A Literary Comparison of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Frederick Douglass's Narrative of a Slave

1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
And A Narrative of a Slave
“Treat 'em like dogs, and
you'll have dogs' works and
dogs' actions. Treat 'em like
men, and you'll have men's
works.”—advice from
slave owner in
Uncle Tom’s Cabin

2. Slavery by the numbers:
Untenable Facts
By the time slavery was abolished in 1865,
there were roughly 4 million slaves in the US.
Only 10% of slaves lived to see their 50s
On average, female slaves had 9 children and
were encouraged to have more. Many were sold
shortly after birth and were never seen again.
There were roughly 300,000 mulattos living as slaves—most
fathered by slaveholders .
The status quo could not
continue. Something had to
give.
Abolitionists were speaking
out. Underground Railroads
were at work. But too many
people were indifferent to
the plight of the slaves. The
cause needed a story. And a
face.

3. In 1851 a white lady from Cincinnati Ohio did a
gutsy thing.
She published a novel about slavery and it was not
kind to slaveholders.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin: or,
Life among the Lowly became a best seller and
an unqualified success, opening up conversations
between people who’d, until that point, taken it for
granted that slavery was a necessary evil.
Legend has it that Lincoln called her the “little lady
who started a big war”
But her book was not the first . . .

4. In 1845, a runaway slave by the name of William
Frederick Douglass presented his life story to the world.
“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave, Written by Himself” was a best seller
too.
Both books were a success in their own right. And
both books brought something fresh to the subject
of slavery . . .

5. What they both brought to the table
Harriet Beecher Stowe
"I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a
mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted
with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because
as a Christian I felt the dishonor to
Christianity - because as a lover of my
county, I trembled at the coming day of
wrath.“—Harriet Beecher Stowe
o Stowe’s parents were activists. All six of her
brothers and sisters were too. It was assumed she
would be one as well.
o She married an abolitionist.
o She wrote a total of 30 books. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
is by far the most famous.
o Uncle Tom’s Cabin was inspired the death of her
own child.
Frederick Douglass
I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but
received no answer until I prayed with my
legs.—Frederick Douglass
o Frederick Douglass barely knew his mother. His
father was his 1st owner.
o He learned to read on the sly, after his 2nd
mistress was chastised for teaching him his
letters.
o After he made his escape at the age of 20 he
became determined to give back to those who had
helped him, so he became a public speaker.
o Many of his listeners didn’t believe he’d ever been
a slave because he was so well-spoken.
o He wrote “Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave, Written by
Himself “ to prove that he had been.

6. TheCulturalBackdrop
Could the United States call itself the “land of
the free” as long as it continued to keep three
million people in chains?
Both Stowe and Douglass were living in a time of cultural and literary rebirth. America was in the midst of a
cultural Renaissance, inspired in part by the Transcendentalist reform. Ralph Waldo Emerson called on Americans
to “lead the country into a new age inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.” (Norton p 13). This
created an air of activism---Women’s suffrage, temperance reform, Native American Rights, and Antebellum reform
. “Slave Hunt by Thomas Moran 1862
• Slaves were property, not citizens, and had no
rights under the law in any state.
Activists like Stowe and Douglass
answered, “No.”
• Anyone who helped a slave escape was
subject to prison and huge fines.
Among the topics of debate was the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850 which declared that:
Abolitionists were furious. Citizens of non-slave
holding states were indignant. Free blacks were
frightened, with good reason. Kidnapping was
common.
• Slaveholders did have the right to retrieve
their property from non-slaveholding states.

7. Literary Leaps
Like Douglass and Stowe, other American writers were responding to the changes in their culture. They
were writing. They were writing a lot. Many of our best known classics were written in the early 1800s: The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, The Scarlett Letter, Leaves of Grass,
and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe are just a few of the works we’re still reading today.
• In the tradition of haunted Gothic
Castles with tragic heroines and
brave but flawed heroes, these
writers gave form to the anxieties
and fears of worried Americans.
• Nature featured prominently in
American works. Sometimes it was
warm and inviting. More often than
not, it was dark.
• Most works were informed heavily
by Romanticism. Language was
sentimental and melodramatic
designed to inspire and move
readers. Authorial intrusion was
common. Writers didn’t just tell
stories; they preached, moralized,
and pointed out injustices.

