Outline Moral Complexity in Uncle Tom's Cabin
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Dec 6, 2023
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Outline: Moral Complexity in Uncle Tom’s Cabin
I.
Introduction
a.
Slavery was a monumental controversial issue in the United States during the 19
th
century.
b.
There was a constant battle between proslavery, antislavery, and abolitionist
individuals.
c.
All three groups had different views, which they felt strongly about, of how
African Americans should be received in a white-controlled nation.
d.
Different mediums were used to portray these views.
e.
For example, Harriet Beecher Stowe used literature to expose her abolitionist
views in her novel.
f.
Thesis Statement: Stowe’s novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
exemplifies the complex
moral dilemma of race, Slavery, and Christianity that plagued the United States
before, during, and after the war.
II.
Supporting paragraph 1: Stowe’s background
a.
Topic Sentence: Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811, to
Roxanna and Lyman Beecher.
b.
She came from a deeply religious family who disagreed with the concept of
slavery.
c.
Religion was important to the Beecher family, and Lyman Beecher, a prominent
minister, raised his children to stand firm in their convictions because it was
essential for eternal salvation.
d.
Beecher was the president of Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, where
Harriet attended when she started to speak in antislavery debates.
e.
She crossed the border of Ohio into the slave state of Kentucky in 1833 and
stayed at the Marshall Key House, where she experienced the horrors of slavery
firsthand for the first time.
f.
Transition Sentence: Her ethical dilemma at this point was based on the idea that
all men were made in the image of God, which meant that slavery was unjust and
immoral.
III.
Supporting Paragraph 2: Stowe’s views on slavery
a.
Topic Sentence: While Stowe was notably religious and viewed slavery as a sin, it
can be argued that she attributed the treatment of slaves as immoral and not the
institution.
b.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
was a result of Stowe’s experience of the treatment of slaves.
c.
She disagreed with the idea that slaves could be sold and ripped away from their
families to satisfy a debt, an economic need, or simply because a master “needed”
a new slave.
d.
For example, Mr. Shelby sold Tom and Eliza’s son Harry to satisfy a debt with
Mr. Haley.
e.
When Eliza overhears that young Harry has been sold, “the young woman,
excited by overhearing, or having reported to her, something of this business, has
taken her child in the night, and made off” (
UTC
54).
f.
When slaves escaped, like Eliza and Harry, the Fugitive Slave Act caused
Northerner antislavery and abolitionists to return them to their rightful owners.
g.
IV.
Supporting Paragraph 3: Joswick refutes that Stowe was as genuine as she was made
out to be. (summary)
a.
Topic sentence:
V.
Supporting Paragraph 4: Life events of Stowe that inspired UTC
a.
Topic Sentence:
VI.
Supporting Paragraph 5: Disconnect between slavery and Christianity (Evans
paraphrase)
a.
Topic Sentence:
VII.
Supporting Paragraph 6: Legitimate Christian faith in Tom (quotations from the book)
a.
Topic Sentence:
VIII.
Supporting Paragraph 7: Complex Views of St. Clare and Mr. Shelby (Citations from
the book)
a.
Topic Sentence:
IX.
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