snake portrays the devil and Sykes as being evil. The serpent also takes on its role as the devil. Delia becomes Eve and gives into temptation allow for her husband’s death. This can be viewed much like the story of Adam and Eve when Eve decides to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit.

“Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl” is written by Harriet Jacobs and is a slave narrative. Jacobs is very religious women strong in her Christian faith. In her story she is trying to show the reader of the time period the abuse that female slaves undertake. Hoping not to gain sympathy from the reader but for the reader to have an understanding of the struggle and pain of slavery. Jacobs in “Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl” constantly shows the reader that slaves are more than just property but human beings. The major theme in the story was bringing attention to the sexual victimization of slave women by white men. Throughout most of the story she is raped, beaten, and verbally degrade in such a manner she says, “words can not describe.” She gives vivid details that yes to be slave is terrible, but to be female slave is much worse a fate.

Her use of biblical allusion can be seen here when she says, “Will the preachers take for their text, ‘Proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of prison doors to them that are bound? Or will they preach from the text, ‘Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you?” The opening of prison doors to them that are bound is reference to Isaiah 61.1. Do unto others as ye would is a biblical reference to Matthew 7.12 which says “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” What she is trying to show the reader which would be white is that they practice there religion but at the same time are hypocrites because of use of slave labor. She is showing the reader that they do not practice what they preach.

Phillis Wheatley in her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” she does not focus on her condition as a slave, but rather on the white Christians view of slaves. Wheatley uses biblical allusion to evangelize and to comment on slavery. The first line of the poem sets a tone of sarcasm towards white Christians. Wheatley says, “Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land”. Wheatley seems to be crediting her slavery as a positive, because it has brought her to Christianity. Without her being enslaved she would never have found faith. It was not through God that she found salvation but through her slave owners. This can be clearly seen as sarcasm towards white Christians. The very last use of Biblical allusion is when Wheatley says,” Remember, Christians, Negros, Black as Cain”. This Biblical allusion has multiple meanings which can be viewed one as showing the Negro race as evil. The use of Cain as a biblical allusion murdering his brother Abel in Genesis 4.1-15 is because of Cain’s action he was marked by God. Some readers of the Bible at that time thought that Cain was first black man. The color black can viewed as evil and freighting throughout many other forms of literature.

Quick summary of Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

By Brian Freeman

Olaudah Equiano story Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is a slave narrative in which the entire story consists of Equiano growing up in Africa, capture, and his enslavement. Equiano brings us to a time when slavery historical had not reached its full height but was social acceptable. The use of Africans for chattel slavery had created an entirely new kind of economy for the English and Africans themselves. In Chapter one we find that Equiano own people sold slaves to Oye-Eboe term given to them that signifies red men living at distance. Equiano defends this practice by his people by stating the slaves sold were prisoners of war, kidnappers, or adulteries. The reader can continue reading and find on page 196 that Equiano people even had there own slaves, but yet he still defends this practice by saying, “How different was their condition from that of the slaves in the West Indies?”

One can even find Equiano challenging the thought process of Europeans. Ever sense the revolution of thought called the Enlightenment whites believed that black Africans were incapable of the highest forms of civilization and therefore fit only for enslavement by their supposed superiors. One can see on page 200 that Equiano directly challenges this idea. He states, “Let the polished and haughty European recollect that his ancestors were once, like the Africans, uncivilized, and even barbarous.” The reader can define this as the Europeans themselves once considered themselves much like the Africans uncivilized and why should they have the right to enslave Africans. The Europeans at one time were no different from the Africans.

The first thing the reader finds in Equiano’s story is how detailed he writes. In some cases Equiano gives mileage, names of cities, or direction he is heading in reference with the sun. His descriptions of growing up in Africa and the stunning moment of being taken away help paint amazing images to the reader. Equiano story has many themes, but there two themes that seem to stand out. The first theme of the story is to show Equiano amazing curiosity of the world. Even in the harshest of times we find Equiano is still amazed of the world that he is being forced to see. This curiosity for the world and western technology will be one the reason Equiano gains his own freedom. Second major theme is the comparison of his African tribe to Jews. He compares rituals and there like struggles.

