I
r
r
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
and
THE BALA CE OF POWER :
A WOMAN ' S QUEST
A Thesis to the Faculty of the English Department
submitted in candidacy for
he degree of Bachelor of A ts
English with Honors .
Leigh Ann Brown
May 1990
On my honor, I have neither
nor received any unacknowledged aid
on this paper .
b(L~& 4-«-A & fl/}(_ )
in
T1I
r:w
Al
hough she has been criticized for
sentimentality and elaborate romance,
been acknowledged as one of
of
female
the woman's role
politics and religion.
male,
Harriet Beecher Stowe has
the most popular writers,
the nineteenth century.
to the forefront
her overwrought
male or
Stowe uses the novel
to bring
in the male - dominated arenas of
Assuming the distinctions between the
who represents the "thinking individual, " and the female,
who represents the "emotional
individual, "
world d o minated by the rational
the emotions of the woman.
of the woman ' s
position
1
man,
she asserts that
room needs to be made for
In order to emphasize the
shape their
novels:
lives appeal
' divine
as strongly
link," and the events that
to the emotions of the reader.
Uncle Tom's Cabin;
Mini ster's Wooing,
importance
Stowe draws her main female characters
in accordance with nineteenth-century stereotypes,
pious women who possess a
in a
or Life Among the Lowly,
and The Pearl
of Orr ' s
Island,
balance between the " head" and the "h eart"
In her
The
she stresses a
in dealing with ·he
issues of slavery and the religious question .
Stoweys first novel,
from the
later two.
Uncle Tom ' s Cabin
The man ' s
works differently
and woman's spheres
which become
progressively mo r e exclusive as one moves through these three
novels,
is not as obviou s
in Uncle Tom's Cabin .
reduces her repre s entative sphe r es
Cabin,
in each novel.
he gradually
In Uncle Tom ' s
she pre ents the womans sphere through female characters
who understand the emotional aspects of slavery
and the man ' s
sphere through characters who work to perpetuate the peculiar
institu ion for economic and poli
ical
reasons.
Stowe's
representative spheres are so broad that she includes the reader
in the sphere which accepts the existence of slavery.
attempts to convert the male reader to the woman ' s
emotional
While she
view -- the
side -- she also emphasizes to the female reader the
impor ance of
the woman's role
in such causes.
In the end .
she
hopes to encourage both sexes to abolish slavery .
In the
Pearl
later two novels,
of Orr's
and the reader
Wooing,
Stowe • s
is approached in'irectly .
the woman ' s
Dr.
Hopkins,
sphere,
while three male characters ,
and Colonel
Mara Lincoln,
In both novels
reader directly,
Aaron Burr,
James
represent
In The Pearl
of Orr's
Moses Pennel ,
and one male character
Moses
rather than trying to transform the
Stowe attempt
the transformation of
however
embod i es the
the opposing spheres are basically established by one
female character,
Penne I.
In The Ministe r' s
Mary Scudder,
particular traits of the male sphere .
Island
Wooing and The
representative spheres narrow
the main female character
traits of
Marvyn
lsland
The Minister' s
to convert the reader through
the male characters,
to a more emotional
view .
James Marvyn and
In al 1 three novels,
Stowe argues for a balance between the two spheres --
the woman's and the man ' s
--and a more receptive response to the
J
womans
pos1• t.10n. 2
2
"W i s h t
it
had been a boy , '' Lyman Beech e r
have remarked upon
learn i ng of
Litchfield
Connecticut,
Foote Beechert
th e birth of his sixth child
on June 14,
Harriet Elizabeth Beecher
181
On Septembe r
after the birth of Charles,
in November of
by whom he had his
where the boys were
Harriet was followed by her brothers
destined to be preachers .
later
Lyman and Roxana
Harriet was introdu c ed i nto a
household of strong Calvinist beliefs
year
She was born in
•
where her parents,
had settled .
Henry Ward and Charles.
was supposed to
25,
1816 ,
within a year
Roxana Beecher died.
1817,
Lyman married
last thr ee children.
A
little over a
Harriet Porter ,
3
Although Lyman k new that marriage was his daughters'
future
half
At six and a
he d id insist they ha ve some education.
years,
of 1817,
Harriet was able to read with ease
she was enrol led in Madam Kilbourne ' s
she started attending Miss Pierce ' s
Academy
began to write at the young age of eight .
composition teacher,
he read her essay
and
Immortality of
Mr.
John Brace
the Soul
during a
~roup of
one of whom was her father.
year,
Harriet went to Ha rtford
her older sister,
Though a
pupil
and in 1824
be Proved by
advanced
to teach some of the classes.
In 1826
Later that
to attend the school
had opened a
he r
earlier.
her
exhibition before an elite
Connecticut,
Catharine Beecher,
By 1819,
where she first
the Light of Nature?,
townspeople,
school
in the win ter
school.
inspi r ed her writing talents
Can the
only
few years
learning enabled Harriet
Har r iet off i cially joined
the te aching staff of Catharine's new Hartford Female Seminary,
3
ending her own formal
As a child .
education.
Harriet developed a
Although she read many of
found
4
i n her father's
hirst for
reading.
the religious treatises and sermons she
library
Harriet treasured the few books of
to read:
literature her father permitted he
The Arabian Nights
Shakespeare's The Tempest,
and the works of Lord Byron and Sir
Walter Scott,
She also en joyed the stories of the
her heroes.
New England settlers in Cotton Mather ' s Magnalia Christi
Americana.
These ' other war 1 ds '
created an escape for Harriet
during her reclusive childhood .
She often prefe rre d reading and
re - reading these books to playing with her b rothe rs and sisters
or
with friends.
5
Harriet had several
inherited this
Foote
female role models from whom sh e
intel lectual
strain.
She wrote _ of her grandmothe
"H er mind was active and clear·
her reading extensive . "
She added,
her
"My image of her
years
is of one always seated at a
books,
among which nestled her workbasket."
her of the women in her family,
Foote Beeche r
literary tast e
later
great table covered with
however,
6
Most impor tant to
was her mother
of whom her one distinct memory was
her read stories and novels to the children .
l ,.
in
iust ,
Roxana
listening to
7
Although her mother had also been raised for a
life of
" domesticity, " Roxana had used every opportunity to stimulate her
intellectual abilities.
Roxana
Fol lowing the death of her father,
lived with her grandfather
where "th ose girls used to spin,
and have merry times together .'
in Nutplains
read novels
8
Connecticut
talk about bea ux
Lyman Beecher also noted
I •
Roxana ' s early enthusiasm for
reading :
4
"A l 1 the new works that
I[
ere publ i shed at that day were brought out to Nutplains,
and discussed
Sally Hill
Roxana.
treat they had of
A great
developed her sk i 11 s
embroidery
When Miss Burney ' s
in the old spinning - mill .
Evelina appeared ,
rode out on horseback to br i ng it to
in draw i ng ,
she read all
i t ."
9
Although Roxana
painting,
sp inning ,
the classics she could,
Roxana ' s
T
September of
her children
but her
"I
life then
who " contr i bute[dJ
and her duties .
her daily routine :
breakfast,
to Lyman Beecher
11
evol v ed around
to enliven many a
She once wrote
in a
generally rise with t h e sun
take my wheel
which is my daily companion
for
besides wha
contented
possess
(if
can)
except what
others. "
13
Roxana ' s
fam i ly for a while
s
imulation:
"W e
so dull
12
Her time
1 average perhaps one page a
do on Sundays.
expect to be obl i g e d to be
with the stock o f
kno w l ed ge
I al r eady
I can glean from the conversation of
sister .
Mary Hubbard,
also commented on the
get no paper
so inactive
world goes on the same way . "
apathy seems to prevail
who stayed with the
lack of
i ntellectual
and know no more of
of the world than if we were not i n
quiet,
after
and the
writing and knitting . "
read in g declined rapidly :
letter of
and .
evening is devoted to reading,
week,
in
Not only had she been converted from
Episcopalianism t o Calvinism
gloomy moment",
learned to
10
life changed with her marriag e
1799.
her husband
and
studied a
variety of sciences -- espec i ally chemis ry -- and
read and speak French.
read
it .
the af f airs
Here we are so still
so
that we have forgotten but that the
She added,
over the face of
5
" A k in d of torpor and
th in gs ."
Though she had
tra ined and deve l oped her mental
abil ities
marriage
isolation and stagnation .
led to her
intellectual
After her mother ' s death,
influence in her
intellectual
Harriet ' s
gro wth .
towards her reading part i cular works
in her youth,
father becam e
14
the major
Besides his encouragement
Lyman also provided
indirect opportunities for Harriet to open her mind.
preparing his sons to be preachers
Roxana ' s
In
he often ra is ed theological
questions or points to be debated during the even i ng hours .
Although these discussions were meant for his sons
listened,
gaining knowledge as she did her chores.
While he sh o wed great concern f or her
more
'
(
interested
daughter ' s
and served as a
greater
spiritual awakening .
He wa s
and in 1824
Harriet often
15
int ellect,
influen ce,
forever
of grace in h i s
children
it in Harriet .
Fol lowing one of her father ' s
Lyman proved
in his
looking for
sign s
he believed he had found
r·
I •
had exhorted his pa ris hioners to " Come ,
to th is faithful
I •
Wl. l l •
' 16
then,
That night she came to her fathe r
"conversion. "
.
of the First Congregational Church left her
She believed herself
-
t o b e saved.
He questioned
universe should be destroyed,
Upon hearing he r
assurance:
in doubt about her
" Do you fe e l
that
if the
sir," he then questioned her
trust,
deceitfulness of your hear
the pa·stor
you could be happy with God alone? 0
confidant "Yes,
"Y ou realize,
"I
and revealed her
When Harriet moved to Hartford with her s i ster
religious conviction.
.
and trust your soul
friend," Harriet felt her soul answe r ,
..
-
sermons in whic h he
in some measure at
least,
the
and that in punishment for your sins
God might justly leave you to make yourself as mi s erable as you
have made yourself sinful? 0 17
ll •
For
6
the next several
years
perhaps even the
soul.
In 1824,
ruth.
Harriet wrote
Edward,
" My whole
life
nothing
right.
I yield
temptation a
y deepest
to
and my sins
Earlier .
of
Catharine ,
his
take away all
1822.
Her
merciful
Yet Harriet still
God.
remained
" I
weak.
Original
in anguish over
wish
and my faults
e veryone.
I
perish
to that
promising
Unfor una ely
however,
in all
"He wi
which
found
but
litt e
reject the
fa"th
in a
mo e
She wrote her brother,
let the
remembrance of me
ive,
than
I often feel
-
a
trouble
to
so
so useless,
19
Harriet was beg i nning to open
She wrote:
[Christ)
l
never
7
" I
have had more
than ever before .
He will
my weakness.
She added,
his death ,
did not accept this new view ,
energy! "
friend
18
losing him on earth,
her sins .
the new faith.
to be grateful
impatient.'
a
harsh God provided
Sin and
How perfectly wretched
herself up to
I am be s et
beliefs.
time of
in the grave rather
so destitute of all
left me
the
could die young and
As early as 1827,
not
s
fathe
ine of
Charles.
at
not only for
alvi1ist doct
and
religio s
and eventually Catharine came t-
consolation
it
Harriet had watched her older
' justificat·on" was doubtful
in despa i r ,
I do
my happiness. "
A exander Metcalf Fisher ,
eternity as well .
older
most as soon as
had drowned when his ship was wrec ked .
left Catharine
for
her
is one continued struggle.
struggle with her
fia n ce .
looking
feelings are very evanescent.
behind and before .
in April
ion racked her
faith and constantly
brother,
professor,
l
l
her
this ques
f in d
Ca harine's
L_
the
life.
inward to
sister,
[._
her
leaving her unsure of
assails me.
r:_
rest of
never be
eason
He has
irritated or
show me my faults
ins
ch
a manner as to irritate without helping me .
day in my intercourse with others,
.
All
everything has a
through the
tendency to
destroy the calmness of mind gained by communion with Him . "
But it was not until
the winter of
be settled in her faith in a
once my heart ran with a
1844-1845 that she seeme
loving God:
with a current the other way .
exist.
find
" &l_L_ changed.
strong current to the world .
The will
me the steady pulse of my being.
.
can do all
to
Whereas
now it runs
of Christ seems to
skeptical
doubt cannot
things through Christ. "
21
Her
faith was quickly tes ed with the deaths of her sons,
Samuel
Charles in 1848
and Henry Ellis in 1857.
like many
Calvinists
ding her father and husband ,
incl
infant damnation,
Henry .
While she,
did not believe in
she did question the fate of her olde
A few months after his dea h,
arrive at a
however,
peaceful acceptance of Henry ' s
mercy],
salvation judging that
in God ' s
and to assume and steadily maintain that Jesus
had taken my dear one to his bosom."
to assure her faith
in a
given me talents
satisfied,
and
if He will
in love
This decision also seemed
loving God .
Despite her doubts,
Christ when she stated
22
son
Harriet seemed to
"it was my duty to resist them [her moments of doubt
[
20
Harriet seemed to have given her
"I
do not mean to
I wi 11
live in vain.
lay them at His feet,
accept them.
All
life to
He has
well
my powers He can enlarge.
He made my mind and He can teach me to cultivate and exert its
faculties."
23
together her
And it was at this point that Harriet brought
intellectual
capabilities and her religious
conviction to establish a direction which she fol lowed to the end
of her
life.
8
In 1832,
a
significant change occurred in Harriet's
Her father
received a
Cincinnati,
and took the whole family west .
position as president of Lane Seminary in
encountered slavery for
the first
began her writing career .
Colon club
1833
I_
[
time,
She joined a
While there
in her
life,
and
literary group,
the Semi-
A New Geography for Children,
By
though it was to be
published w i th Catharine Beecher as the author.
A bestseller
it gained its popularity among children by avo i ding d ry facts,
and employing a narrative to teach geog rap hy .
That same year
spent time on a
future use .
excursion
Harrie
took a
slave plantation.
her surroundings
l_
works.
she had already written her
It was an appeal
she tried to maintain in al 1 her fictive works.
[_
Harriet
met her husband ,
whose members met to read their original
a momentous year
first book,
life .
trip to Kentucky where she
Though apparently oblivious to
she stored various bits of
After her return to Cincinnati
she met Calvin Ellis Stowe,
teaching staff at Lane
and his wife
Also by this time,
Theodore Weld,
from whom Harriet most
slavery ideas,
had
Following the death of her friend
days
joined the
Harriet
liked them
25
Eliza Stowe,
Harrie t
in August
They became engaged
and married on January 6,
was an ardent Calvinist and a
from her school
just
likely received some anti-
Harriet slowly grew closer to Calvin .
before she married
from this brief
the ardent abol i tionist
joined Lane as wel 1.
in November of 1835,
information for
who had
Eliza.
both instantly .
1834
24
1836 .
Ca v·n Stowe
fol lower of Lyman Beecher .
Shortly
wrote to one of her closest friends
Georgiana May.
9
In the
letter she expressed
her apprehension about marriage,
my dear G.
"Well
about half an hour and your old friend
schoolmate
companion
and her resignation to her fate:
sister,
etc .,
will
Beecher and change to nobody knows who.
cease to be Hatty
My dear,
in a year or two to encounter a similar fate,
know how you shall
feel?
dreading the time,
and
should
come,
Wel 1,
my dear,
lying awake a ll
feel
nothing at all."
Though she dreaded ma rri age,
and do you wish to
have been dread i ng and
last week wondering how
live through this overwhelming crisis ,
and
you are pledged
and
lo!
it has
26
Harriet faced
the same choice
that so many other nineteenth-century women had experienced
before her .
Despite a
few exceptions
these women had also had
to choose between the road of spinst erho od ,
" poverty and
which often
loneline ss," or the road of marriage
frequently resulted in isolation and subjugation.
led to
which
Moreover
marriage seemed to provide the only opportunity for a woman to
obtain economic security .
As Harriet herself noted yea r s
later
in her novel
I:
some
centuries
My Wife and
in shutting and
locking every door through which a
woman could step into wealth
For Harriet,
"The world has been busy for
except the door of marriage . "
this too seemed the only door available.
many other women,
she resigned herself to a
upon her husband,
and reconciled herself
27
Li k e so
life of dependence
to being a wife and
mother.
For the married woman of nineteenth-century America,
revolved around her husband.
subservient to her husband,
for her husband's.
Most often,
life
the wife became
and pushed aside her needs or wants
As the industrial
10
revolution continued
the
woman ' s
ro 1 e was reduced "f ram producer to consumer. ' Technology
eased her chores but
left her position in society minim ize d .
seen in the case of Harriet's mother,
in her home remained
Roxana Beecher,
the woman
isolated from the outside world .
With the
"yoke" of domesticity around her neck,
her home,
the woman was bound to
an " invisible presence" to the outside world.
became identified by,
As
or through
her husband
She
losing her own
identity and slipping into obscurity .
With the knowledge that
his o wn daughter faced such a
father often provided h er
wi ha strong educational
f
te
background because he undertood
the experience of his own marriage)
learn would be
role .
a
(from
that this opportunity to
lost once she began fulfil ling her domestic
28
The "outside world " and the "home" became two distinct areas
of
life which separated the man and the woman.
sphere centered on work out s ide,
around
the woman ' s
While the man's
sphere centered
life inside the home -- the husband and family.
worked and the woman kept the home an ' oasis
in the desert," or a
"sanctuary" preserved from outside corruption.
within the home,
outside world .
woman was
Nineteenth-century myth further argued that th e
i nherently super i or morally and spi
" divine
link "
to God.
power was attributed to her maternal,
itually
o the man
Much of her exceptional
or " life-giving "
Her biological ability to "creatett -- this mira cle
gave her " d i vine
roles
By rem ining
she protected its "sanctity" from the tainted
and that she had a
abilities.
The man
intelligence .'
Through this separation in the
certain traits became characteristic of each sphere .
11
The
man was "aggressive,
unchaste
exploitive,
and mobile," - all
impious
pure,
selfless
a n d conservative ."
gentleness ,
love,
29
delicate ,
on the other hand,
omest i c,
nurturant,
self-renunciation,
[and]
was
passive
she embodied " me e k ness,
Moreover,
pur i ty
physical ,
supposedly necessary to
The woman
survive in the outside world .
" pious
materialistic ,
humility,
subjection of
Wl. I 1 . " 30
Accord i ng to the nineteenth - centu r y,
lack of physical
strength and stamina,
necessary to enter the outside world,
spiritual and moral
ideal
woman,
period,
the
which were considered
the woman had superior
Fashion reinforced the role of the
senses.
who was phsically fragi l e and weak.
During this
women wore tightly bound corsets which "confined" and
While these corsets served aesthetic
•restrained" the body.
purposes,
I T
to compensate fo r
they frequently dislocated
wore them for an e x tended time .
No
to and d i ctate the woman's role of
emphasized the woman ' s
her physically.
internal
organs in women who
only did fashion contribute
inferiority,
it a l so
superior spir i tuality by furt h er weakening
31
Their physical ailments
left many women quest ioning their
abilit i es to perform their domestic duties .
this created fee l ings of
Women of
looked back to their mothers,
grandmothers as models of skill and achievement.
looked to the past as a
time when the woman ' s
importance than it was for
of the time,
the time
inadequacy in which they deemed
themselves not as capable as their ancestors.
nineteenth century often
Most of
them.
aunts
and
They also
role was of
greate
Like many of the female writers
Harriet Beecher Stowe used
12
the
literature to comment on
this sense of
inadequacy .
