Uncle Tom’s Cabin and its Women: Representation of Women in
Literature during the 19th Century
The representation
of women in literature has always been questionable throughout all of literary
history. For the most part they have been presented in negative roles or as the
character in need of saving. This is abundantly present in the works of literature
during the 18th century as women during this time were placed in
roles that confined with the gender stereotypes of social constructions of
society for this time period. This is clear in the work Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and its prediction of
women, along with their roles in accordance with the social standards in which
women were supposed to abide by. This representation indicates that women in
literature during this time period reflect the social ideas that women were
meant to be the property of their husbands, to be the emotion consciousness of
a man and to be the character that is in a minor role in order to enhance the
male characters. However, Stowe believes that a woman is much more than this,
Stowe believes that a woman showed be seen a strong, moral figure that has
power over men in a moral sense and that they should guide them to making the
morally sound and righteous decisions. Jane Tompkins clearly lays out the
significance of this work on the literary representation of women in her essay Sentimental Power: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the
Politics of Literary History, in which she explains how the development of
our main character Eliza not only develops her as a strong female character,
but how her development into a certain role also frees her from the possessive
role of slavery on a psychological level by embracing a role that was
considered to be a very important and impactful position. We see this in her
argument about how the impact of the release of Uncle Tom’s Cabin had on the literary community as well as the
changing and developing representation of women in the 19th century
literature. Tompkins comments on its impact in her essay by saying “it was the summa theologica of nineteenth-century
America’s religion of domesticity, a brilliant redaction of the culture’s
favorite story about itself: the story of salvation through motherly love. Out
of the ideological materials they had at their disposal, the sentimental
novelists elaborated a myth that gave women the central position of power and
authority in the culture; and of those efforts Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the most dazzling exemplar” (Tompkins 542). This is clearly used in her work to promote
her anti-slavery. These women are
crafted to fill in the roles that were socially appropriate for women during
the time, such as mothers, teachers, wives, or slaves, while Stowe uses these
positions to make these women morally better than the male characters to show
them the moral decisions and the proper moral path to push her anti-slavery
standpoint.
When Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written, society has a very
different social order then they do today. The major difference in regards to
the representation of women during this time was the fact that women were set
in specific and limited positions in society. Women during the 18th
century were assigned into roles by the gender stereotypes and the patriarchal laws
made by the men of the country. Women held mostly positions of labor, such as
spinners for weaving clothes, domestic labors like maids, housecleaners, or
other domestic positions. African American women were kept in similar positions
but were not considered employees or even as people. They were treated as
slaves for their white owners. This gave women a very limited amount of
influence in society and most slave mothers had to watch as their families were
also forced to become slaves. According to the article “Gender Roles in the 19th
century” by Kathryn Hughes this was because of a belief that “Women
were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that
they were best suited to the domestic sphere. Not only was it their job to
counterbalance the moral taint of the public sphere in which their husbands
laboured all day, they were also preparing the next generation to carry on this
way of life.” (Hughes). This evidence is
clearly to show how in uncle tom’s cabin there exists a level of difference
between the female characters and the male characters. This is not only to show
the division of genders and the overall representation of women, but also to
show how slavery as an institution separates and causes troubles for the family
structure. Stowe clearly choses to use the morality and the expectation of
women in this time period to further her anti-slavery viewpoint and promote a
feminist view of morality to support this view of women at this time and how it
relates to her fight against slavery.
This article also draws this conclusion by
using various other materials and data gather from the time period. The first
of these sources used was the Famous ephemeral card known as Women’s Rights, which laid out the
traditional role for women and men during the time period, placing women in the
domestic sphere of society in relations to men as husbands, fathers, and sons.
According to the card, women have “The right to be a comforter, when other
comforts failed; The right the cheer a drooping heart when troubles most
assail” (M.C.M.R). this essential translates to women have the right to make
the lives of men better and provide them the love, comfort, and moral sense of
right and wrong to guide and to help men when they need their help the most.
Another source that Hughes draws upon in her article is a book called Daughter of England by Sarah Ellis, who
argues that for a woman to be happy in society and to fulfill her purpose, she
must “be content to be inferior to men—inferior
Stowe’s
view point of women is shown thorough several characters and in her chapters.
