"Uncle Tom's Cabin" Book Review

Описание: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written in 1852 was one of the most controversial novels of its time. It is a powerful exposé about the cruelty of slavery in the southern United States.

Its goal was twofold, ehh maybe threefold. One, to expose to southerners what slavery really is, and two, to gain support in the north for the abolitionist movement. I’ll add a third and that is that humanity’s main problem is that we refuse to submit to God or anything bigger than ourselves. I say this because Stowe interweaves the Christian faith throughout the book showing it as the primary moral guide that keeps us from committing these atrocities.

It’s a long book and I listened to the audio book, all 22 hours of it. I took away the obvious takeaways that I was supposed to get but I also took away the following:

1. Humanity is capable of horrible things when we cease to view each other as people. For instance, Slavery in the 19th century, the Holocaust in the 20th century, and in our time, in a more watered down “civil” form, Social media. I put “civil” in sarcastic quotations marks for those listening.

2. People don’t change. Ok, I’m a counselor, so I know people can change as individuals. But I mean, throughout human history, people are people. We are negatively motivated by the same basic 3 things, money, sex, and power.

3. The definition of “normal” is whatever we’re used to. If you were a wealthy plantation owner’s child who grew up in the south, slavery didn’t seem like that big of a deal because that’s the normal you lived. If you watch CNN or Fox News on repeat today then it’s so clearly to you that the other side is evil.

So here’s a truth: Tell someone a lie long enough and they’ll begin to believe THAT is the truth. The truth is subject to erosion over time if we aren’t careful.

So my challenge to you in our day is to ask what truth is currently being eroded around us. What erosion has been so subtle in our lifetime that we have just woken up and we’re shocked that insanity has taken over as the norm? Be careful what you ingest. Question it. Use your brain. Get off social media and think for yourself. Recognize that your neighbors are real people; probably pretty nice people who are just trying to figure all of this out just like you are.

Oh, and go read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Harriet Beecher Stowe won’t know one way or the other whether you read it or not, but that book is a cultural icon that can serve as a guide for us now just as it did then.