In her essay,
" Lady Who Does Her Own
Work " Harriet observed through the "wife":
I have often
in the course of my family history ,
seen the day when 1 have heartily wished for the
strength and ability to manage my household mat ers
as my grandmother of notable memory managed hers .
But I fear that those remarkable women of the
olden times are like the ancient painted glass
the art of making them is lost ;
my mother was ~ess
3
than her mother, and I am less tha n my mother.
In this same essay,
the husband praised the abilities of
tgrandmothers," and expressed the wish
the
hat those traits could
have been preserved:
r
[
[
[
[
It is impossible
however
that any th ing but early
raining and long experience can produce those
res ults
and it is earnestly to be wished that the
grandmothers of New England had only wr i tten down
heir experiences for o ur children ;
th ey would
have been a mine of maxims and tradit i ons, better
than any §ther tr diti ons of the elders which we
3
know of.
Harriet also wrote of the women of her own generation who
found themselves unable to cope with the strain of
their
labors .
As matters now are, the young housekeeper t akes
life at the hardes .
She has very litt le strength,
- no experience to teach her how to save her
strength .
She knows nothing experimentally of the
simplest processes necessary to kee p her family
comfortably fed and clothed ;
and she has a way of
looki ng at all these things whi ch makes the m
part i cularly hard and distasteful to her.
She does
no
escape , being obl iged to do housework at
interval ~, but she does it in a weak
blundering
confused way, tha
makes it twice as hard and
3
disagreeable as it need be.
In another e ssay,
" Servants, " Harriet wrote of he
the dec li ne even among
he domestic help
concern about
who also represented
the nineteenth-century woman .
The race of strong
hardy
cheerful g · rls, that
use d tog ow up in country places
and made the
bright
neat
New England kitchens of old tim es,
13
-
the girls that could wash, iron, brew, bake.
harness a horse and drive him, no less than braid
straw, embroider, draw, paint, and read innumerable
books, - this race of
omen, pride of olden time,
is daily lessening;
and in their stead come the
fragile, easily fatigued, languid g irl s of a modern
age, dulled in book-learning
ignorant of common
things .
The g eat danger of all this
and of all
the evils that come from it, is that society by and
by wil 1 turn as blindly agains
female intellectual
cul ture as it now advocates it, and having worked
disproport i onately one way, will work
35
disproportionately the opposite direction .
T
I
'
Even Harriet saw herself as one of
these women of
the modern age
who could not accomplish the tasks of her grandmother or mother
despite
he assistance of servants.
While Harrriet ' s own marriage fulfilled many of the
prophecies of the nineteenth-century woman ' s
,r r
some of them as well .
continued the
few days after her wedding
"A nd now
my dear
how this momentous crisis
perhaps the wonder to you,
in the
life of
wonder to myself .
am tranquil
on the present
leave the future
so kind to me. "
and
36
begun simply enough
quiet
It seem ed her
My dear
and happy .
life as a married woman had
In September of 1836,
her second son
time .
May,
Isabella Beecher Stowe.
she gave birth to a
son,
was born in 1843,
which
she faced the
twin daughters
In 1840,
left her
ill
and the only daughter to marry
and there fol lowed a
14
she was
Less than two years
Henry Ellis.
Frederick William
Her fifth child
is a
to Him who has hithe to been
trials of motherhood head on with the birth of
Eliza Tyler and
it
look Qllly
yet very soon after the honeymoon
expecting her first child .
as
such a wisp of
nerve as myself has been transacted so quietly .
later
she
letter she had start ed on her wedding day to
Georgiana May:
to me.
A
it changed
destiny
she had
fo
some
Georgiana
five year respite
I
while she recovered from
she had her
hird son,
child was born,
I 1 1838,
Georgy,
al l ;
Samuel
Harriet wrote
when
is,
-
and
in 1850,
In 1848
her
last
37
in a
letter to Georg i ana
nwel l
yes ,
I w i 11
it,
I can stop and t hink
my head from my heels,
[
Charles,
Charles Edward Stowe .
this marriage
for
the strain of child - bearing.
of
after
long enough to discriminate
I must say that
woman both in husband and children .
speak well
I think mysel f
My children
a
fortunate
I would not
\
I_
change for all
the ease,
wi tho t
They are money on inte est whose value will
them.
leisure,
.
.
constantly increasing
. "38
letter p r esented a
I could hav e
but there was evident strain .
she
he made constant demands upon her
loved Calv i n dearly ,
rece i ved a
left her weak and sick for
water-cure treatment
year ,
longest
Though
She often had to refuse him to prevent the childbirths
which often
over a
be
pleasant
picture of her marriage
sexually .
l_
Th i s
and pleasure that
she sti 11
interval
some time .
in 1844,
which
Although she
lasted a
little
suffe ed from various a· l ments .
The
in between births resulted from her separation
from Calvin when each received water-cure t reatments .
The
correspondence between them when apart reflected Calvin ' s desires
and Harriet ' s attempt s
to push him away.
Though Harriet used abstinence,
gain some control
w i t h d raw
f r om
over her
the u s u a l
life,
like many other women ,
d om e s t i c du t i e s .
from school
and
L
15
In an 1838
Mary Dutton,
wrote of her determination to escape her confines:
three hours per day in writing ·
to
she also found other ways to
" w i f e l y _" o r
letter to another close friend
39
she
" I have about
if you see my name coming
I
I
I I
out everywhere,
the pay.
f l
you may be svre of one thing -
that
I do
it f..Q.r_
I have determined not to be a mere domest ic slave ,
without even the
leisure to excel
I mean to have
in my dut ies.
money enough to have my house kept
in the best manner and yet to
I I
have time for
reflection and that preparation for
of my children which every mother needs ."
40
the education
Harrie t
break out of her economic dependence upon h e r
sought to
husband.
Though
she wished to supplement the smal 1 salary Calvin earned i n order
to help the family escape its
impoverished condition,
wanted to create an easier domestic
For Harriet
life for
as for many other women
she also
her self.
her children provided
'11" [
a
'lt: 1
sense of relief.
o hers,
She
liv e d for
her children .
She,
like many
also sought to praise the role of the mother.
Changing
child-care expectations and the heightened
importance of child-
'l'" C
rearing during the mid-nineteenth century made the woman's
as a mother even more significant .
child was more
Experts claimed that the
influenced in its early years by it s
than they had previously thought.
job
en vironment
Their teachings extended the
mother ' s
role of protecting the child from the co rupting outside
forces .
The woman was the better parent because of her mora
spiritual
superiority,
and her divine intuition.
further consoled by the belie f
through their children ,
Women were
that they could i nfluence soc i ety
especially the male children who we r e
enter that "o utside world ."
The ideal
even by women such as Ha riet .
She once wrote to
her husband
" so much do
I am under
the pressure
is my mind of en darkened by care
holds out few allurements -
that
so much
life seriously considered
only my children. "
16
to
of mot herh ood was praised
and exalted,
I feel
and
She considered
I
her role as mother "nothing great or brilliant in the world's
it
eye;
lies in one small
fam i ly ci r cle ,
which
I am called to be
I ll
he central
r,
greatly,
point ."
41
Although her daily duties strained her
her children served as a
Harriet,
source of
as wel 1 as many other women,
another means of relief.
joy and hope.
sought in relig i on
The nineteenth century was marked
the movement to a more emotional
y
and ex ressive religious faith .
With the greater number of female attendants who professed this
1 t:t
new faith,
the movement gradually became more widely accepted
within the churches.
TC f
This new movement resulted
in what Barbar a
Welter has termed the " feminization of religion ."
time
men,
For some
women had been attending church in greater numbe r s
a
fact no ed by Cot on Ma her as early as 1691.
new movement,
however
faster
ra e .
female membership increased at ev en a
the men by 1835 .
Revolutionary War and the subsequent
lost interest in the church
of
level
involvement made
more emotional
accomodating -
'feminine.'"
43
with the pious and virtous wife and mother ,
into the woman ' s sphere.
one of
the woman ' s
men
which enabled women to take
Women's greater
more
Revolu i on,
Religion became relega t ed
religion " more domesticated ,
in word,
result of the
I ndustrial
issues .
of significance,
the churches.
As a
and paid more attention to political
and economic -- " masculine" --
control
With this
The percentage of women attending church grew to
almost double that of
lower
than
and especially after the Second Gre a t
Awakening of the 1830s,
to a
42
In turn,
ch i ef duties .
44
17
more soft and
Religion
consistent
became incorporated
converting t h e husband became
Women discarded the male-dominated and controlled religion
of Calvinism,
and adopted a
like Harriet Beecher Stowe
more sympathetic faith.
often rejected the strict structure
and unforgiving harsh Father-God of Calvinism
more gentle,
and
was referred
wrote:
though t
Love Religion,
in America.
making the capacity to feel,
itself evidence of redemption. "
45
freer
Th i s new faith
another outgrowth
As the historian Gail
"Sentimentalism restructured t
salvation
and found a
loving Brother-God in Christ.
o as Sentimental
of sentimental
The women,
Paker
e Calvinist mode o f
and above all
to weep
in
In opposition to the stoic
Calvinist faith of New England in which painful
self-examination
left one in doubt and d espair,
sign of salvation
emotion became a
and proved important to women who
means of
looked for a more universal
finding their way to heaven.
46
In accordance with this rejection of
favor of
the
loving Christ
t he Caivinist God in
church practices also changed .
Congregations relied more on the New Testament than the Old,
l
which spoke of a
Jesus '
vengeful
and wrathful God.
love and friendship for all
New hymns aff·rmed
who were downtrodden and
.
47
su ff er1ng.
Many women iden ified with this new "God," who was meek
L
L
humble,
selfless,
sacrificia l ,
were the charac eristics of
often
and forgiving
the woman herself.
led the woman to "feminize" Christ,
Maria Child,
After al 1,
these
This associat i on
as did the author Lydia
who wrote :
That the feminine ideal approaches much more to the
gospel s andard
than the prevalent idea of manhood
is
shown by the universal tendency to represent the
Saviour and his most beloved disciple with mild meek
expression, and feminine beauty.
one speak of the
18
L
bravery , the might, or the intellect of Jesus ;
but the
devil is always imagined as being of acute i ~~ e llect
political cunning, and th e fiercest courage.
In their
identification with Christ,
women also began to relate
to His agony and suffering on the cross
suffering was the means to sa lv ation .
r_
suffering,
they became one of
L
I
the " elect " or saved.
for
thei r
The women
own manner of
Such was the course prescribed for women in Harri
Bee cher Stowe s
[
Through their own
then adopted Christ ' s beha v ior as a model
living .
[_
and concluded that
essay,
t
" The Cathedral":
Absolute unselfishness, - the death of self, - such
wer
its teachings, and such as Esther ' s the characters
it made.
' Do the duty nearest thee " was the only
message it 0 ave to " men with a miss i on "·
and from duty
to duty, from one self-denial to another
they rose to
a majesty of moral strength impossible to any form of
mere self-indulgence.
It is of souls thus sculptured
and chiseled by self - denial and self-discipline that
the l ivng temple of the perfect hereafter is to be
built .
The pain of the d isciplin~ is short , but the
9
glory of the fruition is eternal.
Women were redeemed through suffering which set
apart from men .
her
This belief sepa r ated the male and female
spheres even more,
complementary.
hem fu r
but their
The duty of
roles also became more
the female was to convert o
tts ave "
the male .
Ha rriet Beecher Stowe further
woman .
identified Christ with the
She saw motherhood as a means for
Christ ' s
love,
selflessness,
brother
Henry Ward Beecher,
hold the
faith
in the world .
and self-denial .
[It is]
in their own bodies. 0 50
Jesus more of
In a
letter to her
she expressed this belief :
suffer and must suffer to the end of
beloved
the woman to portray
the wives and mothers who
time to bear the sins of
She herself noted,
the pure feminine element than
19
"W o men.
the
" there was
in any other man . "
in
51
t• •
This " connection "
to Christ enhanced the belief
super ior spiri uality,
in the woman ' s
and enabled Harriet to accept the burden
of her allotted role.
Despite
he consol a tion she found
Harriet resisted her confinement
and
in Christ and religion,
l i ke other women
writing as another means to gain her freedom.
of the first areas to "admit " women,
approximately half of
the
l
1
literature written from the turn of the
l
I
Women of
entering the
escape .
and most of their works
Harr·et ' s Uncle To m' s Cabin alone sold
about 350,000 copies in the U. S.
1 , 500 000 in Britain.
Though women authors
" d-d mob of scribbl i ng women ,"
century to the Civil War was by women,
sold by the thousands.
Writing became one
and Harriet joined many
others who sought to express themse ves .
were considered by some as a
turned to
within the firs
yea r
and about
52
the nineteenth century had several
l i terary field .
Many found
reasons fa
it was a means to
As Caroline Howard wrote to her future sister-in-law
Louisa Gilman :
on paper,
will
" If you are distressed,
unburdening your thoughts
compose your mind an d promote reflection·
to an innocent heart is almost invariably a
added that
in writ i ng down one ' s
thoughts,
relief. "
53
which
She
'' we may deri v e benefit
i n planting them more clearly in our own mi nds " and " undoubtedly ,
in unfolding by writing the germ of any idea
its proper
ies,
we more pla i nly see
and more understand i n g ly apply them ."
For Caroline Howard and othe r
of " unburdening oneself
women
54
writing became a means
" but others saw it as an opportunity to
20
glorify and emphasize the i mportance of
"liter ary domestics, "
the womans role .
women who retained the i r
home while also writing for publication,
conflic
between the promotion of
their situations.
of the ir role
function
These
in the
of en f a ced a n internal
the ir rol es a n d the reality of
While they sought t o heighten t he importance
they a lso found unhappiness and disil lusi onm e nt .
Their self - examination could not be too searc hing,
expose the negat ive aspects
for
they might
in their own attempts to provide a
bright pictura of their position .
The
literary domestics found
f 1
that if
they " condemned" their roles ,
' condemned "
They often chose to exploit the stereotypical
themselves .
I
they then
traits
•
imposed upon them by nineteenth-century society,
emphasized the woman's role.
Still
and thereby
55
other women shied away from this self-e x amination and
chose to write of heroines who might serve as role models for
young g i rls .
The se authors recognized the
limited number of
r •
young and old -- to wh i ch they
works o ffe red to fe male readers
could relate .
"N o my s i ster
As Harriet wrote to fell ow author,
.
there are things about us no man can kno w and
consequently no man can write."
Harriet,
George Eliot
56
Most often the women,
glorified the woman as p i ous and d i v i ne
reflected her more spiritual
nature.
as w ith
whose emotions
Through this medium,
women
sought to assert their power and influence in areas dominated by
men .
57
While al 1 these reasons for writing most
her own,
Harriet saw other uses for
the novel.
l i kely agreed with
Harriet noted a
change in the purpose of fiction:
The use of
the novel
in the great questions of moral
21
l i fe
is coming to be one o f the f eatures of the age.
F ormerly
the onl
object of fictitious writing was to amuse.
Now
nothing is more common than to hear
he inqui ry of g work
8
of fiction
'W hat is it intended to sho w or prove? "
Harriet sought to " show or prove "
best means was through a
a
parable,
we mean a
i ntent
and
issue,
for Harriet
" parable-l i k e" tale .
in which the artistic is merely i ncidental. "
becam e of primary importance.
the " truth ,"
the people in t he way they will
art i stic work
but as a moral
the moral
59
The
She added tha t
When a
not mainly as a
instrument .«
her readers the " tru h " by dra wing o u t
60
person does
l it e ra ry or
Harriet off ered to
the emoti o na l aspect of
the issue .
The woman represented the seat of the emotions and
he "divine
link '
the moral
woman ' s
judgment .
" By
it " must be offered to
take it best .
the work is to be judged .
the
She explained,
work of fict i on written solely for
when it came to talking of
t his
the " trut h," and she found
and she was the one best qu a l ifie d to provide
Fo r
this re ason,
view must be considered .
L
L
l
L
L
22
Harriet believed that the
L
f_
,~
I
In her first and most successful
or Life Among the Lowly,
L
L
as a
"moral
She had become an ardent abolitionist in
influenced by such people as Theodore Weld,
events as the reward posted for
their deaths
in the press.
with the passing of
Law,
the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave
Disappointed in her northern
and especially Senator Daniel
to the Compromise,
amazing
she wrote her sister,
mournful!!
I feel
Harriet to act through a
if
as
if
"I
Mrs.
To me
it is incredible
should be willing to sink
letter concern ing the Fugitive Slave
remember distinctly saying in one of
could use a
62
declared,
Harrie
"I
will
them,
'Now Hattie,
I would write something that
pen as you can
what an accursed thing slavery
then supposedly crumpled the
write something.
appeared to be the first
61
recalled encouraging
Edward Beecher
would make the whole nation feel
is.'"
Webster who con ributed
it were al 1 this sin and misery to sink in the sea.«
Her sister-in-law,
law :
runaway slaves and the reports of
in which Northern congressmen agreed to return escaped
brethren
L
L
L
L
and such
Her attitude became more vehement
slaves who had settled there.
with
Beecher Stowe used her fiction
intrument" with which she attacked the peculiar
institution of slavery.
Cincinna i
Harrie t
Uncle Tom's Cabin:
novel
I will
if
letter and
.
, 63
1 1ve.
This
step she took towards writing the
renowned anti -sla very novel.
In a
letter to Gamaliel
Bailey,
editor of an abolitionist newspaper
she addressed the
slavery as one on which women as well
as men must speak out:
Up to this year
I have always felt
23
that
I had no
the
issue of
L
r_
L
[
L
r_
parti ular call to meddle with this subject
and I
dreaded to expo se even my own mi nd to the full force of
its exci ing power.
But I feel now that the time is
come when even a woma n or a child who can speak a word
for freedom and humanity is bound to speak .
The
Carthanegian [sic] women in the last peril of their
state cut of
their hair for bow-strings to give to the
defenders of their country·
and such peril and shame
as now hangs over this country is worse tha n Roman
slavery, agg I hope every woman who can write will not
be silent .
After comple ting the novel,
Annie Fields,
publisher
r_
I-
[_
[
I
" wrote for me."
65
She
Lord himself wrote it,
Harriet wrote
about th e
letter to her
' irresistab l e
later believed this
and
in a
impulse" which
impulse was God:
was but the humblest of
"The
instruments
To Him alone should be given a ll
But she sti
had her own purpose in mind when she wrote the
novel,
t he pra i se."
66
i n his hand .
and she was very much determined to bring to
aspects of slavery and i
s harm to society - -
all
light various
society,
wh i te
and black .
Though Harriet s
rongly denounced slavery ,
she did not
foresee the major rift that opened between the North and the
South.
She had not,
after all
wanted to punish the South :
It was my hop e that a book so kindly intended
so
favorable in many respects
might be pe r mitted free
circulation among the .
[Sou th erners] and that the
gentle voice of Eva and the man l y generosity of St .
Clare might be al lowed to say those things of the
67
system which would be invidi ous in any other form.
She had not
intende d to alienate t he South with her novel,
but to
soften the southern character and " to show the best side of the
thing .