Equiano, Olaudah. “Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry L. Gates, Jr., and Nellie Y. Mckay. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997.190-213.

Hamlet the Play within a Play

By: Brian Freeman

William Shakespeare is an important literary writer. He is responsible for many famous plays. Hamlet is just one of these many plays. Hamlet is about a young prince by the name Hamlet. Prince Hamlet is known for his indecisiveness. A ghost, who appears to be his father, pays a visit to Prince Hamlet and instructs him to kill King Claudius. The ghost explains that the person responsible for his untimely death is King Claudius. He wants to abide by his father but he ends up hurting others in the process. Prince Hamlet’s indecisiveness affects his lover Ophelia, his mother Gertrude, and his uncle King Claudius before losing his own life.

Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain. She is Prince Hamlet’s lover. Hamlet states, “I love Ophelia: Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum” (5.1.241-243). Prince Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius. This drives Ophelia to insanity. The Queen tells Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, of her death. She states, “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, so fast they follow: your sister’s drowned, Laertes” (4.7.163, 164). Ophelia’s death remains uncertain whether it was suicide or just an accident.

King Claudius takes Queen Gertrude as his new wife. Queen Gertrude is also Prince Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet states, “…You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife; And – would it were not so! – you are my mother” (3.4.15, 16). Prince Hamlet is not happy with his mother’s relationship to his father’s murderer. Prince Hamlet and Laertes have a duel. During the duel, Queen Gertrude drinks from a poisoned cup that is meant for Prince Hamlet. The queen states, “No, no, the drink, - O my dear Hamlet, - The drink, the drink! I am poisoned” (5.2.282-283). The Queen dies after she speaks these words.

King Claudius is Prince Hamlet’s murdered father’s brother. Prince Hamlet is very upset about King Claudius marrying his widowed mother only two months after his father’s death. Prince Hamlet states, “…married with my uncle, my father’s brother…” (1.2.151, 152). Hamlet attempts to kill Claudius after his father’s ghost visits him. He kills Polonius instead. Claudius then realizes he must take some type of action against Prince Hamlet. Claudius arranges Prince and Laertes to duel one another. Claudius also arranges for Laertes sword tip to be uncovered and poisoned so that there will be no mistake made. A cup filled with poison awaits Prince Hamlet as well. Prince Hamlet eventually carries out his father’s wish and stabs King Claudius with the poisoned tipped sword that was meant for himself. Prince Hamlet states, “Here thou incestuous, murderous, damned, Dane, Drink off this potion:” (5.2.298).

As the play unfolds, it is clear that Prince Hamlet’s indecisiveness affect those around him. Prince Hamlet’s inability to carry out his father’s wish changes his whole life. He accidentally kills Ophelia’s father, Polonius. The death of Polonius sends Ophelia into insanity which ends in her death. After several tragic events, all of the people that Prince Hamlet loves and loathes pass away. This includes his mother, his uncle, and himself. These tragic events occur due to Prince Hamlet’s inability to trust his father’s ghost and he fails to follow his last wish.

Rip Van Winkle’s as a metaphor for American experience during the Revolutionary period

By: Brian Freeman

Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle with the American people in mind. Written at time when society had changed drastically due to the American Revolution. The American people, after the revolution, were struggling with forming their own identity. Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle in order to inspire Americans to form an identity that would set them free from English rule and culture. Irving uses his main character, Rip Van Winkle, to symbolize the struggle of early America. Many of the struggles Rip went through can be compared to the same struggles that America was going through at this time before and after the Revolution. Irving uses metaphors in the story Rip Van Winkle to describe the changes that the American society went through during the Revolutionary period. The metaphors of Irving’s Rip Van Winkle cover a variety of Revolutionary experiences: America before English rule, early American colonies under English rule, and America after the Revolutionary War.

