Jennifer L. Rando
American Literature I
Fall 1999
Rationale
In Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe dramatically transports the reader to various homes and plantations around the country. Each geographic location possesses its own characteristics and degrees of morality. As the novel progresses, Stowe presents the reader with a disintegration of the moral code of the master and ultimately provides the reader with a depiction of the baseness of the institution of slavery. In Chapter thirty-nine entitled "The Stratagem" the reader is situated in a sort of Dante's Inferno on earth. In this chapter the reader is positioned on a plantation located in the middle of nowhere, owned by Simon Legree.
Over the course of the narrative the reader is bombarded by the callousness and immorality of Simon Legree. The character of Simon Legree is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the pious character of Uncle Tom. If we view Uncle Tom as a Christ figure, then we can see Legree as the embodiment of Satan in the work. He is a godless man who continually terrorizes Uncle Tom. For it is on Legree's plantation that Uncle Tom, the elevated Christ figure meets his demise.
Throughout Chapter thirty-nine, Stowe presents the juxtaposition of the Gothic and the supernatural with references to Christianity. In the previous chapters we learn that Simon Legree desires to void his plantation of all religion and will not permit the any of the slaves to partake in the singing of hymns or any references to the Bible. In Chapter thirty-nine, Stowe presents the reader with a situation in which Simon Legree's godless state and belief in the supernatural permit Cassy and Emmeline to plot their escape. The narrator asserts: "No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man." (Stowe p.567).
Additionally, Chapter thirty-nine further explores the relationship between the master and slaves. Stowe's work, through the portrayal of Quimbo and Sambo who both act at the behest of their master Simon Legree, raises the issue of where the responsibility lies for one's actions for those who follow orders. This is specifically demonstrated in the scene in which Legree offers a reward to the slave who finds Cassy and Emmeline in Chapter thirty-nine. This issue has modern implications which I will explore in the hypertext links.
My hypertext project will seek to enrich the reading experience of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The objective of my hypertext contribution will be to demonstrate the following:
1) to investigate Stowe's juxtaposition of Gothic and the supernatural with Christian images.
2) to demonstrate the human desire to break free from the bonds of oppression.
3) to explore the master slave relationship in terms of following orders to commit acts of cruelty, and to examine the modern implications of this issue.
4) to investigate the manner in which Harriet Beecher Stowe's work draws on a few other works we have read over the course of the semester.