.
.
Harriet did
and something faintly approaching the worst ."
howe er,
68
intend to at ack slavery:
My vocation is simply that of painter, and my object
will be to hold up in the most lifelike and graphic
manner possible slavery, its reverses, c h anges . and the
egro character
whi c h I have had ample opportunities
24
I
for studying.
There is no arguing with pictures
and
everybody
impressed by them
whethe r they meant to
be or not.
[_
Harriet did become a
"painter," and sketched scenes that occurred
in the slave's
especially events which she had apparently
life,
ignored during her visit to the Kent cky plantat i on.
r
Harriet probably became more
novel,
Mann,
than she had planned .
death of her son,
r
I
l
L
L
L
In an 1852 lette r
she adm i tted that " the case
itself with my l ife."
r
involved in the issue,
70
Harriet ' s
Samuel Charles
Cincinnati cholera epidemic
speak for
to edi or Horace
[has] enwoven
own experiences,
(Charley)
a nd the
such as the
in the 1849
enabled her to sympathize wi h the
slave mother's separation from her ch ildren.
connection when she wrote to a
friend ,
in 1853
She explained this
of
this sorrowful
experience:
It was at his [Charley Stowe's] dying bed and at his
grave that I learned what a poor slave mother may feel
when her chi l d is torn away from her .
In those depths
of sorrow whi ch seemed to me immeasurable, it was my
only prayer to God that such anguish mig ht not be
suffered in vain.
There were circumstances about his
death of such peculiar bitterness , of what seemed
almost cruel suffering , that I felt I could never be
consoled for it , unless this crushi ng of my own heart
might enable me to work out some great good to others.
I allude to th is here because I have often felt
much that i s in that book ["Uncle Tom's Cabin "] had its
root in rhe a wful scenes and bitter sorrows of that
7
summer.
Her role as a mother strongly influenced her efforts to write the
novel .
She alluded to this
in a
letter
o one of her children:
well remember the winter you were a baby and I was
writing " Uncle Tom's Cabin . "
My heart was bursting
with
he anguish excited by the cruelty and injustice
our nation was showing to the slave, and praying God to
let me do a little and to cause my cry for them to be
heard .
I remember many a n i ght weeping over you as you
lay sleeping beside me, and I
hought of
he slave
7
mothers whose babes were torn from them .
25
This anguish took the " hearts blood " out of her,
strength.
She commented on its effects :
would fail
utterly;
me ti I 1
got through,
above strength . "
73
but
"I
and drained h er
thought my health
prayed earnestly t hat God would help
and still
In the end
I am pressed beyond measure a n d
she accomplished her task ,
perhaps saw herself as one of God ' s
pawns
eradication of slavery which culminated
in His plan for
in the Civil
and
the
War:
This great afflicti o n that has come upon our country
is so evidently the purifying chastening of a Father
rather than the avenging angel of a Destroyer, that al 1
hears may submi t themselves in a solemn and holy calm
still to bear the burning that shall make us clear
Earn
dross and bring us forth to a higher national l ife .
Harriet saw it as her task to make a
civilized humanity . "
to a
75
Uncle Tom ' s Cabin deals wi
makes the novel
"despairing appeal
h the
issue of slavery
distinctly the work of a
woman -- at
according to nine een h - century ' spheres "
--
Stowe appeals to the maternal
the reader.
her asides to the reader,
emotions of
but what
least
is the fact
that
Through
she incorporates him into the opposing
sphere -- the so-called "m ale " sphere -- which permits the
perpetuation of
readers
the "pe c u l iar
institution . "
to see the other side of slavery -- not the economic or
political
but the emo
ruptures.
Stowe uses gen der
ional
side brought about by the family
to emphasize the emotional
s lavery,
in which her
maternal
sympathy needed for a
Women,
She forces her
such as Mrs .
impact of
female characters usually e x press the
ful 1 understanding of the
Shelby and Mrs .
B i rd,
mother and empathize with her position,
26
issue .
identify with t he slave
recognizing the s uffering
J
I
l
that various female slave characters experience after
their children .
I
perversion of the mother ' s
·~
I
~
Marie St .
Clare represents a
TI
L
I
I
I
I
I
In contrast,
losing
perhaps "masculinely , '
role
She behaves brutishly,
toward the slaves,
corrupting effects of slavery.
and
demonstrating the
The distinctly " male " characters
point up the inhumane and narrow-minded "male " view.
provides a more balanced male character
Yet Stowe
in Augustine St .
Clare ,
"
L ff
l~
t=
t=
•-=
who shows several
" feminine "
sympathize with the pligh
traits which enable him to
of the slave.
Uncle Tom ' s
" feminine "
nature also allows the r eader to unders and the emotional
slavery.
Free from prejudice,
Little Eva demonstrates the proper
democratic attitude toward the slave.
The glorification of her
death reinforces her opposition to the cruel
mete out to the slave.
like fig ures
Both Lit
.
stand for God's ideal.
as Christ-
They also emphasize the
and sanctify the
,,76
The scene that opens the novel
the slaveowner,
and Mr.
a
Stowe immediately
transaction.
Haley,
depicts two men,
the slave trader,
cri
as " gentlemen . '
with a
She suggests the slave trader
strictly speaking
r.
Shelby,
in the midst of
icizes the men who engage
in this business when she describes them
not seem,
treatment others
le Eva and Uncle Tom,
identification of the woman with Christ,
"woman's view.
side of
hint of sarcasm,
is one who "did
to come under the species "
Stowe reduces the role of gentleman to a
(11) .
" species " an animal-
like classification similar to the slave trader ' s classification
of
the
the slave.
level
She reverses the posi
of a beast:
27
ion,
and puts the trader on
I
He was a short, thick-set man
with coarse, commonplace
features, an d that swaggering air of pretens i on which
marks a low man who is trying to elbow his way upward
in the wo Id.
He was much over-dressed
in a
gau d y vest of many colors.
. His hands, large and
coarse, were plent i fully bedecked with rings;
His conversation was in free and easy defiance of
Murray's Grammar, and was garnished at convenient
intervals with various profane expressions, which not
even the desire to be graphic in our account shall
induce us to transcribe (11).
II
She describes a
very coarse and common man .
is despicable in taste and manner,
appearance of a
gentleman"
the wealthy slaveowner as a
r:o
I
I
l
(11) .
the slaveowner has " the
Perhaps she does not see even
gentleman,
but as a man who has
merely donned " the appearance " of one.
true gentleman deals
While this cha ract e r
One may infer that no
in this trade .
Stowe further alludes to Haley ' s materialistic qualities
which are
included in the male sphere .
and the slaves,
While discussing religion
he remarks on how he appreciates
' pious niggers , "
and describes one slave who was particu l arly religious :
[HJe was quite gentle and quiet like .
He fetched me a
good sum
too, for I bought him cheap of a man that wa s
' bliged to sell out ;
so I real i zed six hund r ed on him .
Yet
I consider religion a va l eyable thing in a n i gg e r ,
when it ' s the genuine article
and no mis t ake (12) .
Ironically ,
religion,
Stowe demonstrates Haley's concern for
rather than its appeal
for
the slave .
He
the " value " of
is only
concerned with how much money he can make from such a
trade.
Stowe notes Haley ' s masculine inte est in buying and selling
slaves as well
part of the world of power the man occupies .
Economics ta .es precedence over any
between the male slaveowner and the slave .
r .
Shelby
who is "sorry to par
out of necess i ty.
elationship establish ed
Such is the case for
with Tom," but feels he must
The man sees the slave primarily as valuable
28
property
and the economic need o tweighs the personal
This attitude fur her aligns Mr .
reminds Haley about a
Shelby wi h Ha ey .
also points out that that
Mr.
C44) •
you well
I
t=
I
I
I
L=
know,
the tr der
Shelby has
' "
furthe
identi fi es the two char cters desp i te Shelby s
sits ' with his
body an
the
soul
loss o
they may
b 1 i ge me
from the trader .
little account boo
under
the head of
the slave
( 44).
' body and soul '
ins
ttempt to
slave
C 60-
She
the slave owner ' s wife,
in financial
ter ms .
itution.
77
epresents the womans side which is based on
pecuniary sacrifice" and is
inconvenience "
slaves by
values ,
hem,
fa ' thful
each i n
and
if,
for
e
mome t
concern .
' the hear
.'
she is willing to " make a
' ' will i ng
o bear .
the
importance of fam· l y and Chri s t i an
" how can
the sake of a
excellent,
rs .
S he emphasizes her efforts to help the
them
lamen s
from him in a
(47)
(47) .
Th e
in erest of the two men onl
r e flects an emotional
In order to avoid parting with Tom,
he
He understands
n contrast to the econom i c concerns of the men,
Shelby ,
This
nd put(s) don the miss· ng
,
losses. "
serve to perpetuate the peculiar
too ' "
When Haley loses a
narr w-minded th ' nking and econom i c
just
to which Ha ey
' 'Wal
you know,
Tom
claiming
obliged me
1·
I ever hold up my head again among
tle pa l
ry gain ,
we se l I s uch a
con fi ding creature as poo
Tom,
al 1 we have taugh
love a nd value?' '
According to S towe
Mrs.
him to
S h e l by ca r es for
29
I
"
replies
distance himself
.~
into,
is exactly what Mr.
Shelby excuses himself,
" Circumstances,
I
I
I
going
tachment .
Although he
promise that he ' ·wouldn't sell
without knowing what sort of hands he ' s
done
a
and
the slaves
ear
a nd
has taken the time to help them and involve herself
in their
lives .
s.
un · t,
even among slaves
which
not
Shelby recognizes the
impo
and attr·
little boy,
who wi
l
es
he recogn i zes T om ' s wort
but in human terms
Har y ,
the family as a
u es to them human quali
he men are unwilling to do .
in financ i al,
ace of
just as she does with the
be sold from his mother,
Eliza
Mrs .
Shelby tells her husband that she has talked to E iza about 'her
d
ty to
her son] a
and now what can
and body,
money?
-
to a
I
a Christian mother
say,
' and complains
if you tear him away and sell
him,
sou
profane.
unprincipled man, just to save a little
l
have told her that one soul is worth more than al 1 the
money in the world;
and how wil 1 she believe me when she sees us
turn around and sel
her child?' n
husband
recognizes the
society
and emphasizes Eliza ' s
the moral
contradictions that
(47)
impor ance of
Ms.
Shelby
the family
role as a mother,
if n ot her
in slave
understanding
hey themselves would make when
they sold Tom and the child .
Later,
Mrs .
Shelby denounces slavery as an evil
institution:
This is God ' s curse on slavery. - a bitter . bitter,
most accursed thing ! - a curse to
he mas er and a
curse to the slave!
was a fool to
hink I could make
anything good ouJ of such a deadly evi
I t is a sin to
hold a slave under l a s like ours
- I always felt it
was , - I al ways thought so
hen I was a gir 1, - I
thought still more so after I joined the church·
but
thought I could gild it over, thought, by kindness,
and care
and ins ruction , I could make the c ondition
of mine bet er than freedom - fool that I was! (48)
.-
She understands the inhuman i ty of slavery when it ruptures
.
f am1. 1 1es
an d
a
78
. t 1an
·
perver t s Ch r1s
1· d ea s .
tempted to improve
he
Though she has
ives of her slaves
30
she ul
imately
I
realizes
ha
freedom
husband,
a
~ignal
the evil
ins itution.
is the only answe .
from Stowe to other women to speak out against
Stowe also uses
rs.
Shelby to criticize the church for
n '
apparent support of slavery:
perhaps,
-
can
She speaks out to he
cure it
inisters can ' t
any more than we can,
it always went against my common sense '"
agreemen
help the evil
-
but defend it!
(48) .
with the stereotypes of the period ,
its
a
Naturally
n
oman makes the
argument because she has the emotional authority
o do so .
nine een h-century beliefs of spiritual
superiority
further author·ze women to make moral
and moral
The
judgments upon slavery
I
which often brings them in conflic
When she
earns that E iza has run away with her child
She by ex resses relief :
" 'The Lord be thanked!
she is
She even interferes in th e search
[escaped] ' "
(5
).
efforts to allow Eliza more time,
"'Wel 1,
-
Sam,
Haley,
and help him.
Be careful
of the horses
a
last week;
don ' t
little
lame
s
rang emphasis"
master at Sam ' s
part.
ride
Shelby spoke the
(62).
ins
Later ,
igation
She came forward,
for Haley ' s acciden,
and
Sam,
you know Jerry
hem too fast ' '
last words with a
as
(62).
Stowe
low voice
and
horse has thrown his
Shelby "now resolved
o do her
courteously expressing her conc e rn
pressed h " m to stay to dinner
the cook should bring it on t h e table immed i ately '
own subversive manner
tr s
to show him the road
after Haley s
Mrs .
Ms .
tel ling one of the slaves:
you are to go wi h Mr.
adds that " r s .
-
with the men.
say i ng that
(65).
In her
she at empts to help El i za re ach freedom .
Although these tactics are pass i ve in keeping with the " woman ' s
nature
_..
n
they demonstra e the wom a n ' s means of undermining the
31
.
ma 1 e s d om1nance.
79
More importan ,
confrontation with her husband,
like Ms.
Shelby's earl i er
these "Carthaginian " actions
encourage other women to do the same .
Another examp e of a woman expressing her v i ews and
ini
iating effor s
Senator ' s wife.
legis l ature ' s
to hep a
Mrs .
slave escape is
-
Shelby,
he
"'passing a
law forbidding people to give meat and
that come along ' ''
she sees such laws as un-Christian .
When she
law
denounces him and the
abominable
law,
a chance;
and
and
I
la
itself:
I ' 1 1 break
hope
sha l l
I
his outburst foreshadows
at their home.
rs.
s a
shameful,
wi ked,
for one,
the first
time
I do !"
(100)
" 'II t
have a chance,
Bird further admits ,
I must feed
but
the hungry
and tha
Bible
" '
ow John
clothe the naked
1 mean
to follow "
ing "
piety
implications.
he path of
lef
on their own,
love .
80
ives
and there
object · ons
the slaves escape for pol i tical
nd
Bird understands the relig ' ous and
In keeping with the woman ' s
she relies on the words of Christ
her
The fact
her Savior ,
trait of
to teach
hat these people would suffer
forces her to rebel against the
law.
ice floes.
32
'f
This is
the very act which she performs when Eliza and Harry cross the
river ' s
et
( 00-101) .
to 'a i d i ng and ab e t
emotional
and comfo t
who understands the Kentuckians '
Mrs .
I
don ' t
I can read my Bible
Unlike her husband,
economic reasons
she
he events to come when Eliza ar
know anything a out politics
the desolate :
it
ike
(99) .
discovers that her husband has helped to pass such a
see that
-
Bird ,
Bird questions her husband about the
drink to these poor colored folks
Mrs.
rs.
....
-
The scene of Eliza s arrival
o
ican
Stowe
the stronges t
.
81
like S owe
suffered the
exhaus ion,
she admits she
is a
slave .
leave such a
.
''' Ma' am
death,
many women,
.
Even
fain t·ng from
hough her masters
They ask
insists she must run away.
good situat io n
and she
I
lost a child? " (105)
have you eve
Bird immedia ely r esponds with sympat hy
e
side o
which makes this an
regains consciousness a fter
her why she would then
laid in
child,
fective appeal .
she
it was only
mother and a
o bring out the emot ion al
loss of children
so
For
o mothers .
bet ween a
have treated her well
replies
s a
home
During the nineteenth century,
issue.
When Eliza first
...
love
the save
1
y
excep ionally e
Stowe makes
bond is tha
and she draws upon thi s
-
ha
he appa l
signi
at the Birds '
Mrs.
" for
as do the others
a man h since a darl ing ch il d of the family ha d been
grave "
( 105).
When Eliza learns o f t e chi
d s
she replies:
Then you wil I feel for me .
I have lost two , one after
another
- left 'e m buried there wh en I came away·
and
I had only this one left .
I never slept at night
without him ·
he was all
had.
He was my comfort and
pride
day and night;
a nd ma ' am, they were go i ng to
take him away from me · - t o ~ him
- sel I him down
south, ma am
to go all alone
- a baby that had neve
been away from his mother in his life!
1 could n
stand it
ma'am.
knew I never should be good for
anything
if they
id. (105).
What mother could resist not feeling for
forever
be.
L
SPparated from her child
The realiza ion of
Senator to teas .
hel
s
He
ignores
he
law he has
o secu r e
even the
just passed
their f reed om .
also be moved by such cases
33
ho may be
not knowing what his fate may
this womans pl i ght bring s
Eliza and her child
that the reader will
this woman
nd
Stowe hopes
and not
just
ignore,
but abolish
Eliza's situation to help mothe sunders and the
Stowe use
horrors o f
slav ry.
' ' If
eader:
laws permitting slavery.
She interrupts the narrative to
it were your Ha ry,
or your Willie
mother
--
if you h d seen the man,
to-mar ow
and heard tha
the papers
were signed
nd del · vered,
till
to make good your escape,
mornin
walk? ' "
(67 -68)
that
trader
were going to be torn from you by a brutal
mo ning
ddress the
and you had only from twelve o'clock
-
how fast could Y.QQ
hat the "mothers of America
Stowe suggests
to unde stand the
ma ine the separation from their own child en
ruptures between slave mother and child that occurred almos
I
She ass them to see that th
daily.
slave mother no more wants
o part wi h her child than does any free mother.
Late
I
I
I
I
Stowe makes an even stronger appeal
to mothe sand
their emotions whe n she depicts a scene on a st eam boat which
carries Haley
and the slaves he has bought.
slaves are on board,
of
~lavery,
affections,
one woman comments
to my mind,
-
L
the separating of families,
' 'Suppose
from you
" 'The most dread ul
ma ' am
and sold? ' "
part
is its outrages on the feelings and
for example '
( 150) .
esponse from another passenger
After receiving a negative
asks,
Learning that
(1 50 ) :
should be taken
there
your two children
the very ques
she
ion Stowe has proposed
7
I
earlier to the reader.
most
Another woman coun e s that the slaves
likely would not feel
responds
Indeed ma'am
say so ,
the same way as she.
The first woman
you can know no hing of them
was born and brought up among them .
do feel,
just as keenly,
(151).
his
-
even more so
is Stowe's effor
o dispe
34
perhaps,
i
kno
you
they
- as we do ' '
acist beliefs that the
save does not have emot · ons or feelings ,
time
of
and part of the white man ' s effort to prove the
the black .
T
-
a common belie
Stowe relies on emotions provoked b
the separation of mother and child .
mother and daughter
life with Tom
oner because of
the
Susan and Emmelin e
two
are distraught after being sold
to d iff erent owners at a n auction .
discusses her
· nferiority
8
oughout the novel ,
slave women
at that
the slave,
La er
explaining
er bitterness to ward he
loss of her children .
third child to ensure his "freedom."
Cassy,
She even kills her
83
One mal e character in whom Stowe/ includes some " feminine'
tra its to emphasize the need for a
Augustine St .
dau hter
inh e
i
l_
Evangeline .
Stowe int oduces St.
in his
" 'she was di
goodness
life.
He tells his cousin
ine!
.
.
f rom b ecom1ng
.
h 1m
Miss Ophelia
tha
( 263) .