Washington Irving’s tale Rip Van Winkle is about a man named Rip Van Winkle, who lived in a small town along the Hudson Valley. Everyone in the town was very fond of Rip Van Winkle because he would help anyone who needed help and he would play with the children. Others see Van Winkle as “a kind neighbor, and an obedient henpecked husband” (456). Van Winkle’s kindness is seen by all, even animals as the author states, “and not a dog would bark at him throughout the neighbourhood” (457). Everyone is universally happy with Rip Van Winkle except his wife. The author states, “Morning, noon and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence” (458). His wife, Dame Van Winkle, would get angry at him for everything he did, and over the years of matrimony, her, “sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use” (458). Dame Van Winkle would nag Rip to death over his duties so much that he would seek refuge from these tirades and run away. Irving uses the character of Dame Van Winkle as a metaphor for Royal England and its treatment of the Colonies. Rip Van Winkle's character depicts the society of America being forced away by England.

Dame Van Winkle, however, may have had some right to nag her husband, much like Royal England. Royal England taxed the early American colonies in order to pay for the costly Seven Years War and its future protection. This action caused a major uproar among the American colonies. Dame Van Winkle’s right to nag comes from the fact that Rip takes such poor care of his farm. As the author states, “His fences were continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray, or get among the cabbages.” The author goes on to say that even, “his children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody” (457). Rip Van Winkle willingness to tend to his neighbor’s farm and not tend to his own farm can be seen as possible right for his wife to be angry with him. Nevertheless, maybe this can be seen as metaphor in the fact that Rip Van Winkle's family was deteriorating while the people of the town were profiting from his rebellion against the authority and the needs of his family, much like the Crown was losing respect while America was gaining the loyalty of its own people.

As the story continues, Rip Van Winkle decides that he has one option to get away from his nagging wife and the farm, which was to take his gun and dog and go into the woods and hunt squirrels. The reader can view this as a metaphor for the American Revolution war in the story. Van Winkle can no longer take it and is forced to take up arms and get away in order for the nagging to stop. Van Winkle goes hunting and spends all day looking for squirrels, but couldn't find any. So he lied on the grass and after awhile he noticed it was getting dark, so he started back. As he did this, he heard someone calling his name and then meets this dwarf-like stranger. Rip helps him carry a keg of liquor down the hill, where he shares with him a drink. Rip Van Winkle drinks too much, falls drunk, and enters into a deep sleep.

When Rip awakens after a 20-year nap, unaware of how much the world around has changed, he is startled to find that not only did the world around him changed but he changed as well. When Rip arrives to the town his only worry on his mind is the mouth lashing he will receive from the wife. Rip arrives in the town shocked when he finds the image of King George III replaced by George Washington. As Rip continues through the town he becomes baffled and confused, unable to comprehend the current election process that is occurring, when he is questioned by towns people as to “which side he voted?” (463). The author states, “ ‘Alas! Gentlemen,’ cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!” (463). The townspeople, on hearing that Rip Van Winkle was a loyalist feared the old ways and become extremely angry with Rip Van Winkle. The revolution awoke the fire within the American Spirit and the townspeople became alive with anticipation of their new government. One main issue of the story was one of identity, especially at this time in history. The people of America, twenty years after Rip Van Winkle fell asleep, found their identity. The American people after receiving their freedom celebrated and became excited by holding elections. Rip, having difficulty finding himself throughout the story, finally finds his identity when his daughter finds him and takes him home to live with her. Rip Van Winkle finds his wife has long been dead. With the overbearing authority Dame Van Winkle gone, Rip Van Winkle is able live the rest of days happy. Rip Van Winkle, much like America, could now enjoy the new freedom that he deserved.

The entire story Rip Van Winkle, by Washington Irving, is full of metaphors directed at the new society in America, in how it needs to establish an identity before and after the American Revolution. The metaphors of Irving’s Rip Van Winkle cover a variety of Revolutionary experience: America before English rule, early American colonies under English rule, and America after the Revolutionary War. Rip Van Winkle's character depicts the society of America as seen by England; whereas, his wife, Dame Van Winkle, portrays England. The townspeople represent American society at large and how it changed with the realization of becoming an independent country. Americans were trying to avoid the tyranny of the Crown, just as Rip would do everything possible to escape his overbearing wife.

