Literary Analysis

In Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, majority of the slaves and characters in the novel were treated poorly, and clearly show dehumanization throughout. Some of the slave owners were true monsters, and didn't care about the welfare of the slaves, or acknowledge that they are human just like them. A slave named Eliza in Uncle Tom's Cabin was told that her son was going to be sold. "I can believe now that you could sell little Harry, poor Eliza's only child" (Stowe 29). It is in humane to sell someone. Then to take away a poor woman's child. To take away the poor child away from it's mother is horrible. Mr.Shelby is a bad slave owner in my opinion because, he wanted to sell Tom and Eliza's child. "They will bring the highest sum of any" (Stowe 31). All he cares about is getting money for them. If Mr.Shelby was a good slave owner, Eliza should not have had to run away with her boy to feel safe. Uncle Tom should not have been sold off just for money. The way the slaves were treated was poorly. "It is true that they have been passing a law forbidding people to give meat and drink to those poor colored folks" (Stowe 71). Anyone that is hungry or thirsty should be able to have meat/food and drinks. No one is human if they don't get them qualities of life they need to survive. For them to pass a law forbidding people to do that is dehumanizing. There is also a "law forbidding people to help off the slaves that come over from Kentucky" (71). That is also not right to pass a law saying a person cannot help another person. A slave in which this case is Eliza and her son, is trying to better themselves and be safe. So, they go over to Kentucky because, Mr.Shelby wants to sell Harry. Who knows how the new slave owner will treat Harry if he is sold. People should be able to help another person if they want to. Mrs.Bird wants to help feed and give a home to the slaves. "If a woman can't give a warm supper and a bed to poor , starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!" (Stowe 72). But all that Mr.Bird says is "we must put aside our private feelings"(Stowe 72). That is not treating the slaves as if they are human. That shows no care, like they are nothing and everyone should have food, warmth, and clothing, like the rest of the world. Buying and selling human beings is dehumanizing."We must drive right to Washington first and foremost, and then I'll clap you into jail, while I does the business"(Stowe 106). Poor Tom being tossed around and put into jail, while his soon to be "ex" slave owner goes to the slave convention to buy more slaves, and try to sell him. I agree that everyone is capable of working, should be out in the working world. But not "deposited on one of the Ohio boats "(Stowe 110) to be shipped to the South, sold to do plantation work. That is slave labor, they won't get paid, they won't get treated fair, poor Tom. "I have been careful, and I have been patient, but its growing worse, and worse ;flesh and blood can't bear it any longer- every chance he can get to insult and torment me, he takes"(Stowe 14). "I have been kicked and cuffed and sworn at" (Stowe 15). No person should be treated like that. Being treated like that, and being dehumanized makes you feel worthless, and makes you feel useless. No one should have to suffer their life , it is cruel. Weather it a slave , or a master.
When I was researching my literary context project some of the authors Emile Zola and Frank Norris were treated poorly throughout their lives. From family to people they worked with. Family members of Emile Zola doubted him and his dream career. His mother wanted him to go into a law career, and even set him up for exams that he failed. It is dehumanizing to make someone, or try to pick a persons career that the person doesn't wanna do.
We read an article, called Stowe and the Literature of Social Change Response by Carolyn L. Karcher. Her article discussed "separation. of families, the sexual explotation of slave women and the cycle of violence that slavery generated" (3). "Women could not defend their bodies without risking their lives" (3). These are some examples of dehumanization. The poor people had to live their life feeling like they aren't a normal human being. No human being should be treated like that. There was a quote that stated "people should strike back against the masters that whipped and tortured them, who defiled there wives, and sold there children"(3). I agree. The masters who owned slaves, the masters in Uncle Tom's Cabin who treated the slaves in humanly should experience what they dished out to there slaves.
I've had an experience in one of my college classes. We attended a presentation about the Negro baseball League. The man's presentation was very interesting and informative. But some of the stories he shared were sad! The way the Negro baseball players back in the day were treated poorly! Strong dehumanization. They couldn't eat in a normal setting, couldn't stay in a hotel they wanted to stay at. They couldn't go to the baseball fields unless it was available and not being used by the whites. Like Tom and the other slaves, and like a the baseball players. There life as a human was different. And I'm sure at times they didn't feel as if they were human beings with how they were treated. My bio teacher once told our class, that his mother was working in a restaurant. A bus of Negro baseball players wanted to stop for food. The owner of the restaurant told the woman working that she had to go tell the bus of Negros that they couldn't eat there. She didn't want to tell them that they couldn't eat there but she would lose her job if she didn't. Putting that lady in that situation is dehumanization, and it definitely is to the baseball players.
I personally agree with the authors interpretation. Because Stowe shows the idea that slavery is bad and it dehumanizes human beings as seen in the examples and experiences. No person should treat someone as though he or she is not a human being. No matter there race, religion, gender, the environment they are from, or if they have a medical problem. Everyone is human and dehumanizing a person is wrong.