His mother ' s
influences his
·
1.
comp l e t e 1 y cyn1ca
Alfred:
strong,
fine Roman prof ile,
' ' He had black
golden hair,
keeps
side wh n he
he contrast between him and his twin
brother
b ue eyes
life an
84
lare fu ther alludes to his " feminine"
discusses wi~h Ophelia
that
She was a direct embodiment and
is the sole factor
S .
L_
' [hJav·ng
His mother proves to be one of the most influentia
personification of the New Testament'
(_
Cla e as
ed from his mother an exceeding delicacy of constitution"
< 1 3) .
peopl
balanced approach, is
I
Clare of New Orleans
who buys Tom for his
and a
fiery eyes
rich brown complexion .
a Greek out ine,
was active and observing,
coal-black hair
35
I had
and fair complexion .
I d eamy and inactive •
.
.
-
a
he was
He
my fathers pet
more
and
like an angel
I my mother ' s '"
(263-4) .
While St .
with his fair characteristics
Clare is
his brother has
a darker complexion suggesting a more earthy nature .
Moreover,
he describes his father as a ' ' born aristocra ' ' with an "' old
court pride ''' and his "' brother was begotten in h i s
< 264) .
Alfred
Augustine,
cont as
akes over the plan ation
and runs
it in his fat her ' s
lef t
to him and
despotic manne .
between the t wo brothers extends to
Little Eva and Henrique,
image"
~he i r
This
own children
as seen when she tries to d i ss ade her
85
.
f rom b ea t 1ng
·
h 1s
'
1
cousin
save.
....
~t.
his mother ' s pa h .
I
" morbid sensitiveness and acuteness of fee i ng.
possibl
Clare clea ly fol low s
down on her
-
things
(264) .
subjects '"
lap
hat
and cry
I had no
He remembers ,
and dream
nature enn bles her to bring out St.
St.
bounced off his brothe
(264)
"' t
Clare ' s emotional
and the aesthetic "
[_
remaine
-
or
so many things .
ey sunk deep in o me'
' male '
C266) .
His
view with her ' woman ' s " v i ew,
( 183) .
St.
Care searches " for
When he
loses the
because of a deception played by her fam · y,
romance and idea
side
is more ba lanced.
During his early years ,
l
His mothers
hough his mothers views merely
mother counters his father ' s
and his behavior
lay my head
oh i mmeasu ably!
to al low him to "f eel '
Clare acknowledges that
on al 1
I would
and feel
language to say. ' "
perhaps '' feminine ' side ,
"
He has her
of
the real
life for Augustine St .
like the flat
bare
the ideal
love of his
life
so tt ended the whole
C l are .
But the real
oozy tide-mud
the blue sparkling wav e
with all
and
its music of oars and chiming waters
hite-winged ships,
36
its company of
glid i
when
g boats
has
I
L_
l
gone down
and thee
it
lies
exceedingly real "
(185) .
' feminine " nature,
enables S .
with more compassion and
flat
His suffering,
and bare ,
along with his
love .
He
is also able to see the
bare,
oozy
ide-mud" of the ev
. u t.10n . 86
1
St.
Clare treats his slaves as human beings.
clothing
to a
ith his personal
servant ,
Adolph
position of greater equality as a
in his encounter with the uncont olla
St.
le slave
Sc"pio.
ho has been injured in his
attempt
week :
good bed made for
him
1
'I
dressed his wounds
he got fairly on his feet again .
time,
I had fee papers made out for
liked '"
(2 74 ).
St.
And ,
him
Sc i pio does not
had a
in the process of
and told him to go
leave St .
Clare
but the
in his heart he
and h 1 rnan.
Clare is unable to find comfort in religion when he
discovers that people
the words of
and even theologians,
the Bible to make it favor
his mothers understanding of
truth.
last escape
and tended him m self,
episode suggests that though he owns slaves,
considers them fre
S.
took him to my own room,
un il
where he
Clare more
enlightened behavior
Clare' tames " Scipio
after about a
shares his
He
elevating the slave
person .
clearly demonstrates what Stowe considers
from
-
Clare to see things diffe ently
reality of slavery -- the "f lat,
.
ins
slimy
Unable to find
it
After Tom's arrival
his mother's pure faith,
Realizing
' ' Mas ' r
slavery.
the Bible --
religion in tha
St .
twist and manipulate
He
longs for
in its purity and
pure form,
he turns away
Clare recognizes the slave has
and his doubts about religion fade.
was n t a Christian , ' Torn tells St.
37
Cla e
that
he is concerned for
m 'fraid i
will
good Book says,
adder " "
his salvation:
be
" it bite h
(2 2)
h with him,
S
a
•
afe.
fil-1_ -
body and soul .
serpent and stingeth
just as S t .
The
like an
Clare smother
Clare prom·ses Tom that he will
manner anymore,
too,'" he is more
and adds
"
I ' l l
kee
my
likely making the promise to
(242).
Clare dies after he
On his deathbed
o pray
like a
When St .
not behave in such a
his mother
-
my dear young Mas
Tom quotes the Bible
she would have done.
fai
loss of all
" '0
is fatal
y stabbed during a
brawl
at
he calls Tom to his side commanding him
an
' when Torn ceased to speak
St . Clare reached out and
I
look·ng earnestly a
him
but say · ng nothing '
took his hand
I
I
St.
<369) •
mother used to sing
opened his eyes,
and said
[_
t:
I
I
C 1 are the
Clare ' s
slowly and quietly repeats a
and " [ ' Just before
with a
' Mother!
light,
as of
(370)
lare s memories of his mother.
takes on 'masculine'
rai
capacity to " feel " as most of
lac · s
daughter ' s
s .
however,
"'That ' 11
make my head ache '''
mother,
with the
( 196).
St.
Clare s
From the beginning,
She has no
do
-
ta e care
wife,
Marie ' s
the
the other women in the novel
her husband ' s affectionate nature
hugs·
hen he
87
In an instance of role reve sal
Marie
Clare opens
nature appears to revive St .
nature has been self-centered and selfish.
I
Torn is by St.
which suggests that when St .
Tom ' s maternal
he
joy and recognition,
looking at -- and perhaps through -- Torn ,
n sees " his mo her .
Marie,
he spirit parted,
and then he was gone!'
side as he dies
his eyes he is
sudden
hymn his
do .
and res i sts her
ch i 1 d,
-
don ' t
you
Marie seems unable to respond as a
loving and gentle nature that marks the other
38
women.
the
Perhaps Stowe suggests tha
'peculiar
exposed
institution '
this
is a
pan a woman ' s
possible effect of
nature.
Having been
o the male view growing up on her fa her ' s Louisiana
plan ation and spoiled by the slaves ,
Marie
as been corrupted
She remarks that the only way to treat
and "mas culin ize d " .
servants is " ' to put them down and keep them down.
natural
to me,
from a. child' "
(204) .
When he
" male" attitude towards the slave .
to be whipped
sends the slaves ou
emphasizing t
eir va lu
Marie
It was always
incorporates the
husband die s
and eventually sells them,
as chattel .
Unlike the other women in then
e l,
Maries corrupted
ammy s
na ure precludes her from feeling sympathy with her
separation from her husband and children.
-
Miss Ophelia,
And
just as if
Eva!' "
-
(207)
ammy could
child
love her dirty
arie cannot understand
St.
as
Cla e
at
tel ls
should .
little babies as
ave
he o her mothers do ,
feelings when separated from her children.
arie dem ons rates her selfish
When Little Eva becomes ill,
fo
Mrs.
have the feeling
Even towards her own child ,
nature.
-
ammy couldn ' t
the save mother ' s
she
she pays
little he d to the
she was c mple ely absorbed in study i ng out tw
or
three new forms of disease to which she believed herself was a
vie im "
(320).
maternal
fears about Eva, "
wor se
arie considers her own heal
When she does become concerned about Li
ironically
saying
Despite Miss Ophelia ' s attempts "to awaken he
she scolds St.
Clare for
-
kno w' "
you don '
39
tle Eva
his attempts to comfort her
"'You have not a mothers feelings
could understand me!
h much
St .
(321).
Clare !
You
I n act ua l · t y
ever
s
e
I
does not have a mother ' s
case of Eliza,
-- a
fee l ings
for a
true mother
as
in t
e
slave mother at t a t -- has concern only for
her child.
Little Eva stands
in cont as
to her mother ' s harsh nat re.
More
like her grandmother,
she too is
and
' seemed
shadow
o move
like a
hrough al
without contracting a spot ors ain"
on ai
ta 1 ways dressed in
(176) .
rather than walk on the ground,
t hi her
hi te"
sorts of places
She appears to
loat
"flying hither and
with an undulating and cloud-like tread "
(176>.
S owe
adds:
Her form was the perfection of chi dish beauty,
The re was about i t an undula inl(' and aerial grace, such
as o e might dream of for some mythic and allegorical
being .
He r face
as remarkable less for i ts perfec
beau yo
fea · ure
han for a singular and
reamy
earnestness of expression .
. the l ong golden brown
hai
that floa ed like a cloud
the dee
spirtitual gravi y of her viole
blue eyes
nd shaded
by heav y fringes o f
o lden
own , - all marked her out
from other children (175).
This desc iption sugg sts an e hereal
nature,
and Little Ea does
physcal ly represent the tra i ts of the nineteenth-century woman ' s
sphere
such as
pirituality and p iety.
aboard the s earn boa
be ieved
L_
Tes ament"
t.
eath,
When Tom se e s
is taking him down
he
iver
he
"he half
hat he saw one of the angels step out of his New
(176).
She is given her grandmother's name in
ive a
hope that "s he would
her
L
that
88
Li
tle Eva professes her fai
C l are discovers
in his mother "
reproduction
in her the " fee
(34 ).
out the emotional
ust as St .
s i de in her son
natu~e help to bring it ou
of her
hand
A
love in Christ,
and
had seen before
Clare ' s mothers nature brings
so too does Little Eva ' s
in the reader .
(186).
ing wh"ch h
image
he
Like her father and grandmother ,
sensitive to cruelty and
the slaves .
child,
her
inhumanity to others
When she hears Pruey ' s
tcheeks grew pale
over her eyes .
heavily "
(256) .
repl i es
' '[
Discovering
She
most especially to
story about
and a deep ,
he
earnes
loss of her
shadow passed
laid both hands on her bosom
and sighed
When Tom asks her what is the matter
Jhese
h i ngs s i nk
into my heart "
large,
she
(257) .
" the ~pi r it- l ike f orm of
later that Pruey has died
Evangeline ,, stands with "her
horror
very
Little Eva i
myst i c eyes di la ed with
and every drop of blood driven from her
lips and cheeks "
< 25 7) .
She remains deeply affec ed by stories of hor or
I
89
concerning the slaves.
S owe att
I
I
I
I
I
l
I
i butes this spec·a1
woman-like feeling,
St .
but also to th
.
without children? .
St .
that s he is a
child .
"' What would the poor and
Your
l ittle child i s your only
Clare remarks that a child
l i e Eva
true democra '"
(21
is too
to exper · ence the prejudices that develop wi th
time,
innocen
and
towe,
child
i s ab e
loo
one who
when Li
) .
to accept everyone as an equal .
Accord i ng to
not o n ly must one unders and the woman's view ,
must also
a
an i ssue with the pers ec iv
his
is pure of mind .
tle Eva ,
own special
agains
her mother ' s
' vinaigrette "
assoc·a ion with Chris .
sailor gazes on his
91
Tom
image of
reverence and tenderness "
gives her Mammy her
wishes
hea d ac h es .
he child Jesus -
41
Later,
as
90
tle Eva is her
looks at her " as the
(302).
innocent
demonstrated
is c l earl
aspect of Li
but one
of an
to ease the old woman ' s
Perhaps the most powerful
,....
fact
Clare explains to Miss Ophelia,
lowly do
l
sensitivity not only to Eva's
Ita l ian
with a mixture of
he two si
and read
the Bible,
Li
knowledge of
tle Eva foresees
his
and she tel ls Tom
the spirits bright,
T o m;
I ' m going before
them
Tom
if
I
could' "
says good-bye .
ives them
(307).
She
(323) .
Littl e Eva s
it
think
par
the slaves will
ords.
bl
the s
Speaking
when she first a r rives
ck
I would
hat
part o f
there "
(339) .
Just as
o remembe
herself.
She also
join
er
which
92
oic New Englander
loftily of abolitio
Miss Opel · a
and she
loved you and am gone
into heaven and
level.
J s
and tells
of Himself by whic
e
or
I would
nd white.
lock of her hair
Little Eva gives the slaves a
iss Ophelia ,
this misery.
to
She echoes the words and
I want to see you all
he Disciples a
promises tha
that
the slaves gather round her be
look a
and that
Jesus gives
Him,
She
'[wJhen you
Even
I
.
I ' ve felt
who died f o r ~ men has
to heaven
too.
if my dying could stop all
before her dea h sh
them,
"
long "
here .
I ' ve felt so
Because
puts black and white on an equal
I
" ' I ' m going
us .
actions of Chris
]
as J esus had
' ' I can understand why Jesus wanted to d·e
die for
I
jus
later tells him
be glad to die,
I
I
I
I
I
her dea h ,
is af f ected by
and educat·o
i s unable to treat the slaves
as fully human.
St .
which is as bad
if not worse than the Sou t hern form:
Clare points out her
orthern prejudice ,
I h ve often noticed in my travels north
how much
stronger this [pe sona
pre · udiceJ was with you than
with us .
You loa he them as you wou d a snake or a
oad
ye
you are indignant at their wrongs .
You would
not have them abused·
but you don t want to have
anything to do with them yourselves .
You would send
hem to Africa, out of your sight and smell
and then
send a mi siona y or two to do up al l the se l f - denia
of elevating them comprehend i ngly (211) .
iss Ophel i a
herself finds
it difficul
42
to manage the mi sc ievo s
Topsy,
the child whom S .
eventually
Clare buys for
and
hips her -- the exact behavior she denounces
southern slaveholders.
93
After Eva ' s death
cries that there is no one
comfor sher
"
child [EvaJ.
left to
I can
lave you,
hope
I've
however,
love her,
though
can
love you;
I do,
grow up as a
good Christian
and
i r l ' 0
Miss Ophe ia the true way to
in
when
opsy
iss Opheli
am no
that dear
learnt something of the
from her .
show
her to teach
little
love of Ch ist
try to he l
OU
L · ttle Eva ' s
death
love -- with Chr i st '
love.
(
I ' 11
349) .
A character equally imper ant to the novel
to
as L i t tle Eva is
Uncle Tom .
From the ve y beginning he reflec s
everal tra i ts
I
haracte istic of the women.
For one , he a l lo ws himself to be
sold
Harris,
El i za's husband
who goes off to free himself
Tom
remains,
denying himself
freedom and putting his faith
in h·s
loving God .
94
As noted
maternal
in his scenes with St.
nature as well.
leaves with
he t
ader :
He
' '
old.
Clare ,
Tom po sesses a
Shelby just befor
eminds Mr.
was
as ' r,
old when ale Missis put you in
o my arms
and you wasn ' t
she says
Tom
that's to be your youn
g o o d ca r e o f
h i m , '' say s
s he ' "
(74 ) .
mother would
young child.
Anothe
side.
personality is his strong religious faith
43
ta e
a
the
so helps
95
obvious trait that reflect
is also a Chris -like character,
Mas '
and raise,
l i e Little Eva ' s
to draw out the readers emotional
a yea
Tom r eceives the baby jus
and helps to take care of
His feminine nature
he
jist e'ght years
" Thar
as a
,L·-
con rast to George
rather than escaping with Eliza.
Tom ' s
in a
' female'
loving Jesus.
just as Eva is .
his
is mos
Tom
-
evident in the scenes following St .
purchased by a brutal
apostolic tt manner,
-
slaveowner
lare's death when Tom is
Simon Legree .
Tom continues to try
Jesus among Legree' s
slaves .
96
does for St.
Clare.
entreaties
to win him from a
of his fa her,
a
"[bJ oisterous
unruly,
Legree takes the path
and tyrannical"
death:
'He opened i t,
and a
and that dying,
in a
hair which,
long
and
On
(433).
learns of her
curling hair fel 1 from
letter told him his mother
T
she bl est and forgave him'
(434) .
itself when Legree discovers Little Eva's
piece of paper that had hung from Toms neck:
There drop ed out of
-
lock of
and twined about h is fingers.
This scene repeats
-
life of sin '
letter from his mother
golden curl
just as he
Despite his mother's "passionate prayers and
he receives a
was dead
-
pious nature,
ship,
i
'quite
o spread the word of
Tom reminds Leg ree of his mother ' s
-
In a
like a
·t
.
.
a
long,
living thing
shining curl
of fair
hai
twined itself round Le ree's
fingers '
( 432) .
recoils
in fear
of evil
that turns things sweetest and holiest to phantoms of
Horrified
he thinks of his mot er ' s
[tJhere is a dread,
for
hair ,
unhallowed necromancy
horror and affr i aht "
(434) .
" damna ion."
thi king he has seen his dead mothe
him,
Shaken,
he claims he wil
did he get that hair?
up,
know
he dead ' '
om.
did!
(435-6).
The scene affirms his sin and
leave Tom alone,
t
and
couldn ' t
would be a
and then asks,
have been that!
joke,
i
before
' 'Where
burnt
hat
hair could rise from
Legree ' s mother seems to be acting through
97
A
houg
Tom ' s
fa i th wavers as he experiences his own Garden
""""
44
of Gethsemene,
it quickly returns stronger than before .
Christ,
and bleeding,
"b ent,
journey to Calvary
Like
struggl i ng' under the cross of His
so too has Tom struggled,
bleeding and bent
under his burden of slavery on his path to freedom and salvat · on .
But
wi
he
h an exultant tread;
was his s
rang faith
he blows fell
firme
in the Div in e," he "walked
than the ground he trod on
love '
now only on the outer man
him elf
hat his power over his bond thrall
heart.
Once Tom has completely resig
blows.
to be beaten fo
he no
Learee realizes "that
between him and his victim '
During the
Soon after
and not
[and] Legr e could no
on t
allow himsel f
(457) .
Leg r ee again finds an excuse to beat Torn
before ,
C459) .
e
for
merged
in Almighty eternal
this transfo mation,
but
.
his 'human will.
to God,
longer truly feels
he
an
the
who was standing
98
last beat·ng before his death
or
hide fr om
was somehow gon "
d his soul
it was GO
(459).
as
" 'Mas'r,
if you was sick,
in trouble,
save ye
I'd give ye my hearts blood;
Tom tells Legre
or dying,
and,
if
could
and
tak ing every drop
of blood in this poor old body would save your precious sou l
L=
I=
L
L:
L:
give
em freely,
like
he
as the Lord gave his for me'
is wi l ling to give up his
sa vation .
This sacr i fice
repeats
empted
y Satan
place of
the escaped slaves ,
he knew tha
could
tmos
holy trust'
reader ' s
Tom also feels
extremi y wring f
faith
in Tom.
Chris
his master ' s
itself when
just as Ch ist is
tempted to reveal
the hiding
n Li e his
but he res i st~:
if he saved others
(480-1).
life for
(480) .
aster
himself he could not save ·
om h i m words
I'd
s
ve of praye
no
and
Stowe 's allusion to Christ strengthens the
99
But Toms goodness has a negative
45
[lliil
effect upon Legree
Tom
ye
-
and the master continues to beat the slave .
hen tel ls him in words reminiscent of Christ
with al
mind of the
my sou 1 ! ' '
Stowe plants doubt in the readers
( 481 )
justice of an institution which allows such crue ty
to a be i ng of simi a
nature to Christ.
that the slaveowner
is beating Christ ,
T om.