Work Cited

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle ." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 2008.

How "Uncle Tom's Cabin" started the war

By:Brian Freeman

The Book That Started a War

The Civil War grew out of a mixture of causes including regional conflicts between North and South, economic trends, and humanitarian concerns for the welfare of enslaved people. The Civil War, which pitted one section of the country against another, almost destroyed the United States. Uncle Tom's Cabin contributed to the outbreak of war because it brought the evils of slavery to the attention of Americans more vividly than any other book had done before. The book had a strong emotional appeal that moved and inspired people in a way that political speeches, tracts and newspaper accounts could not duplicate. Uncle Tom's Cabin drew many people into the fight over the institution of slavery. Few books can truly be said to have altered the course of history and even fewer can be said to have started an entire war. Uncle Tom's Cabin was one such novel. It is a realistic, although fictional, view of slavery that burned images of brutal beatings and unfair slave practices into the consciousness of America.

The new Fugitive Slave Act that came out of the Compromise of 1850 empowered federal commissioners to catch runaway slaves, denied the blacks any judicial recourse, and penalized citizens for refusing to support the authorities (Stokesbury 19). Most importantly the Fugitive Slave Act brought the issue home to anti-slavery citizens in the North. It made the Northerners and their institutions responsible for enforcing slavery. Even moderate abolitionists were now faced with the immediate choice of defying what they believed as an unjust law. The Northerners were shamed by the sight of blacks led off in chains and many states passed personal freedom laws to counter act the Fugitive Slave Act. The new personal freedom laws passed by the Northerners would be useless against the Fugitive Slave Act.

A response to the new laws came in 1851 when a woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe, the wife of a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, began publishing Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a Newspaper serial (Stokesbury 19). Originally planned for a series of short essays for the National Era in 1851-1852, Stowe gathered so much information that it was too large for newspaper print and was published originally by the Boston publishing company Jewett (Clinton 989). Immediately it became a hot seller with Northerners and Southerners alike. Within a year it sold 300,000 copies in the United States alone comparable to at least three million today (McPherson 89-90). Uncle Tom's Cabin ignited as a best seller in the United States and the novel enjoyed equal popularity in England, Europe, Asia, and eventually translated into over sixty languages. Catherine Clinton states, “Stowe’s novel swayed thousands of middle class whites to sympathize with the plight of slaves (Clinton 1110).” It is not possible to measure precisely the political influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. One can quantify its sales but cannot point to votes that it changed or laws that it inspired (McPherson 89). Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a huge impact on our nation and contributed to the tension over slavery. Stowe’s influence on the northern states was remarkable. Stowe single handedly changed the views of thousands and brought about the abolitionist "fever."

Immediately after its publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin was both lauded as a tremendous achievement and attacked as being one sided and inaccurate. Abolitionists and reformers praised the book for its compassionate portrayal of people held in slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin struck a raw nerve in the South. Southerners who claimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible attacked Stowe and accused her of fabricating unrealistic images of slavery. Southerners continued to criticize Stowe because she had never visited the South. Many Southerners argued that there were false reports in what she wrote because the slave owners were portrayed as heartless devilish men, and the slaves were portrayed as their victims. However, Max Herzberg states that the Southerners anger grew because the novel showed, “the evils of slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the peculiar institution, in particular how masters treat their slaves and how families are torn apart because of slavery (Herzberg-1167).” Southern States in order to fight back installed laws which made the ownership of Uncle’s Tom Cabin illegal. Despite the efforts to ban it copies sold so fast in Charleston and elsewhere that booksellers could not keep up with the demand (McPherson 90).