But this can be clearly shown the most in her character of Mrs. Shelby. She is
a woman who in in a position of wealth and yet she is still seen as the
property of her husband. However, we clearly see her as having the moral
superiority over her husband as he values her religious and moral standings and
confers with them. This can be seen in the very first chapter of the book in which
we get a major description of her in which we see her morality and standing
with her husband, “Mrs. Shelby was a woman of high class, both intellectually and
morally. To that natural magnanimity and generosity of mind which one often
marks as characteristic of the women of Kentucky, she added high moral and
religious sensibility and principle, carried out with great energy and ability
into practical results. Her husband, who made no notions of loyalty or faith to
any religion or to any particular religious, nevertheless reverenced and
respected the consistency of hers, and stood, perhaps, a little in awe of her
opinion. Certain it was that he gave her unlimited scope in all her benevolent
efforts for the comfort, instruction, and improvement of her servants, though
he never took any decided part in them himself. In fact, if not exactly a
believer in the doctrine of the efficiency of the extra good works of saints,
he really seemed somehow or other to fancy that his wife had piety and
benevolence enough for two – to indulge a shadowy expectation of getting into
heaven through her superabundance of qualities to which he made no particular
pretension.” (Stowe pg. 9). This quote clearly shows that while the Mr. Shelby
character doesn’t favor religion and is seen as a more materialistic and less
moral person, his wife seems to be a far more religious person with a control
over her home and her man. This ideal type of women that Stowe is resenting
ties in with her view of how women were judged and placed in these roles by
society, thus Stowe uses this to show off in these very positions, a woman can
surpass a man in society and be able to have an influence on the decisions of
matters, such as slavery. Other characters in her novel share this moral
superiority along with showing how their maternal instincts and love can be
used to make morality more important than wealth or power.
Tompkins’s essay also focuses on this area with the development
and representation of another character as an approximate God on earth
character, Rachel Halliday. In the novel Rachel is shown to be a saintly woman
in a Quaker settlement. She is seen in the story, by the readers and this
motherly figure to the people who live in this house and to the community,
along with our main characters. This woman, according to Tompkins’s essay is
“God in human form (Tompkins 557).
According to Tompkins’s argument, Stowe uses the character of Rachel to
demonstrate the idea of how woman can embrace their motherly instincts and
feelings to be come closer to God in a religious sense and in a moral sense,
essentially being seen as almost a Godly figure. Tompkins uses the scene of the dinner scene
at in the Quaker settlement and the description of Rachel of “For why? For
twenty years or more, nothing but loving words and gentle moralities, and the
motherly kindness, had come from that chair; - head-aches and heart-aches
innumerable had been cured there, - difficulties spiritually and temporal
solved there, —by one good, loving woman, God bless her” (Stowe 122) as her
example of how Stowe’s motive to show the women of this time period as highly
moral figures in order to show how embracing your motherly instincts can make a
woman better and in turn free a slave woman on a psychological level.
Another area of her novel that Stowe uses to show the reader the
plight of her female characters and to have the reader sympathize with her
viewpoint of women and of slavery is in the main female character of Eliza. Throughout
the novel we see her become a fine example of the type of woman that Stowe is
trying to represent and her plight on slavery be recognized through her
character. We see Eliza develop throughout the story as a heroine but growing
more and more courageous and becoming a strong female character. However, she
also grows as a mother raising her child and putting herself in situations that
could risk her being caught or worse in order to protect her family. Stowe uses
her character growth to connect to the reader who Stowe assumed to be a
northern white female mother. When she has to leave her son at the cabin and we
see her pain and fears with every step she takes, we clearly see how her
character development is meant to connect with the reader to make them
sympathize with her plight as a mother, a woman, and an African American. Stowe
doesn’t even prioritize her race in her development for the purpose of focusing
on her development as a woman, a mother, and a moral figure that can relate to women
readers and make male readers question their moral standings when they compare
themselves to her. This development of her female character further illustrates
the point that Stowe is creation am representation of women in her work for the
purpose of empowering feminist morality in support of her anti-slavery stance.
The last point I wish to discuss is how the
representation of women as moral saviors for men in her novel provides a
paradox and how this moral representation inspired many women right’s activists
and movements. Stowe’s depiction of these women as moral figures helps to
empower women’s rights as they are depicted as strong, pure, incorruptible, and
overall better than the men she depicts as morally corrupt, greedy and over all
weak willed. I’ve noticed how despite this positive appearance of these women,
they are represented as either elderly or too young to be taken seriously by
the men around them except their partners in life. They are also considered a
paradox due to the the fact that they are better than the men and yet they are
shown to be in positions under the men in domestic occupations. This limits the
impact they have upon the reader. By placing these people in this position in
domestic jobs, you turn them into cliché figures that have their impact
significantly reduced. Despite this paradox, this work has inspired many writers
and female readers to become part of women activist groups and fight for moral,
political, and social equality as well as opposition to slavery as a male controlled
institution.
Works Cited
Hughes, Katheryn. "Gender
Roles in the 19th Century." British Library. Web. 9 May 2016.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, and
Elizabeth Ammons. Uncle Tom's Cabin: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and
Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.
M.C.M.R. Women's Rights.
M.C.M.R. Print.
Ellis, Sarah Stickney. The
Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character &
Responsibilities. London: Fisher, Son, 1842. Print.
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