She seems to suggest
just as he is beating
100
Much
brutal
l ike the two thieves crucif"ed with Christ,
have
the two
slaves who work closest to Legree ask forgivenesss and
passage to heaven.
if
Tom responds,
I pray. '"
loves everyone,
black and white
this type of
slavery .
" 'I ' d be wi 11 ing to bar ·
it ' 11 only bring ye to Chri:lt.!
two more sou s,
..,,..
"' I f o g · ve
love
Like Christ
(482)
Lo d.
al 1
give me these
nd Little Eva,
thief and saint.
Stowe hopes to move the reade
Tom
By describing
to abolish
101
In the chapter en itled " Concludi n g Remarks ," Stowe makes
appeals to the reader to take action against the peculiar
·nst · tution .
She revea s
hat
caused her to question her fe
think,
low man
iv e Slave Act of
of whom " she could only
She addresses herself to her southern readers,
own secret souls,
what are here shadowed
if
in this accursed system,
or can be shadowed? '
to the Southern readers to
46
asking
they have not " in
in your own private conversings
there are woes and evils,
appeal
if
such a question could never be open for discussion"
those " generous n ble-minded men and women "
yo r
1850
These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is·
they did
( 513) .
he Fug i
(513)
felt that
far beyond
She make
look at the system with a ne
an
understanding
-- with the woman ' s
exists there.
She calls on them to feel
does,
and to free their slaves.
that
view -- and see the evi
and act as St .
Towards the end,
Clare
she makes her
stron est appeal
the same one that h s echoed throughout the
novel
to the "mothers of America '
-- the appeal
(574):
[YJou who have learned by the crad es of your own
chi I ren, to love and feel for al I mankind, - by the
sacred love you bear your child· by your joy in his
beautiful
spotless infancy; by the motherly p i ty and
tenderness with which you gu i de his
ro wing years;
by
the anxieties of his education ;
by the prayers you
breathe for his soul s ete nal good · - I beseec h you
pity t e mother who has al 1 your affections , and not
one legal righ
to pro ect
gu i de
o
educate, the
child of her bosom.
By the sick hour of your child·
by thos
dying eyes , which you c n never forget ·
by
hose l ast cries ,
hat wrung
o
heart when you could
neit er help nor save ;
by the desolation of that
emp y c adle, tha
silent nursery, - I beseech you,
pity
hose mo he~ that a e constantly made child
ss
by the American slave trade!
And say, mothers of
America
is this a
hing to be defended, sympat ized
with, passed over in silence? (514-5)
·r
She appeals to moth rs everywhere to understand the plight of
slave mother,
7-
child,
if only out of sympathy for her separation from her
and to work to abolish the peculia
calls on 'every individual'
A
at osph
being'
to " see to
instit tion.
e
it that they feel
e of sym athetic influence encircle
(515) .
the
right .
every human
102
S owes rongly prates s against slavery by calling on her
reade s
to take into acoun
erno ions and feeling .
the womans view
the one of
She sets aside the econom · c and political
aspects of slavery which serve only to per etuate the
institution. "
She points out that the most dectructive aspect of
slav ry is that i t s parates
child.
Most of
' pecul · ar
h
family,
the mother and the
he female characters sympathiz
47
wi th
he plight
of the slave,
if only because they ident i fy with her as a mother .
She also shows the destructive elemen s
ole,
he mot er ' s
estroying her posi
corrup ed b y t e slave system ,
becomes bru al
and
Chris -l " ke f"gures
of slavery.
die to " save "
o the slaves
ruel
worth only as property.
adop s
ive traits .
to sugges
The mother,
the ' ma e" view and
and understand s
importantly
Mos
he slaves
at slavery in a diffe ent
a
Gods support for
the eradication
fa e which puts the t o -- a
level.
light
thei
Stowe draws on two
T heir deaths show the horrors of slavery .
and a black -- on an equal
Both al low the reader
They must
white
to
look
reflected through the woman's
/
heart.
-
48
I
of slavery that twists
I
II
I......
I
II
inister • s Wooing,
emotions of
~
[:
the reader,
t:
he
om's Cabin,
authority
and S
i
to understand
in a more
le Eva.'
oving
The main female
the woman ' s
s
role .
Stowe depends on
, ' which gives the nineteen h-century
o pass
ad,
we exp oits these traits to
importance of the woma
oman the
judgment on the religious questio .
S owe employs such characters as Dr.
Mo eover
Stanley Hopkins and
olonel
Aaron Burr as symbols of her rejection of Edwardean Calvin · sm.
Mrs.
arvyn,
through he
son,
demonstrates the reason for a break from the harsh faith of
Calvinism to a more
anguish over the sup osed death of her
loving faith.
love with her
arvyn,
James
he novel
opens
the reader
pe formed a
greater numbe
women,
he Wid ow Katy Scudder,
asse
like
' faculty ".
titude
is
103
introduced to a
during the " golden period" when
of
cousin
and becomes a more balanced
character once he accepts the womans view.
When
ary s
also marks this change in a
towards a God who is al !-loving
" pre-railroad times'
t:
in Uncle
epitomizes the traits of
as did Little Eva,
the "div in e
_.
~
as
ary Scudder
emphasize
the
Though she draws on the maternal
she also relies heavily on another " Lit
who is in
1=
the main theme is the relig · ous question:
the woman's view of religion and her faith
sphere
I
II -I
o the slavery issue in The
eturns
rejection of Calvinism.
character
I
I
I
Whi e Stowe briefly
tasks with s
i
1 and
1 "fe of
omen
speed .
These
have a
peculiar
ew England
Stowe exp ains that
' acuity
s
which among that shrewd people ,
a
'gift ,
commands m r e esteem tha
beaut
~
49
-
riches,
learning,
or any other worldly endowment
emphasizes the womans role before the
i s introduction of
industrial
(527-8) .
Stowe
revolution ,
and
labor-saving technology:
To her who has facul y no
ing s all be impossible .
She shall scrub floor s, wash
wring , bake, brew, and
yet her hands shal 1 be smal 1 and white ;
she shall have
no percep~ible income, yet alwa ys be handsomely
dressed
she shall have not a servant in her house , wit
a dairy to manage
hired men to feed
a boarder or
two to care for, unheard of pickling and preserving to
do, - and yet you commonly see her every a f ternoon
si
ing at her shady pa lor-window behind the lilacs,
coo
and easy
hemming muslin cap strings, or reading
the last new book .
She who hath faculty is n ever in a
hurry, never behindhand .
. Of this genus was the
Widow
cudder (528) .
S owe also describes Katy Scudder as
' an excellent wife" who put
I
aside her desires to satis y those of her husband.
Though she
'naturally as proud and ambitious a
lit tle minx as ever breathed
and [ ' s]
at Georges [her husband ' s
thoroughly grieved at hear
want of worldly success,
Redbreast,
she covered u
leaves of
tru e
<533) .
love,
' ' Mr .
t
e
nine eenth cent ries .
' Who ca es for
·s dictated by the
Scudder used
Katy Scudder is the ideal
little Rob·n
gra e of her worldliness w · th the
and sung a
Even her religion
husband :
like a nice
wife
s
o believe
f
She se she
he
it ,
that? '
above
it '
ct · ons of her
-
l wil l'" (534) .
lat -eig teenth an
wishes as i de for
those of her
husband.
Although she has the ' faculty " of her mother
remains d ist inctly d ifferent from her .
ary Scudder
104
. she could both read and wr i te f uently in the
mother tongue.
She could spin both on the lit le and
he great wheel;
and there wee numberless towels
napkins
sheets, and p i llow - cases in the household
store that could a test the sk i l of
er pretty
fingers .
She had worked several samp lers of such ra e
merit,
hat they hug framed i n dif erent rooms of the
50
house, exhibi ing every va ie y and style of poss ible
letter i
the best marking stit h .
he was skilful in
all serving and embroide y
·n all shaping and cutting
with a quiet and deft handiness that cons antly
surprised her energe ic mother who could not conceiv e
that so much could be done with so l i t t le noise.
In
fac , in al 1 household lore she was a veritable good
fairy·
her knowledg e seemed unerring and intuitive.
< 39) .
Her
traits
however,
are more artistic,
seeme
o turn to poetry all
"stands
in the doorway wi
flickering
golden
the prose of
" her gent e
life "
(539).
think
as we
lines of statuesque beau y,
beauty
As Mary
h the afternoon sun streaming
light on her smooth pale-brown hair
hat have pictures,
its
for
in spot
.
e1
ook on her girlish face,
on the tremulous,
with
half-"nfant·ne
/
expression of
and purity,
<538) .
her
lovely mouth,
and the general
of some old pictures of
Even he
name
implies a
the girlhood of the Vi
further
--
in the novel .
thoughtful
< 539) .
sphere .
usion to the Virgin
nature,
predispo ed to moral
her
tr
'reli gious facul
ie s
to
ary
' inhe rited a
is
and religious exaltation'
d fo
Roman
' yet she
of New England wh · ch
ake "ot her forms '
(539).
Instead of
ing entranced in mysterious raptures at
the foot of altars , she read and pondered treatises on
he Will
and lis ened in rapt a tention
whi e her
spir"tual guide, the vene ated Dr. Hopkins
unfolded to
her the theories of the great Edwards on the nature of
true virtue .
Woman like
she felt the subtle po try of
hese sublime abstractions which dealt with such
infin · te and unknown quant · ties
- which spoke of the
universe
of its great Architect
of man
of angels
51
ic of
deep and
saint and angels
in the sterile environmen
the
trait cha racteris
she seems better f i t
I aly with its paintings of
inds herself
a
Se has appa ently
In many respects,
Catholic
forces
The al
from the rest of
emphasized by her strong piety
the woman ' s
gin "
connection to the Virgin Mother.
Th is distinct i on s ets M ry apar
characte s
air of simplir.i y
matters of
intimate and daily con emplations
As she breathes in the words and
-
eachings of Edwards,
mean
sermons and treatises,
to
ideas,
e
e
Eva.
well-thought-out
into poetry.
spiritual aspects are almost unreal
t
she converts the
ogical,
n keeping with her pious nature
Li
(539) .
physical
and angelic,
o occupy
She appears
Mary ' s
and
simi ar
to
he
high re ions of abstract though, - often compr hendi g
through an ethereal
learness of nature which he [Dr .
Hopkins
had laboriously and heavily rea s oned out·
sometimes when she turned he
grave, chi dlike face
upon him
ith some question or reply
the good man
s arte
as if an angel had looked suddenly out upon him
from a cloud.
Unconsciously to himself
h
often
seeme
o follow he , as Dante flollowed the f ight of
Beatrice
through the
scending circles of
he
celestial spheres ( 39-40) .
Not only does she appear to be of some "other world " she rises
han h er men t or,
even further
Dr.
boarder
tanley Hopkins,
who
.
105
H op k ins.
lives with
is opposite inn ture to Mary.
and ethereal,
reverential
Hopkins had his 'orig i n
and
metaphysician
logical"
a
earnest sense a
intellec
of
he
philanthropis,
min
ter of
octrines
different sexes:
' Bu
w · th sublime assurance,
footsteps;
individual,
-
and
he Scudders as a
and
ar
soul
a
once
"philosopher,
a
in the highest and most
good on earth, "
(578) .
omantic
While Mary is
in a
He is a
(540).
difference between Hopkins '
2)
Dr .
following
he
But Stowe sugges s
tha
' s natures
lies
he
in their
whee theorists and ph i losophers tread
woman often fol lows wi th bleeding
women are always turning from the abstr ct to
and feeling where the philosopher only thinks."
The distinction Stowe makes
he
(541-
is that the woman feels while the
52
The "bleeding footsteps '
man thinks .
enables the woman to
This asso
iation wi
link' and
uthority.
Dr .
Hopkins
conside s
and profane matter,
a
repute
i
(578).
" That at a
including
sphere,
in romances
Ma riage
i
.
self
time and place sui
' di
ine
love .
he
to be a
foolish
serious and
is only an
ing,
he should
look
woman of a
pleasant countenance and of good
I
earnest Christian, and well ski led in the
zealous,
ems of household management
theology,
Calvinis
logically
unworJhy the attention of a
reasonable creature"
which
and to turn to Him .
thought of the woman'
as treated of
out unto himself a
he sufferin
h Christ also emphasizes the woman ' s
looks at everything
" love ,
arrangement:
hris,
identify with
he sentimental
Lacking
suggest
Dr .
< 5 78 ) .
eepin
In
Hopkins sees this s
e
,
wi
h his
" ke all
others
,.....
i
one s
life
as preordained.
would be there
fal
ing
'' des
in
......
is
waiting to marry him .
ave
especial
y not wi
· n e d to awaken i n h i m a l l
paining
poetry awaken
creating him an w
logical
seems to pervade
he Doctor ' s
of
some divine
angel
Yet
she seems
that cons c i o us n es s
thought
soul.
When she
influence "
it not '
into poetry fo
usic,
w h i ch
and
is even no
(583).
him.
She
H
is
(583).
xhaled'
53
is
spirit
ary is the source of his
in his study,
it
eemed so
But he does not
ealize it
and never wonders " from the robes of what
t i s sweetness had
it
106
realizes that
rejuvena ion.
emanates from her
h Mary.
wife
on
in more evenly developed minds;
able to turn his
ful
He does not coun
which as yet he knows
The Doctor neve
his fu u e
looks up
of her creative presence that
the silent breathin
spiritual
When he
(583).
During hi
se mans ,
I
I
hers
a d bright wi
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
face,
is the ' one earnest youn
h in el lect,
everkindling wi
fol lowed on his way,
h feeling
and he felt
up if ed and comforted"
(583) .
fair and mys
the Lamb s wife, " and " only after she
ical
bride,
had passed by [did]
that mys
Seeing her
ical
ision seem to him more
more easy to be conceived "
radiant
away from the
more strongly,
Ano
In the end,
and he gives Mary up
er characte
is the historical
figure,
Colonel
England,
e
Calvinism.
He seems almost dawn
as his perception
however,
o
who serves as a
ames.
Calvinism pulls him
107
po entia
su i to
a
for
Although he was
Aar'an Bur .
t e grandson of Jonathan Edwards
in
(583).
alvinist faith towards her,
~ains greater clarity .
he thinks of" hat
the renowned Calvinis
le der
he rejection of Edwardean
Burr symbolizes
He is quite taken with Mary,
for she
eminds Burr of
r-
his pious mo
1
1~
r-
[=
I=
er.
Despi e
succeed in converting him.
his association,
Mary does not
Though he experiences several moments
in which he believes in the possibility of an " elect '
membershi
in the end he remains on the outside.
When the two first mee
a y ' s beauty.
Burr
at a party
Burr is taken abac
likes to control
o demonstra e his power,
others and
l=
has a different effec
upon him
mother
and ea ly sain · ed
l
~ave way at once to the emotion;
'he beautiful
(659).
grandfather
by
Characteristic of nineteenth-century male traits,
wont to boast that he could subdue any woman "
eyes"
and his own
urr
later recal
(686).
ad is
ary
Yet
and makes him think of his
-
s a
real
sther Burr, " and ' h
ears stood in h i s
fine
let er written by his
in which he found a descrip ion of Mrs.
Edwards,
which reminds him of Mary
108
e
say .
that there is a young
ady
ho is
beloved of t ha
Grea
Being who made and rules
he
wor l d
and that there are cert in seasons in w i ch this
Great Bei
in some way or o her invisible, comes to
her and
il ls her mind with such exceeding sweet
del i ht, that she hardly cares for any hing except
to meditate on him·
tha
she expec s
af er a while
to be received up where he is
to be raised up out of
he world and caugh
up into heaven, bei ng assured that
he loves her too wel
to le
her remain at a distance
from him always .
. She has a strange s ee t ess in
he
mind, and singular purity in her affec ions;
and
you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or
sinful. if you should give her all the world .
She is
of a wonderful sweetness
calmness, and universal
benevo lenc e of mind , especially after
his great God
has manifested h · mself to her mind.
She will some times
go from place to place singing sweetly, and seems to be
always full of joy and pleasure·
and no one knows for
what
She loves to be alone, waking in fields and
groves , and seems
o have some invisible one always
conversing with her (687).
In Mary
Burr sees t hese same tr
'Was there
with God ,
then,
a
its
hich
truth in that inner union of chosen sous
of which his mother and her mothe r
much witness,
he a labs e r
-
walls of a
the possibil i ty of
At one point
every moral
temp l e? '
(687)
Bur
Though he is certain that
Mary creates doub s
its existence.
in Bur
about
109
acknowledges that " [iJn him
t a t remarkable f
original y
(691).
This feeli~g ret trns
f ormer
lover,
later af er he reads a
Madame de Fron ignac.
him elf whi e-robed and crowned,
loathed his present self "
in
mily from which he was descended "
Burr,
from
if his
glass in which he saw
and so dazzling
(779) .
lette
He feels almo st "a s
dead mother's hand had held up before him a
L
l amps through
faculty and sensibility was as keenly strung a~
any member of
he
before her had borne
their souls shining out as sacred
there was no " inner union,"
I
lead h "m to wonder :
n puri y that
ho we v er,
wholly
destroys whatever remains of
hims e
f
( 779) •
the ' godlike and the pure " within
He returns · o his o 1 d be l i e f s
met and demonstrated
religious dogmas
to his own satisfaction,
in which
is
led
the " inner
o rebel
" dishonored grave'
for
ism tha
the
He sees an
according to Stowe,
Calvinis s
'absurdity" to
leads him to a
in the West .
may be
self-examination and growth .
He
(688) .
having killing Alexander Hamilton,
committing treason by his scheming
he fa a
the nullity of
its discriminating doctrines,
a gainst God .
life," which,
ly
ew England faith was based"
is dis il lusioned by Calvinism and
and he
having ' 1 o g i ca
and for
Stowe points out
led to during
heir religious
Although Mary comes close to
I
conver
in g him
she fa "l s
One is then
left with the
affirm,
th
he has
purity
white robe,
su i
or .
and crown.
o never finding
a
decided effect on another man
her cousin
tt fine athletic figure
ary .
Stowe desc ibes
and.
a
sort of easy,
and confident a ir which sa. not unhandsomely on him.
For the rest
a
a keen
high forehead shaded by rings of
dar
eye ,
a
the blackest
firm and determined mouth
gave the
im ression of one who had engaged to do battle wi th
only wi
is a
ha will
sailor
but with shrewdness and abili y "
ho seeks adventu eon
describes him as having all
male ' s
that
10
James contrasts physically with
dashin~,
later seems to
wh o proves to be the third and the successful
him as havin
hair
h ic h his dea h
" dea,
resined himself
ary also has a
James Marvyn,
because of his Calvin ist upbringing .
sphere,
St we adds
he h ' gh seas.
the stereotypical
just as Mary has those of
not
(546 .
James
Stowe
traits of
the
he womans sphere .
that when he deals wit h his mother,
56
l ife ,
he
s
s
Yet
tender
as a woman'
(597) .