James McPherson states that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is, “written in the sentimental style made popular by best selling women novelists, Uncle Tom’s Cabin homed in on the breakup of families as the theme most likely to pluck the heartstrings of middle class readers who cherished children and spouses of their own (McPherson 38).” Max Herzberg states that Mrs. Stowe’s purpose of writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “was to expose the evils of slavery to the North where many were unaware of just what went on in the rest of the country (Herzberg 1167).” Mrs. Stowe once declared, “God wrote the book, and I took His dictation (Herzberg 1167).” Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an account of the trials and suffering of Uncle Tom, a negro slave. The novel also portrays his wife, Eliza, and their son Harry. Uncle Tom is a good and pious man who is too eager to please his white owner. Even in the worst circumstances Tom is optimistic. Tom often looks to the bible for hope, “Pray for them that ‘spitefully use you, the good book says (Stowe 771).” This is a reference to Matthew 5:44 from the King James Bible: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Uncle Tom is eventually sold and cruelly mistreated by a Yankee overseer named Simon Legree and finally whipped to death by him (Herzberg 1167).In a later age “Uncle Tom” became an epithet for a black person who behaved with fawning servility toward white oppressors (Mcpherson 90).

Arthur Shelby is the plantation owner where Uncle Tom, Eliza, and Harry are living. Shelby, facing the loss of his farm because of debts, is forced to sell his slaves. When Shelby tells his wife about his plans, his wife is appalled because she has promised Eliza that they would not sell her son. Eliza overhears a conversation about her and Harry being sold and takes Harry and flees to the North for freedom. The scene where Eliza and Harry run away is one of the most important scenes of the book. Eliza feels desperate and lonely. She is tortured by a maternal sense of panic for her imperiled child. With a slave trader following close behind, Eliza is forced to run with her son in the dead of winter. Eliza runs across a frozen Ohio River with her son Harry in her arms to save him from being sold. Stowe writes, “She wondered within herself at the strength that seemed to be come upon her; for she felt the weight of the her boy as if it had been a feather, and every flutter of fear seemed to increase the supernatural power that bore her on, while from her pale lips burst forth, in frequent ejaculations, the prayer to a friend above- “Lord, help! Lord, save me! (Stowe 767).” Eliza fleeing across the ice choked Ohio River to save her son from the slave trader and Tom weeping for the children he left behind in Kentucky when he was sold south are among the most unforgettable scenes in American letters (McPherson 38-40). Stowe is able to capture moments like the one above in Uncle Tom's Cabin that humanized slavery by telling the story of individuals and families. Harriet portrayed the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse endured by enslaved people.

In one of the important sections of the book, Senator Bird sits in his house with his wife. The Ohio State Senator early during the day voted for a law forbidding the assistance of runaway slaves (The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850). Senator Bird’s wife realizing her husband voted in its favor states, “Now, John, I don't know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow (Stowe 778).” Mrs. Bird continues to rout Senator Bird by insisting that she will follow her conscience and her Bible rather than an immoral law. The quote above is an example of the main theme of the novel. The theme of the novel is condemning slavery as contrary to Christianity and specifically the passage above bear’s witness to Stowe's attack on the Fugitive Slave Act.

To Conclude, Uncle Tom's Cabin is a truly passionate novel that swayed the hearts of many readers. At the height of racial tension in nineteenth century America, Stowe revealed the sufferings and hardships the southern slaves endured. Stowe used her passionate words to help prompt abolitionist action. Uncle Tom’s Cabin swayed many Northerners attitudes towards slavery by showing the evils of slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the institution, in particular how masters treat their slaves and how families are torn apart because of slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe will always be remembered as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which helped galvanize the abolitionist cause which contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. When Lincoln met the author later that year, he reportedly greeted her with the words: “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” (McPherson 89).

Work Cited

Clinton, Catherine. The Road to Freedom. 1st. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004. Print.

Herzberg, Max. "Uncle Tom's Cabin, or, Life among the Lowly."The Reader's Encylopedia of American Literature. 3rd ed. 1962. Print.

McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.

Stokesbury, James. A Short History of the Civil War. 1st. New York: Quill, 1995. Print.

Stowe, Harriet. "Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 2008. Print.