8. Deprived of all the comforts and constructs of a normal life,
Narrative of a Slave
with all family connections severed by slavery, the observer and
victim of incredible cruelty,
Douglass was an angry young black man by the time he made
his escape.
It is perhaps fortunate for all that he learned to read and write and
used that anger for the benefit of society instead of picking up a gun.
Douglass's Narrative reflected the Romantic storytelling style of the day. The language is heavily sentimental and
melodramatic. And, as is also typical, Douglass frequently digressed, giving over paragraphs to discussions of the
injustices of slavery, going into detail about the abuses he and other slaves suffered.
As it is autobiographical, Douglass's work is in first person and his is the only point of view we are provided with.
This means that his work, while powerful and important, is filtered entirely through his biases. He brings us into his
“otherness”, something Stowe was not in a position to explore—what it was like to be a black slave in the 19th
century and what it meant to be property and considered sub-human.
He also uses the opportunity to emphasize the empowerment of literacy and education--quoting a master who said
that once a slave learned to read that he was no longer good as a slave. The entire rest of the story points out,
sometimes openly, and with great irony, how correct the man was.

9. LifeAmong theLowly
Unlike Douglass’s Narrative, "Uncle Tom" is a work of fiction, written in third person unlimited. Stowe's sources
for Uncle Tom’s Cabin were stories she heard from both from freed slaves themselves and stories passed around by
abolitionists. But like Douglass’s work, “Uncle Tom” is written in the Romantic style common to the 19th century
and frequently breaks with the plotline to moralize and discuss the cruelty taking place.
Uncle Tom's Cabin follows the lives of a small group of slaves after they are sold or escape, though most of the
story centers around Uncle Tom. We meet Tom, a Christian, and a dignified and gentle man, after his "kind", but
debt-ridden master sells him to a slave trader. We also meet Eliza who runs away in a desperate attempt to save
hers son, who has also been sold to the slave trader.
The story follows faithful Uncle Tom as he goes from one owner to another. We see him suffer at the hands of
both kind and cruel owners. We also watch as Eliza makes her way north by way of the Underground Railroad.
Along the way, through Tom and Eliza, we meet other slaves, slaveholders, and abolitionists. We hear the
arguments for and against slavery. And we see that even the most well-meant slave owners contribute to the
unjustness of the institution.

10. The Reception
Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Narrative of a Slave joined with other written works and became anti-slavery
documents, presenting powerful counter-points to the arguments made by slaveholders that the lives they were
providing for their slaves were comfortable and safe. For better or for worse, the cumulative effect was action.
And action was needed.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin found its way into the parlors and kitchens of the middle
and upper classes. Northerners who had ignored or concluded that slavery was
a necessary evil were outraged. Southerners were outraged too, but for very
different reasons. They claimed that the book was full of lies, and insisted their
slaves were well cared for and happy.
On both sides of the argument, thousands rallied to the cause. Whether one
agreed or disagreed, it was no longer possible to ignore the subject of slavery.
While Stowe’s work might not have started the Civil War, it certainly brought
the pot it was simmering in to a boiling point.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
Written by Himself is considered one of the finest examples of 19th
century slave narratives.
Douglass was already considered a talented orator and essayist when
he wrote it, but his Narrative and other autobiographies opened
doors that might otherwise have been closed to a black man of the
19th century.
He ran a successful newspaper for several years; he was elected to
office in Washington DC; and he was invited to speak around the
world. Plantation Slave Quarters
Results of beating

11. Bibliography
Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle Tom's Cabin. 1851. The Norton Anthology of American
Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W.
Norton, 2012. 805-904. Print.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.
1845. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S.
Levine. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 1170-240. Print.
"American Civil War Photos." : African American Slavery Picures and Images. N.p., n.d.
Web. 27 July 2014. Pre-Civil War pictures of slaves.
American Civl War Photographs
"Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture." Uncle Tom's Cabin & American
Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014. Illustrations and encyclopedic facts about
Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Soba, Okinawa. "Black America." Black America. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.
Pictures from slide 1 & 2. Extraordinary Source.
Black America Pre-Civil War Photos
"Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." Library of
Southern Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.
Illustrations on slide 8.