This minor detail
potential
to be a
balance
" female '
and " male "
t aits.
Unlike Mary ,
'
implies that he has the
individual,
who can express both
James appears to have daubs about his faith
mes realizes this ,
which serve to separate their two spheres .
and tel ls
ary early in the story:
ense,
quite unknown to me
to me·
.
man
hey
and then
and the natural
Spirit.
he stands
ell
in him·
man '"
(547-8).
Later,
women don ' t
spiritual
When he
Why May,
man",
Whereas she
he must attend to
he
' a
sort of
'feared he
' 'You girls and
you are a
ospe 1.
living
can't
stran e power over us boys.
and God ' s efficiency,
is so enraged about ·
can do me good '"
" natural
is with Mary,
the hang of predestination
ability
As a
(549) .
know your power .
understand all
Hopkins
natu e
ames reveals her effect on him:
You have always had a
I ' m a natural
cha racter .
like the Apostles of old
entered into a cloud '"
Dr .
' s because
in contrast to Mary's ethe eal
those which are more earthly
natural
me i
anywhere and nowhere
man understandeth not the things of the
can grasp those things of a
awe awoke
elieve you have a s i xth
it ' s all
I am a natural
Well
''
(550) .
and mora
abil · ty
and mans agency
can understand
but
and
which
:tQ.!:!.
-
y_g_g_
Not only does James recognize Mary ' s
power as a woman to grasp the word of God and f u 1 f i l 1 its
commands
but he also sands against
the doctrinal
Hopkins -- Calvinism .
He can understand
feels
James needs something mo e
it through her.
doctrines
and thus he relies on Mary .
57
faith of Dr .
ary's faith because he
He adheres
tang ible tha
o the belief
that the woman must be isolated from the
people .
He claims that women who
' ' not women 'n but "' creatures ' "
l iv e
(551).
'w orld " wh i ch corrupts
in the outside world a e
This
idea emphasizes the
nineteenth-century philosophy that the woman
isolated in the home,
can save the man.
who remains
111
James recognizes the distance between Mary ' s
and his more earthly one ,
yet he
longs to brin
'hi her sphe e "
them closer.
He
acknowledges her attempts to bring him nearer to her sphe e.
o
do so
he knows he must have the assu r ance of his salvation that
ary has of hers.
Chr i st,
He mus
which holds tha
choose between the
and
I
which hold,... daubs and u ncertaint i es of
lo ving fa i th of
h e Calv'nist faith
assurance ,
' E ect i on 11 •
Their
spheres s eem so distant that he be li eves himself unwor hy
touching the hem of her garments
woman touchi n g
esus
garment .
Christ foreshado ws James '
a B i blica l
f
reference of the
While this allusion to May ad
eventual
choice
it
also rema ks upon
II!!"'
the association with a
n a
-
" feminine ' Ch ist.
letter Mary receives af er James has returned f
om a
shipwreck and supposed death
he tells her of the c ange he has
experienced:
' 'From that hour
here was
- a
hich has
purpose
storm hits and
" felt He
led me upward e ver since'"
he ship wrecks
[ esus] was there
crush him for his sins
will
unders ands this God - -
rathe
a
is no
faith of
the
<840) .
n e ed .
This is no
James
loving God o f
a matter of wha
lave .
James '
i
(838) .
itself against the rock
as Edwards suggests
save him in his time o f
This faith
new purpose
my sou
Whe n the
James
a God wh o wi
but rather One who
ecognizes and
compas si on and f e eli ng .
to do and what n ot to do,
but
sphere moves closer to Mary's as
58
he gradually adopts the woman,s vi
w
awards religion.
While
this merging of their spheres enables Mary and James to marry
al
o demons rates a
hat
Another convert
Stowe
Hopkins,
His mother becomes hysterical
the shipwreck
writes of
when her son,
H_nry
his "election.
and rejec s
James
ow 1
after
sense
aith with Jesus.
mother,
Mrs.
for
she
ly under the harsh Calvinist doctrines
drowned
In a
is
the Calvinist doctrines .
in
8 7 / and there was doubt about
this book
roves to be a
working out her own doubts and misgivings
-
izes he
the event from first-hand experience
oo had suffered emotiona
rests her
symbo
is made during the time in which James
ieved to be dead.
learning of
mes over Dr.
112
C a 1 v1n1sm.
. .
.
t 10n
·
reJec
of
be
The fact
rejec ion of Calvinism by bo h.
ary has chosen J
means of
in which she finally
113
arvyn,
reminds us of the intellectual
Stowe:
7
In her bedroom
near by her work-basket stood a tabl
covered
i h books .
. One who should have looked
over this table would have seen there how eager an
hungry a mind was hid behind the silent eyes of this
quie
woman .
History
biography
mathematics
volumes
o f t e encyclopaedia, po try
novels
all alike found
their
ime and place there, - and while she pres rved
her household labo s
the busy
acti e soul with'n
travel ed cycles and cycles of thought, few of which
ever found expression in words (589).
Her
in el lee ual
happiness
nature prevents Mrs .
in the spiritual
Marvyn from finding
world:
The consequence of al 1 her lis ening was a history of
deep inward sadness.
That exultant joy, or that entire
submission, with whi h others seemed to view
he scheme
of the universe, as thus unfolded, did not visit her
mind.
Everything
o her seeme
shrouded in gloom and
mystery;
and that darkness she received as a
oken of
unregeneracy
as a sign that she was one of those who
59
L
it
are des ined
by a mys erious decree, never to receive
the light of
he glo ious gospel of Christ.
Punc ilious in every duty, exact
reverential
she
still re arded he rs elf as a child of wrath, an enemy to
God, and an heir of perdition (590).
Unable to find happiness
considers her failure a
in Dr .
Hopkins '
sermons,
Mrs.
Marvyn
sign of her rejection from Gods
"Elect."
When James
disappears .
is re orted drowned
rs .
he existence of
-
it is all
goodness
he mos
-
b e i n g ! ' ''
left
"'M ary,
~ad:
hard,
no
Marvyn is
unjust,
even her semblance of
in des air and even
canno,
cruel !.
will
uestions
be resigned!
To me there
is no
justice
no mercy in anything !
Life se ms to me
I
tremendous doom that can be inflicted on a helpless
(733 )
Her ran i ngs suggest
despair and defea
tea hings .
when
ha
one may only find
looking for consola ion in the Ca v · n · st
Events such as these cause one
understand the reason for
it s occurrence,
whe her one is or
member of
cannot abide the
chosen:
not ,
faith
is not a
o rack ones soul
and wha
the "elect."
idea that so many souls are
"Thin k what noble minds ,
what warm,
to
it meas -Mrs.
Marvyn
lost and so few
generous hearts,
what splendid natures are wrecked and thrown away by the
thousands and tens of
thousands!"
which relies on Christ's
love,
(734)
Unlike Mary ' s
faith
Calvinism abounds with all
the
twis sand
urns of self-examination.
of
when God may destroy their souls for al I eternity.
living
othing nor no one can help
rs.
a
She questions the pur ose
vyn unti
Candace enters the
.
114
s1' t ua 10n.
Candace is one o
whom
ames
is a
.&
the
.1.a.vor1• e
arvyns '
slaves,
Candace has a
60
recen
ly freed,
for
ready turned against
Calvinism when she refused Catechism,
because she is unable to
accept the doctrine which teaches that al
the grace of God as a
of
resul
men have fal
the Original
cin committed by
Adam and Eve.
Her reaso ing is simple in that she
eat dat ar '
le "
a.p
(611).
She finally accep s
Catechism but on y after Dr .
cousin .
but
sticks
~O
her own faith
g atitude.
in a
Christ's
love:
loves ye,
honey!
died for him' '
e Lord a'n ' t
others have not,
and
love and hope,
doctrine.
with
' [t]he flood-gates
form'
looked on His mother,
when she stood fain
n
under de cross,
like you?
car Mass ' r
consid ' a
ames
le more o
ie for nothin',
Her words of
(736-7) .
is one o '
' lect·
de
'
de
lave a ' n ' t
an'
fai
h could not.
L
61
with words
trembl i n '
about mothers
ater she adds,
and
" ' I m
' m c l ar dar's
Why,
e us didn t
gw i ne to be wasted '
love and hope help to comfort Mrs .
way the Calvinis
Hopkins'
'member how He
ect dan people tink .
al l da t
heart as
and healing
Marvyn
He knows a
break yours '
He
These wo ds speak
(736).
ye
He won ' t
-
loved him and
ere rent;
Don t
s .,
-
arvyn s
o comfort Mrs.
Candace continues
concerning her role as a mother:
hea
ink,
un ike the condemning words of Dr.
jes '
he
he words of
like what ye
hese words open Mrs.
sobs and tears shook the frail
of
sermons
however,
He died for Mass'r Jim,
(736) .
he
loving arms o
he more
She comforts her former mist4es
Why
Hopkins'
he end,
In
Chr ' st.
'
the word of the
loving Christ.
arvyn to
Candace turns Mrs.
nebber did
Hop ins has bought freedom for
he then ag ees to believe the Dr .
it seems more out of
en from
arvyn s
<737).
soul
the
I
As
in Uncle Toms Cabin,
During a
time when
Stowe appeals to a mother's
he death of chi dren was common ,
love .
many
readers would ident i fy with this s · tua ion .
Stowe uses emo io s
to
Stowe speaks from
urn her readers to a more
loving fa i th .
her own experience in that she anguished over these same
questions and doubt
as
rs .
arvyn,
and she turned t o t e
loving and healing power of the words of Christ.
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Lastly,
Stowe int educes Madame Virginie de Frontignac
French Catholic who befriends Mary.
to demons rate the po er of
Stowe u s es t his character
love and Christ.
Both
ary and
Virginie consider the other woman outside the " rue Church " .
I
When Virg i nie thinks • 'that there are some saints that are not
i n the T rue
Christ·
hu r ch
.
.
" Mary remarks,
' 'All are one who
we are one i n Him "
( 7 65) .
Sto we
picture of " the Ca ho ic and the
uritan
each st r ong
repective fa i th ,
and so r row,
ye
melt i ng
age h er
in tha
love
pres e nts a
n her
embrace of
joined in the great communion of suffering '
Both hav e suffe ed from
love - -
adame de Front i gnac having
Mary having
las
Colonel
lost James,
Burr - - and
love
(765) .
and
hey both
turn to the Savior for comfort.
Stowe recognizes
and James
love and how it unifies,
unl i ke
the Calv i nist doctrines which exclude many and choose an
'elect"
f ew .
the power of Christ ' s
as do
ar
116
n the end,
Scudder
a
look a
Stowe provides trough the main character
the woman ' s
considered when addressin
I
a
view and asser s
sphere" she
its need to be
issues such as religion .
and superior spirtua ity are characteristic o f
Since piety
.he " woma n' s
as the authority to promote a more
62
Mary
lov i ng and
gent e
faith wi
h Christ as the center,
under a harsh and unforgiving God - The woman ' s
father.
7
stricter faith
the religion of Stowe s
identificati on with Christ,
also prov·des
May the assurance in this
loving faith.
she does not suffer
inner struggles about her salvation,
intense
but is reassured by Christ ' s
other characters.
ary ' s
nature,
ethereal
goodness
Burr
in May
ontrast
and wishes
t he " wom n s v i e w '' o f
leads
o a
marriage ,
e 1t
In
a
r e 1 i g i on .
ary ' s
" rejection" of Dr.
Mrs.
friend
but
sphere change s.
Hopkins'
not
propos
of Cal
just an 'e lect '
63
of
inism .
that
not
and how i
number .
n
andace shows her .
Madame de Frontignac,
ave
e
hey are able
and
in a
represents the power of Christs
and
This transformation
ultimately finds consolat ion
loving Christ
Like
grasp its
Marvyn,
the French Catholic,
faith,
na ure has
same goodness .
she reiforces her own " rejection'
mother,
people of
James '
imon
arvyn recognizes the
James
"b alance " be ween James and Mary,
a Calvinist God,
Mary ' s
er as his evil
a
With his conversion,
ado pt s
to marry.
Like
but remains unconver ed .
By
Hopkins,
Burr is drawn to
he rejects Calvinism because he canno
doctrines.
James'
Colonel
he rejects religion altoge
perverted his soul.
Unlike Dr.
Her certainty in her fa . th
love .
affect several
egree,
,....
against a
unif i es al
In The Pearl
' balance '
sand
of Orr ' s
th-t she initially
towe writes about
eveloped
in Uncle Toms Cabin
more thorough y
in _T_h_e_ _1_ ._i_s_t_e_r__s__
W_o_o_i_n~g~ .
idea using
wo main characte s ,
Penne 1.
he
Un 1 i ke
ary and .James
and finally mar y,
ara and
too far apart and may not
her,
join.
ara foresees a
v·ew
Their
the
voman s
he
ensuring his earthly union wi
res
of
the world.
h her
(9).
Bu
Having
las
her fa her
ha
looked at her
her,
she does thrive,
(28).
she was not
in a
but also by
y Kittrid e .
great sorrow"
chi dren ar
Her
so hard
of en remind t
.
e
They that
father's eye had never beheld
cup had rested on he
These f acts seem to separate her
64
(28).
and after three years she
1 and singular as
her
shipwreck and her
introduced to th
like other children .
remembered tha
and her baptismal
Sal
ara is
" seven months
has " ways and manners so sti
neighbors
union
Stowe sets Mara L · ncoln apart from the
is discounted for
raise "
joined
She becomes his
frien
reader as having been " the outcome of a
o
while
intends to bring Moses to the
mother after her own premature birth,
survival
sphere,
efo e
union in heaven which may be brough
" savior, " not only by ensuing their eternal
--
ary
hough they cannot be
and c oser to her sphere.
From the beginning,
spheres " ar
Like Little Eva and
sphere.
about only through her death.
woman ' s
Mara Lincoln and Moses
who seem to achieve this balance
ara epitomizes the traits of
on earth ,
but
She expounds on thi s
oses do not.
Moses represents the male ' s
he
mother ' s
coff i n"
from the others and make
her unique.
116
Even Mara ' s
of stature,
with a
description dis
gives a
has that sort of
she
looks not exactly in il 1 health
transparent appearance which one fancies
(134) .
Even a
le go den-haired
dreamy ,
' s
Like her
be an attribute of fairies and sylphs "
I
seventeen
Mara is still
excitable,
fanciful
predecessors,
Pear
nature which evokes a
When she plays,
with a
' he
'
lit
of Or
le Eva and Mary,
Li
(28-9).
and her cheek has a clear
and frail
.'
like her
hat manner which
peculiar expression of dreamy wistfulness '
transparent brilliancy.
Is and "
Mara seems "like a
wild spirit of glee'
(39).
and her
117
fairy sprite,
Others notice
eeling herself all
and nerves al 1 active,
(196).
she possesses an ethe eal
spirit-like quality.
o be "'thinking and
of
but her eyes were dark
lids drooped over them in
Mara appears " slig t
migh
and moulded
fine waxen delicacy that won admiration from al 1 eyes .
mother ' s and the
bu
she 'was smal 1
beyond the wont of children of her age
Her hair was curly and golden,
Later
inguishes her:
ha
possessed
she seems
into mere spirit -
little body so f
ail ' "
brain
(168) .
One
the more interesting episodes occurs when she dreams she is
playin~ wi
h Sally Kittridoe on the beach where they encounter a
woman with a
chi d .
The woman is "dressed in a
garment '
and the
something
lost "
playmate.
Later that morni
and child who
The mother
Mara ' s
little boy is
(52) .
' c ying and
long white
looking about as for
Te woman delivers the child to Mara as a
g,
ally and Mara d i scover a mother
ave washed up on the beach following a
is dead
grandpa ents ,
sh i
wreck .
but the child surv i ves and the Pennels,
take him to raise .
65
The Pennels name him
oses
Mara ' s dream foreshadows
I
I
I
I
I
mortal
life.
boundaries to communicate to a
l i fe form of a
breaks
higher
o possess this " dim rememberance of a
spirit once affiliated to some higher sphere "
(320-1).
ethereal
' d i vine
nature suggests that she maintains a
Her
link ' which
allows her to act an intermediary between the two regions .
Mara ' s spir·
ual
nature
is also ref l e
From
er birth ,
seems to be closely a
tached to religion and God.
which her mother recites
her not Naomi,
call
very bitterly with me '"
hr
(8).
ara,
for
118
in her piety,
1
"' Call
woman s sphere . '
ted
distinct trait of the
from Scripture,
,--
S o we adds that
state .
love for her son is/sos rang that i t
Mara ap ears
sphere.
,--
events :
world and move into the spiritual
spiritua
,--
the actual
hat Mara somehow has the ability t o t anscend the
the dead mother ' s
is baptised at her paren s '
Seri pture,
"' A fa her of
habi ation '.,
( 14).
God ' s domain,
and for a
a
she
Her name come
just before her death·
the Almighty hath dealt
These
lines are repeated when Mara
funeral.
The minister reads from
,-
L:
I
in Mara ' s
It may be that our present faculties have among them a
rudimentary one,
. by which the spi itual world
becomes sometimes an object of perception , - there may
be natures in which the walls of the ma erial are so
fine and translucent that the spiritua l is seen through
hem as a glass darkly.
It may be too
that the love
which is stronger than death has a
o er some imes to
ma e itself heard and felt through the walls of au
mart lity.
(60-1).
Stowe suggests
[=
I
I
I
I
figure
Stowe attempts to explain this strange phenomenon in wh"ch
r=
I
and he becomes the central
he fatherless
is God in his holy
She seems destined for a s ecial
special
purpose on earth.
rela ionship for shadows her fate.
,-
66
place in
This
A
spiri
one pain
ual
in the nar ative,
Stowe comments on th·s
nature which certain people
most especial
y women .
possess:
But there a e; both men and women, beings born into
this wo ld in whom from childhood th
spirit al and the
reflective predominates over
he phys i cal .
. They
are
he artists, t e poe s, the unconscious seers to
whom the purer tru hs of spiritua
ins
uction
re
open .
Surveying man merely as an animal
hese
sensitively-organize
beings ,
ith
heir feebler
physical powers. are imperfect specim ns of 1·te.
Looking from the spiritual side, they seem to have a
nobles rength
a divine force.
he
ypes of this
latt er c la s s are more commonly among women than am ong
men.
Multitudes of them p ss away in earlier years
and leave beh·nd in many hearts the anx ·o us wonder, why
they came so fair . only to mock the love they k " ndled.
They who live t
maturity are th~ pr·ests and
priestesses of
h
sp·ritual
ire
ordained of God to
keep the ba ance between the rude but absolu e
necess
ies of physical 1 'fe and the higher sphere to
which the
must at length
ive
lace (178-9) .
n this .assage.
Stowe alludes to
sensitive natu e ,
a
cha acteris
among women than amo g me
her physical
being,
he fac
and she appears to be a
perh ps one
maintain the balance bet een the spiritua
'ho a
ho ever ,
towe sug ests
e not destined for
tran s lated to a
long
more
y
y predominates over
airy sprite .
ary ' s
l i ke
Those
serve to
and the ear hl
ike those othe s
that Mara is
life on earth,
and sacri
nineteenth-cen ury women
but are soon
Everyth'ng she does
r
herself
is fo
him,
the woman y
ice for Moses ,
common tra · ts of
emphasize her spiritual and pious
Ever since she was a
'[s]he has no drams f
learned all
a
higher realm.
