Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin as a rebellious novel

Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a slave narrative. It depicts evils of slavery which compel people to rebel against it. Therefore, the novel abounds in elements of rebellion in various forms such as Uncle Tom rebels through his Christian doctrine of forgiveness and love. Some slaves like Eliza Harris, George Harris, Emmeline, Cassy etc. rebel by escaping. Some white female characters like Mrs. Shelby, Mrs. Bird, Eva etc. fight through either love or Christianity. George Shelby rebels by freeing his slaves by paying and employing them. Moreover, the publication of the novel just after two years of passing of the Fugitive Slave Law 1850 is also a rebel.

The protagonist, Uncle Tom’s rebellion is the most significant one because he rebels spiritually, not physically. He’s guided by Christian doctrine of love and forgiveness. Christianity believes that war against war produces counter war. If the ‘force’ or power has enslaved the blacks and created disharmony in the society, using the ‘very force’ harmony can’t be brought in the society. The complete harmony in the society comes through only love and forgiveness. Obviously, Uncle Tom was guided by this dogma. Therefore, in howsoever difficult situation also he didn’t rebel using force. He was strong and intelligent enough to run away but he didn’t. At the opening of the novel, a rather weaker woman Eliza became successful to run away. Of course, Uncle Tom could have also escaped but he chose to rebel against slavery through patience, tolerance, love and forgiveness so that not only would he be free, but the whole slaves in America. He could have escaped when Haley was taking him to Deep South as he was given relative freedom but he didn’t. Moreover, he happily accepted the death when Simon Legree beat him. His acceptance was not out of cowardice, weakness, his mistakes but because he wanted to transform those white masters with his undaunting tolerance and patience, unconditional love and forgiveness.

Just contrary to Uncle Tom, some slaves such as Eliza, George Harris, Emmeline, Cassy etc. rebel against slavery by running away from their master’s hold. At the opening of the novel, Mr. Shelby sells Uncle Tom and Harry to Haley. To avoid selling of small Harry and not to let him become another victim of slavery, Eliza runs away with him from Kentucky plantation. Her husband George also runs away to start new kind of life with his family in Canada. Towards the end of the novel, Cassy and Emmeline also run away from Legree’s plantation in Louisiana to avoid their master’s sexual exploitation. Obviously, the escaping of all these slaves wasn’t for their selfishness but an indication of rebellion against slavery. They had to escape singly because they were scattered in such a way that a union among them was not possible. So, before powerful white authority, they couldn’t do anything at individual level except escaping.

At rather subtle level, some white female characters’ reaction can be also taken as rebellion against slavery. For example, Mrs. Shelby wanted to retain Harry back being ready to offer her jewelry. Mrs. Bird wanted to give Eliza and her son shelter. More importantly, though very little girl, Eva showed propound amount of love, and care to the blacks. She indiscriminately treated them and requested her father to free all the slaves he had. In this way, these female characters rebelled through their love, and Christian belief.

Probably the most practical rebellion is of George Shelby. Towards the end of the novel, he set out to search Uncle Tom to buy his freedom as he had promised. But as he reached Louisiana, Uncle Tom had already died. Then, in his replace, he freed all the slaves he had in his plantation. He didn’t just set them free by giving legal authority go to the North. He wanted to make them economically independent. So he started treating them as employees and began paying them salary. He also preserved Uncle Tom’s ‘cabin’ to remind coming generation of ‘evils of slavery’ and ‘Uncle Tom’s Christian doctrine of love, forgiveness, patience and tolerance’.

Finally, the publication of the novel after two years of the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law 1850 is obviously rebellion against slavery. Stowe rebelled by publicizing the evils of slavery and rebellion against it by both blacks and whites. His intention after writing the novel must have been especially against the Fugitive Slave Law 1850 and the slavery as a whole.