1ara's self-denial
qualities .
so
ic wh·ch is found " more comma
This spir " uali
.
natures which remain on ear h ,
worlds
that Mara
lit
chi d
a
Mara has
they are all
d
'[
or
i
ived for
for Moses
;:)ake she
le accomplishments which
6
( 133) •
as
s .
oses ·
She knits
Kittridge has dragooned into
ally [her best friend].
his mittens and his stockings
and hems his pocket-hand erchiefs
and aspires to make his shirts all
love fa
oses had always had in it a
maternal
and care-taking element "
almost Christ-like:
suffered in him,
he se f
"She felt
(210).
and saw,
and enjoyed,
a
that
and
higher natu e
in
judged and condemned .
kind of guilty pain,
as if
his sins were borne bleeding in her heart
her own;
Mara ' s
Her devotion becomes
by wh"ch unwillingly he was often
er with a
(133-4).
large admix ure o
and yet was conscious o
His faults affect
(2 11).
herself "
they
ere
in s ilen ce "
/
19
ara's Christ-Ii e behavior manifests itself early i n the
navel .
When she discovers that Moses has become involved with
smugglers,
her old
she risks her own safety to save him.
riend
Captain Ki
voyage for Moses that will
-
for help,
and he arranges a
ke p him away from crime .
This
episode foreshadows Mara's gre ter sacrifice at the end .
Mara discovers that she
she grew up wi
does not
-
tridge,
She calls upon
h
eel ipse "
but she does not want
ave her
resting upon 'he r
(328) .
loves Moses more than a
he same way .
heart [as]
obody shall
long time
love him,
-
(329)
Later,
fear
he
the shuddering sorrow of a dim
cross,
and
while he is one of his voyages :
nobody shal 1 dream it,
hat he is away ,
overcome !'"
him for
She seems to bear this burden as a
know
the brother
Th i s burden over helms her,
hopes only to survive the ordeal
"'
o tell
20
-
and in the
long
shal 1 have strength given me t o
when Moses discovers that Mara does
Sally chastizes him:
" 'Yes,
68
Moses Pennel,
she
loves
you
l " ke an angel,
Sally
( 338) .
a l mos t
escribes Ma a's
(359).
li
prayers,
he does
oses Pennel ' s.
Sally points out
"'natures are opposite as any two could well
Unli e Mara,
hearte
tle urchin";
Moses
is " a
strong-limbed,
'n ot conduct himself as a babe of grace"
Moses
and selfish (80).
is a
On one occasion when he
opportunity to rebel
ho would n t
exp ains
one
rs.
merry-
and while she behaves respectfully at
Though Mara is selfless and self-denying,
let children do as they pleased"
(79) .
is " self-·willed"
child,
and takes Mara a ay "from all
he sees an
grown
(114) .
eople
As Stowe
" There are two classes of human beings in this world:
lass s em made to give
love
Pennel and Mara be onged to
oses to the
aster
[
love for Moses as unique and
ife contras s with
to her that the · r
I
I
I
I
loved ' "
. . t ua l . 121
sp1r1
ara s
be' u
as none of you men deserve to be
the typical
late '
Now
and the other to take it .
he first class,
and
litt e
oses represe ts for Stowe
(111) .
male concerned only with himselt.
122
Moses represents the worldly ambitions characteristic of the
mans sphere.
About to emba k on his first voyage,
the difference between himself and
(136) .
Their spheres grow
farther apart as
rea izes that
ose
canno
"He was handsomer,
think of
clevere
her as
and had a
thousand other things to do and to think of -
he was a boy
short,
and going to be a
al 1 over the
world"
(162) .
g l orious m n and sail
in
His place is the world and her place is the home
-- the distinct spheres of
he man and woman of the nineteenth
century .
69
l
He is the "glorious
just a
much as she does of him :
I
L
a a.
knight, ' while she is
ar
girl
he remarks on
I-
I
Moss'
r:
•=
r:
I
I
I
I
II-
I-
L::
I
I
I
l
""'"
obliviou
sphere is so distant from Mara's that he remains
to all
the things she does for him.
insensitivity by su gesting that "[nJot only was he
ions within himself which mad
knowledge possible '
His sphere is so far
(161) .
a a s that she cannot even reach him.
Theirs heres are not
but also
separa ed mentally by their different ways of pe ce ivi ng and
.
f ee l 1 ng .
123
When he seems disappoin ed that she has not told him tha
she will
be in.
mi ss him
she reminds him
"
[YJou know your career must
Your must make your fortune '
' saintly '
strong
(329).
But she is not so
and self-sacrificing when she attacks
ma e' attitude:
enterprise
his
"'You men must have everything .
.
the adven ure
that you are something
besides all
oses for
this,
he novelty,
you want the satisfaction o
women are fol lowing
the
he pleasure of feeling
and can do som thing in the world·
and
knowing that we
in chains behind your triumphal
car '"
(330) .
ara condemns
oses for wanting too much.
Her words remind us of
e
iticisms of his selfishness.
They also sugges ,
earl ier c
howver,
tha
the worn n ' s
sphere is not a l ways easy to
live
hin .
any part of himself
to God .
n a
Unlike
' that one unfailing Confidant -
the
1 he
comfort and guidance never fail
does tha
he can not give
a a who places her trust
in
Invisible Friend to whom the
solitary child could pour out her hear
,
and whose
inspiration of
to come again in return to true
70
L
but
removed from
separated only physically by the world and the home ,
oses is so self-centered
[ =:
ignorant,
he had not even those condi
wi
--
Stowe explains h · s
I
I
r:
•·=
-
I
stand alone
souls " Moses mus
God in his estimate of
lif e
-
(213).
and a
none"
' feared relig i on ,
(248) .
He
entertained that
I
I
I
I
·-
L:
Il
I
.,,,...
r«t!'
from a suspicion whi ch he
its rules,
He
lest he might find
them in some future time inconveniently strict n
(248-249).
rebellion against God emphasizes h"s resistance to
au hority and his own self-will .
Although he rejects God
ames Marvyn,
the angel
good deal
I-
here should be
it mi ht hamper some of his future schemes .
Moses '
7
there is " no
sort of secret unsuspected
the bottom of his heart that
did not wish to put himself under
I
II-
oses,
determination a
I-
I-
For
o
he is not
' without
susceptibility
the
which is God ' s witness
in the soul .
something apart f rom the real
But this
however
was
life
- a sort of
to which he gave
little heedn
purpose of his
voice cry in g in the wi derness -
am ition
He had a
o poetic feeli ng, the power of vague
/
lancing after the good and beautiful,
a nd dreamy aspiration,
<249) .
in him.
like
Although his " angelic " part remains subordinate to his
l i ke James ,
he has the potential
to move closer to the
" higher realm. "
At one pain.
sks Mara to give up her
Moses
He inquires,
that she can love him more .
love for God so
' 'Why should you
love
an unseen and distant Being more than you do one whom you can
feel
and see
your own? "
who holds you in his arms
(348)
like a
l i ke
While he sees God only as an abstract Being
Mara sees Him differently :
much
whose heart bea~s
father as
' ' God has always been to me not so
like a dear and tender mother .
never remember the time when
joys and my sorrows .
I did no
I never had a
I could not say to Him '"
(348) .
feel
his presence in my
thought of
oy or sor ow that
Stowe emphasizes the feminine
71
a~pects of God through
and perhaps ma ernal,
rejection of
-
much a
It
part of
and
my
ual ly
the end,
" life. "
latter
Minister ' s
Wooing,
religion
oses
rom
ara ' s a
-
an
sti 1 l
feminine
"'His
1 ave
is so
life withou
By asking her to
sphere ,
it.
love him
Moses
is
She can either marry Moses and die
ie phys i cally and
is her " choice " .
live spiritua l ly.
eat
Mara must die
lambs,
of
ins too distant
love Moses completel
In her Christ-like manner,
sou 1 ,
Stowe explains:
lives of Chr · st's
view
.
in order to
oses '
In
in The
he " woman s
and h " s 1 sphere rem
the time of her
life to save
ames
Unlike
who comes to understand
union may take place.
silent
(349).
from that highe
live spiritually.
sacrifice he
Mara remarks,
cannot conceive of
is unable to,
In the end
loving,
This seems to underscore Stowe ' s
breathe' "
I
or she can
the
.
life tha
o remove herself
taking away her
spiri
Chris
the Calvinist faith .
is the very air
more
ara as she describes a
Mara must
in order that an etern
I
" Not vain are even th ese
whom may an earth - bound heart
has been roused to follow where the Shepherd bore them to the
higher pastures.
like Christ ' s
.
in tha
they take part
w
hou
he i r
Comforter
ara ' s
these are among those whose
they were made
(398)
become bread to us
hey go away.
all
he adds,
Like their Lord
an
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
She
their
(398-9) .
as well
as Li
life
is
but to
Such
and
that
o d i e·
incomplete
way does
he
is the purpose of
tle Eva ' s
and Uncle
is destined to save Moses,
72
w s
is expedient f or us
not til 1 they are gone
u l 1 y come to us "
li f e and death
" It
themselves
they come to suf f er ,
in his sacrif i ce;
death,
not for
Ii e
om' s
and to br i ng
in
,..
him to Christ.
She serves the same purpose Mary does for Ja es
in The Minister ' s Wooing,
the same result.
impending dea h
At first
when
however,
,-,_
-
-1
•I ~
I
I
I
I
him from understanding God's
love,
to die.
he dying Mara,
fter a
visit with
thinking of her and his
lov
for
·s
as Mara does,
hi
feel
trivial
her.
He
ambition · and
the so e wo th and value o f
he is
in al lowing her
he spends time ala
later discove s
" sorrow was doing her ennobling ministry within him,
in her fierce fires
dying
His selfishn ess prevents
love.
that
melti
low desires,
g off
and ma<
That which in othe
he paramount value of
I""'""
love h s
(414) .
taken one st p from an earthly to a
The sor ow of
spiritual
ara sap roaching death and
existence
loss to h"m
~
j
enab es
~
his desires and ambitions for a more
oses to shed a l
love .
He begins to see mo e clearly ad
important
oal
selflessly
and to put his
just
s
love for
she had done with her
ore
er above al 1 other things
love for
has moved hiss here closer to hers
him.
With this step
he
and closer to a woman's .
This transit · on is fully ef ected when Moses talks
with Captain Kittridge who comes upon him as he is thinking.
he Captain comforts Moses with his assurance that Mara is going
I
(_
g
days had seemed only as one good thing among many now seemed the
91llY.. thing in life . And he who has learned
I
I
oses begins to
oses discovers that Mara
unable to see beyond his on desires.
-1
- -
in order to achie e
124
With Maras
ch nge.
but Mara must die
to heaven:
Them ar bells in the Celestial City must be all a- there ' 11 be joy that side o '
he
ringin ' for her
rive
I rec on when she gets acrost.
If she 'd jest
leave me a hem o ' her garment to get in by , I ' d be
glad·
but she was one o' the sort that was jest made
73
r
II
I
o go
o heaven. She only stopped by a few days in ou r
world.
. She never said much to me
but she kind o '
drew me.
Ef ever I shou d ge
in there
it ' 1 be she
led me (416).
His words arouse some emo ion wi
certainty of the Captains belief,
I
I
of Mara ' s destined purpose.
mortal
I
I
J
J
hopes
I
not only from the
but also from the realization
they are too far apart
but he finally recognizes that her
enable him to be with her for eternity,
o have the " hem o '
n
her garmen
for he too
o get i n by . ' '
oses
takes the Captain ' s words to heart when t he older sailor says:
'
[SJhe ' s
goo
[Mara is]
i nd o'
·
so kind o '
akes
for
one o
makes me want
and fe els drawn to be one of Ch r ist ' s
Moses underst nds
the hymns
(418).
Af ter
he
the ol
man.
He rema r ks
sphere that re v olves a1ound
that only
ara becomes Moses '
in
akes ano her step away from
ara
ara ' s dea hand the so r
induces may bring about this understanding
emot i onal
ye k n ow '"
f l o ck.
he significance of her death .
Stowe sugges s
this means,
o be
ara had m rked for
is selfish,' " and he
m
the Lo d ' s
Mo s es a ckno w ledges Mara ' s abil i t y to see the goodness
kind o '
earth and into the spir i tual
r-
thinks
(417) .
' 'our grief
r-
g r anted
s he
ye k no w.
Captain reads one of
,....
i
god and innocent,
people ,
him,
I
I
I
oses
He kno s
life to be together,
dea h will
I
I
hin
savior .
and dramatic scene to force
i n Moses .
Once more,
wit
T h ough
Stowe uses an
he reader t o t ake sp e c i al
,--
not i ce of the i ssue and
-=-
~
view .
Wh en Moses approaches Mara the s e cond tim e
.--
I
l
.-l
he woman ' s
He tells her ,
past.
for me ,
" ' I would g iv e my
l if e ,
if
have never been worthy of you .
and
li ed for my se lf .
could take ba c k the
.
deserve to
74
h e ha s chang e d .
You al wa ys
liv ed
lose you ,
but it
r
is none
he is willing
for
I-
I
I
I-
sacrifice
loved her:
this
'
thought and f
eling
eart
for
larger ,
s
I did.
tie duties
round the world '"
(423).
a ra realizes that she
they would never have come
Her death will
wider nature
and the narrow l i
Since their spheres are so far apart ,
must die,
is
hat she is making
live in your heart
Yours went all
little home.
he
loved him more than he could
I knew you had a
a wider sphere to
ine was al
he first time,
o make the same self-sacrifice
ever
than mine
For
and though it cannot be possible,
ara explains why she
have
of
(422).
him .
I
I
ogether while on
bring th em eternal
I
unio
:
Moses,
. for all I know you have loved me dearly,
yet I have felt that in all tha
was deepest and
dearest to me
I was alone.
You did not come near to
me, n r touch me where I feel most deeply.
f
had
lived to be your wife, I cannot say but
his distance
in our spiritua
nature mi ht have widened .
You
ow
what we live with we get used to;
it grows an old
story .
Your love too might have grown old and
orn
out.
If we lived together in the commonplace toils of
life
you would see only a poor th eadbare wife.
I
might have lost wha
Ii
le charm I ever had over you·
but I feel that if I die
this wil l not be.
There is
someth · ng sacred and beautiful in death;
and I may
have more power over you, when I seem to be gone , than
should have had living (424) .
l
I
I
I
I
less bitter"
willing to make a
I-
I
I
I
I
he
Just a
I
Chri~
recognized tha
His death also heightened the
importance of His teach in gs among the people,
see a
greater power over Moses as a
glorification in dea h will
for
her death shall
her death,
secure
save his soul.
result of her death .
oses for
She
they would have continued
o
love is strongest,
75
her
Her
in eternity,
recognizes that without
l ive apart and their
love would have " grown old and worn ou ."
lovers while their
so too does Mara
They part as earthly
only to reunite a
I
spiritual
In
lovers at that same strong
[_
I
l
I
I
beginning,
she
apart
Sally ' s
She is
her
i
introduced as ' a
( 36 ) .
Un li e
looked surly and wrathfu
(34).
to Sally s
in marked contras
ara who
in that
healthy
v · gorous
labored over the chore she was pe forming
"
spheres
fers greatly from Mara's
large black eyes
golden curls " stand
ha i
best
From the
and even intersect at places .
character
is more " real. "
girl,' and
she
Mara ' s
This union seems more plausible because thei
are not so fa
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I-
Moses marries Sally Ki ttridge,
he end
friend .
lev
as
a a'
" crow-black
as not been trained to work
"' Sally could oversew and hem when she wa'n't more'n three years
I
( 39) .
After the two have grown, Sally still dif f ers in
0 1 ' '
appear nee from
has
'a
ara
face with a
glowing cheeks ,
eflects a more earthly nature .
rich Spanish complexion,
marked eyebrows ,
Unlike Ma a
translucent,
which
whose simple
and
large black eyes
lustrous black hair'
ethereal
character
Sally is more complex and human
to find what was
and ''[wJhen one
strong,
if one could but get at it "
while the depths of
(300) .
much as Moses '
thee
generous and
This suggests that
ara ' s nature are more easily discovered ,
ally s may also be found but with a
suggests that Sally ' s
he
in the depths of her character
was abundance there of good womanly feeling,
(196) .
is almost
got s ufficiently far down through the foam and froth of
surface,
She
Stowe
little more effort .
inner depths need some form of relea e
do .
The closer relationship betwee~
may be seen through her view of
subject of Moses '
leaving on a
love.
oses
and Sally ' s
spheres
When Sally addresses the
voyage following months of
76
their
I
I
I
I
I
' da ing, ' she claims that she does not care that he is go i ng:
" 'We l I ,
I do care for
him sort o ' ,
should break my hear
man "
1
I
(307)
for
is that any reason
bu
his going? -
that ' s
Her remark implies thats e,
too much for any
like Moses,
does no
have the ability to commit he self,
even though she
loves the
person.
oses than any of
the other
Though she cares more for
men she has dated,
completely .
she
is still
that she does not
rea
too,
ly
hurt by
love.
oses
like
love
and wants to
She admits to Mara
and be always putting him before myself
as you do?
o,
and de erves to get me fo.r a
have the self-less,
closer to Moses '
He's a
uld n
wife ' '
(308).
Do
"'Love?
ara does :
L would bear with Moses P nnel all his i ns and
and ups and downs
every hing
love him
She thinks primarily of herself
pro ect herself from bein
you suppose
unwilling to
uts
in
sinner
Sally does not
Her
love is
devotional
love that Ma a
has.
love for Mara,
in which she
is not yet ready to
give herself up.
As
eath approaches
hange .
Mara ' s
death brings about the same transformation in
Sal 1 y as
it does
inner change :
in
her
mys erious de ths
ose s.
,~
pa he ic power of a
Her physica
spark in
eyes.
and tender,
fl e
tone of her vo · ce had a
[
Sally s nature begins to
ara ' s
features
reflect the
had in them now
t · ng shado s
subdued tremor .
[TJhe deep
noble heart was being born "
Sally Kittridge seems to draw upon Ma.ra for
he very
and
(401) .
her new
The new
life .
"S ome
influence sprung of sorrow" enables her to assume some of Ma a's
nature -- her spiritual
nature -- and ma e
77
it a
part of herse f
r
l
I
I
I
I
]
(401) .
Whe
Moses and Sally meet fol lowing Maras dea h
both changed.
them:
Moses comments on this difference in both of
"'You and
I are neither of us what we were then ,
We are as different as
if we were each another person .
been trained in another
C436) •
life
-
educated by a
together
]-
the other "
oses then proposes :
o on alone? ' '
each of us
S owe implies that
that Mara and
]
I~
I
thei
While the·
"sorro" and
unite the spheres s~ they may become mutually
sharing of one another.
(436)
"'Why sh uld we,
Although she never answers ,
he two do marry and create the eart
ly union
oses never could have had .
This balance between the two characters may be better
understood through Stowe ' s comments on the education and
i nte 1 i gence of
women.
s a child,
M ra becomes
in her books:
reads forthwith she aspires to read too,
younger,
]
great sorrow'"
(436).
spheres may have been somewhat apart before
rea ing ad absorbs herself
]
We have
and now they 'have a world of thoughts and memories
their " memories'
I
I
I]-
Sally .
The changes brought by Maras death have dawn the two
which no one can understand bu
]
they a e
reads with a
far mor
Recognizing her abilities
"naturally
the
and though three years
Mr.
Sewel 1,
Stowe compares her
decides to
o Moses
as
having "a more quiet and scholar-like turn than he -
more intel le tually developed
excep iona]
" Wha ever book Moses
precious insight. • (134)
the ministe ,
tutor Mara along with Moses.
involved in
< 183) .
This evaluation i
in the nineteenth century when women were considere
intellectual
inferiors of men.
Stowe actually considers the man and the woman to be
78
I
I
I
intellec ually balanced
knowledge.
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
[_
I
I
and the one may benefit from the other's
Those who contend against
ivi g woman the same
education as man, do it on the ground that it would
make the woman unfeminine - as if
atu e had done her
work sos ightly
hat it could be so eas i ly ravel led
and knit over.
I
fact , there is a masculine and a
feminine element in all knowledge, and am n and a
woman pu
to the same study extrac
only what their
nature fits them to see - so that knowle ge can be
fullx orbed only when
he two unite in
he search and
share the spoils (134).
In contras
o those who claim
unfeminine,
hat education makes a
Stowe retorts that an individual ' s
easily changed or "ravelled over. "
her belief
sex may not be so
Hrr argument
in two kinds of knowledge -- a
woman
is based u on
feminine and a
masculine knowledge.
She contends that the
particular pieces of
information in accordance wi h his or her
sex.
For
his reason
she argues that
"masculine e l ements," -- the
extracts the
feminine elements'
towe also proposes that,
insig t,
however
of
woman ' s
is t a t the
-- while
-- the emotional
1 ike Mara,
gleans
he man extracts the
elemen s
he woma
elements .
women have " more precious
which differs from the man ' s
" mo r e p r e c i o us ' be ca u s e
balance
lo ical
individual
pe ception
'd i v i ne
1i n
. ''
and perhaps
The key to the
if ering 'knowledges " must be
brought together and mutually shared .
Only then mayo e
fully
unders and an issue.
n conclusion,
between
Stowe argues
that a balance must exist
he masculine elements and the feminine elements of
knowledge -- the ' head " and the
woman's view,
heart".
She implies that
t
the " feminine elements," has been neglected by a
male-dominated society,
but now must be recognized.
79
In Uncle
r
]
I
r-
1_
Tom ' s Cabin
Island,
The Minister ' s
he religous ques
perspective of
]
I-
of Orr s
the two
issues.
better and more complete
The womans emotional
towards a
response to
eveals the hor o s
of
institution," which counteract the economic and
advantages proposed in the male vie1 .
concerning
he religious question ,
loving
merciful,
the woman ' s
Like1,, · se,
emotions d aw her
and perhaps " feminine '
God,
over
the
h rsh and unfo giving Fathe -God of the male-a iented Calvin·st
faith.
s
]
ion provide a
the family ruptures within slave society
political
I
and The Pearl
towe ar ues that the worn n's view towards s avery and
he ' peculiar
]
Wooing ,
oreo er,
ereo ypes
' d " vine
she prov · des her main female characters
au hority to pass
Stowe
elieves
wom a n ' s
views ,
and a
in accordance with'nineteenth-centu y
at
a
judgment on those
hrou h the
issues.
integration of
reater "wholeness
80
Ultimately
the man ' s and the
of knowledge may be achieve
more enlightened perspective deve l oped
I
I
I
I
ith the
EN
;:)tows:
P ess .
/_
OTES
-Gaye Kimball~ The Relig"ous Ideas of Ha
Her Gospe
of Womanhood 1982), p.
85.
E l i z ab e t h Ammon s • " H e r o i n e s i n Un c 1 e
ab i n , ••
American Literature 49 (1974) :
161- 79·
Th"s thesis is
simplis ic
bu
so too is the nine eenth-century ste eat pew ich
se
apart t e male and female spheres.
Of course
he sphere
were not so simply divided.
Harriet Beecher
towe and others did
not necessarily agree w·th these stereotypes, but they used them
·o emphacize the im ortance of the womans rol
which had bee
reduced by the industrial revolution./ Of en these stereotypical
roles which ~he woman's sphere created.
ere
he on y mean
women
had of retaining any
i nifica ce in nineteenth-century societ . .
ere ore, her argument sometimes falters w· en she is unable to
main ain these unna ural boundar·es betwee
them n and wo an.
3
Fores
Wilson
Cr sader i
rinoline:
The
Life of Harrie
Beecher Stowe J.B. L"ppinco ~ •
• 9LJ.1), p .
20 - 21 . 22 . 36 , 38 , 39
45, 46
sup lies
he major·ty
of the bibliog aphic i forma ion
ng with Mary Kelley •s
Priva e
oman. Public Stage:
Li e arv Domes+-i ·ty i
Nineteen· Centu
America C ew York:
Oxford Univers it y P ess
1984)
p.
79.
b.
4
'
48.
79·
Kel le_v, Private Woman.
5 , 60, 6 , 63-64, 75.
5
wi lso , Crusader
p.
58.
Dunham Fo~~er, Heroine~ of Modern
acMi l lan
ompany, 1922)
p.
91.
6
7
Kelley,
p.
Ke 1 l ey
12
Ibid
44,
4
ilson ,
Pri ate Woman .
iow.1 I son.
11
p.
Crusader ,
59 :
Elmer
. Adams and
rogress C ew Yorl· :
The
44 .
bid.
Ibid .
9
Private Woman,
Wilson,
p.
Kelley .
Crusader.
p.
p.
33 .
Kel
ey,
Priva e Woman
p.
3
-35:
81
Crusader .
p.
33 .
45 .
Pr iv ate Woman.
44 .
p.
46.
p.
arren
r_
13
14
Ib"d,
p.
48.
Ibid,
p.
45 ,
15W.1 l ;;on.
16
17
18
p.
46.
C usader
Ibid ,
p.
49,
l bid,
p.
71 -72.
dams and
p.
30 .
63 .
aster,
p.
93;
Wi
son 1 Crusader,
7-,
19
Wi l on. Crusader. p. 57. 73 :
Wi if red Wise, Ha riet
Beeche
~towe:
A Woma
wi th a Cause C ew Y rk:
G . P. Putnam's
Sons. 1965), p. 49;
Cha !es H. Fas e
The Rungless Ladder:
_H_a_r_r_·_e_t_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _E_n_g....._I_a_n_d__P_u_r_i_t_a_n_i_s_m
. C. :
p.
96;
Adams and Foster.
Heroines.
20W.1 l son,
21
]
]
C usader.
p.
75.
I
Fas
er.
_h_e_R_u_n~g. . . l_e_s_s_ _ _ _r_.
p.
4.
22
Ibid . p .
97;
Harriet Beeche
owe f inds some
inspiration for
his
new faith " i n Common
ense App!ied to
Rel ·gion; or The Bible and the Peop e by her older sis e .
Catharine Beecher.
23W.1 l sont
24
bid
Crusader,
88 ,
95 ,
p.
6.
111 ,
112 ,
113 .
114,
17
122 .
25
26
Ibid,
p.
119 ,
I bid,
p.
77 .
20
140,
128-1 9 .
50-151 ,
160- _61.
71-172
27
l
l
J
Barba ra Leslie Eps e·n , The Politics of Domesticity:
Women Evange ism and Temperance in Ninet
-Century Americ~.
( 1iddle own
Conn . :
es eyan University Press
981) , p.
75:
Kelley
Private Woma
p.
312.
Po
ics, p.
63, 74, 78;
Ann
oug as . The
Feminizatio
mer·can Cu
or :
A red K. Kno
97 )
p.
49;
ancy Cott
The Bods
f Woman ood:
" W man ' s
Sphere " in
ew England, · 80-1835 ale University
Press, 1977), p.
80·
Kelley, Private Woman, p .
11
Rich rd
H. Brod ead, "Vei led Ladies·
Toward
His or
of An ebel lu
Enter ainment. '
merican Lite
istory
(2)
(Summer 1989):
275.
29
o
, Womanhood , p .
64, 67:
Brodhead, 'Veiled Ladie
p.
2 4:
Kimba 1 Gospel of Womanhood
Gail
p.
69 ·
Parker,
he Oven Birds:
American Women on Womanhood. 1820-
82
ft
1920 (Garden City,
Y:
Doubleday & Company, Inc .,
972) ,
14 ·
Wi 11 iam O ei 11
Eve yone Was Brave :
The Rise and Fal 1 of
Feminism in America (Chicago :
Quadr ncle Boo ks, 1969), p.
7 ;
Kei ~h E.
elder, Begin
he A er i can Woman's
Rights
ovement, 1800Schocken Books
1977)
p.
7.
30
elder ,
Sis . . erhood,
2.
p.
31
· 01
eill , Everyone Was Brave
p.
7 ·
Epstein, Politics .
n the
· xties,
Amy Louis
Reed.
Female Delicacy
(De ober 19 5) :
858, 860 .
p.
86 ;
Cen ury
32
Parker, The O en Birds . p .
15
190 :
the essays may be
found in the collection en itled The Writ·ngs of H rriet Beeche
towe .
33
34
Ibid,
191.
Ibid,
p.
· 92 .
,_....,Ibid ,
p.
197 .
3 r=,
36w.1 son
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
37lb'd
"
l
'
39
p.
Kel
220-221 .
40
I
Crusader
p.
176
p.
201.
p.
191 ,
174 .
198 .
ey
Private Woman .
p.
Kelley
Pri a·e Woman,
p
208
217
225 .
243 .
on ,
Crusader,
280-2 1 ;
281 ;
Wil
p.
204 .
41E ps
e in,
Pol .
cs .
7
'
2,
83;
Wilson ,
Crusader .
p.
21 LL.
42
Barbara Welte r,
The Feminization of Ameri an Relig · n :
1800-1860, " in Mary S. Hartman and Lois Banne , eds ., Clio s
Consciousness Raised :
New Perspec ives on the
istorv of
omen
( ew York :
De agon Books
19 6)
137;
Rich rd D.
hiels , "The Feminiza ion of Amer i can Congrega ionalism .
730835
American Quarterly 33 (Spring 1981):
46 .
43
Shie s . "Feminization of Congregationa ism , ' p . 47. 4950, 52;
Welter, "Feminization of Religion ." p.
138 ;
The
feminization of the
hurch was extended to t he clergy
wh o often
found their roles reduced in importance .
he cler y's fa ll
coincided with that of
e church , and as Ann
ouglas disct s es
in The Feminization of American Cult re , the c ergyman also los
his masculinity (19) .
44
Epstein,
Shie l. " Feminization of Congregationa ism "
Politics
p.
51
83
p.
62:
r_
1
]
I
I
]
45
Doug as , The F em·niza~ion of Arner · can Cult re , p .
48 ;
Barton Levi S:
Armand
Emily Dickinso n and Her Culture :
The
_ ________
Y (Cambridge :
Cambr i dge Un i ve sity Pr e s s,
98.ll.), p.
46
Kimbal 1
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
p.
68;
St .
Armand
47
Wel er, " Feminiza · on of Religion ,
'Feminization of Congre~ationalisrn ," p.
62·
Dickinson, p.
91.
4
Wel
Oven Birds ,
II
Gospel ,
49
er ,
p
he Oven B i rds .
p.
20 ,
p.
14
·
89 .
p.
p.
141 :
Sh i el
St . Armand .
Feminization of Re igion.
24 .
Parker ,
Dickinson
,
Pake
14.
5
°Kimball , Gospel . p .
3:
May Kell e y, n A
Wa
with
He self·
Harriet Beecher Stowe as Woman i n Conflict w · th · n
Home " American Stud " es
9 CF 11 19 8):
25.
e
51
and
99.
Ed ad Wagenknec t
the Unkno n C ew York: Oxford Un i ve si
y
52
Le s l i e A. F iedle . Love and ~eath in the Ameri an ~ave
(New York :
Stein a d Day
1966 (r v. ed . )
p.
83;
El· zabe h K .
Helsinge • Robin Laute b a ch Sh ee sand Will · am Veeder. The Woman
Question:
L · terary Issues . 1837 - 1883. vol . 3 ( New York:
Garla 1 d
ubl ishing, Inc ., 1 8
p.
4, 4 7·
Emory El i ot, ed . , Co umbia
Lite ary History of the United St tes ( ew York:
Columb i
Universi y Press, 1988) , p .
305;
The f mous quotat i on about t he
"d-d mob of scribbl in
women,' was provided by th
author,
athaniel Haw~horne, in expressing his distas e for the " i e ary
domestics."
53
54
Ke
ley
Private Woman,
Woman. p.
251
Cul ~re
p. 4 ,
58
59
60
61
253
Ibid.
55H e l singer
.
.5
p.
Parker,
252
77 .
The Woman Question, p.
9;
Kelley, Private
269;
Dou~las , Feminiza ion of Americ n
p.
12
he Woman Ques
on,
The Oven Birds
Wagenknecht,
252.
p.
9.
Known and Unknown,
16 1.
Ibid .
Ibid.
i e
rill
D.
Pete son,
The G eat Trium
84
e :
Webste
r
Calhoun, and C 1 ay (New York: Oxford University Press
987)
p.
457-458~
Alice C. Crozier, The
ovels of Harriet Beecher Sto e
( ew York:
Oxford un·versi y Press
1969), p.
12·
Annie
Fie ds, Life and
et ers of Harrie
Beecher Sta e (Bos on:
Houghton
Mifflin and Company, 1897) , p .
131.
63
(Boston :
Charles Edward S owe
Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Houghton
Mifflin and Compary
1889), p .
145 .
63
I
bid .
64
el singer,
65w
66C'
.::J
67
68
The Woman Question,
genkn cht,
owe ,
J
71
72
73
74
75
Beeche
62 .
165 .
p.
Stowe,
Known and Unknown.
p.
p.
56.
181.
Ibid.
69H e 1 singer
•
70
Known and Unkn o wn,
ife of Harrie
Wagenknecht,
p.
The Woman Questio
Wagenknecht
Foster,
H
. e l s 1· ge
,
Known and Unknown ,
The Rungless Ladder,
Wagenknecht ,
rozier,
Wagenknec t
p.
184 .
27 .
p.
Unknown ,
Known an
ovels
p
p.
II
Th e Woman 1c,1Ues
t 1On
.
,
62 .
62 .
p.
166.
p.
184.
15,..,.
Known and Unknown .
76
Fred Lewis Patee , The
ties ( . ew y rk :
D.
--Co umbia
Appleton - entry
omany, 1940)
p.
Elliot
Litera y Histo Y, p.
305 ·
The page n 1mber ' provid
in
paren heses throughout the rest of the paper refer to the
location of those quot tions in t e pa
i cu ar nave
I am
discussi g .
7
78
Am mons ,
"Heroines
crozier,
The
in Uncle Tom ' s
o els
p.
1 4.
165 .
4.
79
andra M. Gi tert and
usan Gubar, The Madwoman in the
Attic:
The Woman Wri Jer and the Nineteenth-Century
i erary
Imagination (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1979), p. 533·
Ammons, "Heroine s in Uncle Tom's Cabin" p.
166.
aoc roz1er
.
81
bid,
p.
The
ovels
p.
24 .
85
24-25.
[_
82
Ammons
" Heroines in Un le Tom ' s
abin " p .
167 .
83
Fos er , The Rungless Ladder, p .
Madwoman in the A ic
p.
533- 3
Gubar,
8LL
85
I_
B odhead,
"Veiled
adies,•
rozie,
The Novels
p.
p.
87
Ammons,
89
'Heroines in Unc e Tom's
p.
90 ·
Novel,..,
p.
p.
bin,
p.
162 .
17 .
16-17.
n Heroines in Uncle Tom ' s
Ammons,
abin," p .
164 .
170.
92
Thomas J . Steele,
Christs '
egro American
Crozier . The Naves
p.
Mrs . Stow
s
WO
ying
arum 6 (Fall 1 76)•
85·
93 Johanna
ohnston R
______o_ H
_e_ a_v_e_n_ :__T
_ h_e_ S_ t _o_r~y__o_f_
~H~r~r;c._;;_i~e~t"--=
B~e~e~c~~h~e~-=S~t~o~w~
e (Garde
N.Y. ·
Doubleday & Company,
Inc.
1963), p.
26 ;
Crozier
Novels
p.
9.
94c roz1e
.
The
171
Tom's C bin, " p
95
Ammons
ovels
p.
Ammons~
10;
'H roines in Unc e
"Heroines in Uncle Tom's Cabin ,"
p.
96
Gilbert and ~ubar, Ma woman in
" Heroines in _U_n_c_l_e__o_m__s_C_a_b_1_·n_.
Ammons,
97c roz1er
.
,
98
99
p.
100c roz1e
.
,
lOllbid.
p.
102
103
H . roines,
ovels
p.
"om and Eva ." p.
.5 tee 1 e
Ibid,
10
L--
bid,
9.
5.
sec roz1er.
.
The
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
275 .
p.
Gilbe t
9-30,
171 .
482:
32-33.
87.
88.
ovels . p .
30 .
19.
and Gubar ,
adwoman i
Foster , ~T~h~e~~'-'-'-'~..;;;....;c~_.;;;c.=..;~~-'
p.
67.
rozier,
165 ,
ovels.
p.
lOSibid.
86
the Attic
p.
18-19 .
105 ·
p.
482-483.
Adams and Foster,
106
Johnston, Runaway to Heaven
320-321;
Although Dr .
Hopkins is s veral years older
han Mary,
robably about midd eage, he is still a s itable match for he .
ary s mothe , Katy
Scudder . works hard to secure the union, and is disappointed when
i t fai s .
101c roz1er,
.
lOelbid
109
The
ovels ,
1 9.
p
119 .
p.
124 - 1 - 5 .
123 .
id
110
Johnston, Ru n away to Heaven . p .
32 ·
Douglas .
Femin i za · on of Amer i can Cult r e , p .
246 ·
Forrest M Dona d, The
residency o f Thomas J ef f erso n (n . p .:
Un i ve s i ty Pre s s of
Kansas
1976) , p .
85 , 111
123 . 134 ( these paaes dea 1 wi th the
duel and the schemes in the Wes ) :
Cr zier . The
ovels . p .
1 3.
111
Ke
Pr · a
ley .
lL.. .:;
. os t er.
113
Ibid,
e Woman
p.
307 .
?·
he Rungless Ladder
p.
127 .
104-1 5.
114
D.
ca herine Gilber son Harr i et Beeche
Appleton-Gen ury Company , 1937)
p
243 .
115
Ibid ,
_44
p
116c roz 1. er,
117 bid
18
-
p.
138
p.
137 .
ovels ,
Runa av to Heaven ,
The Femin i zation of Ame
120c roz1er
.
,
The
ovels,
123Kel
p.
ey ,
40 .
p.
205 .
Private Woman,
Crozier .
323 .
p.
i can Culture,
1bid .
122 I i
C ew Yo k :
137
p.
119D oug as .
121
n..
~bid
The
Johnston .
Stowe
p.
309 .
The Novels ~ p .
87
140 .
p.
1 rig .
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Literature 49
"Heroines in Uncle Tom's Cabin."
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)_
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]_
1:
]-
]-
JJJ-
1-
1-
90