Analysis of Baldwin's Critique on Stowe's Writing

In his “Everybody’s Protest Novel” essay, James Baldwin attacks Stowe’s novel claiming the book doesn’t have anything to do with solving the problems of social injustice coupled with the book’s downfalls of sentimentality. Ultimately, Baldwin argues that the novel works to make the reader feel virtuous and gratified for reading it instead of absorbing the harsh realities of slavery and taking action. This false gratification felt within the readers becomes an illusion of participating in the social injustice cause without actually participating in it.

Baldwin suggests the main characters throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin are idealized and separate from the true representations of African Americans. One example of Stowe idealizing the main black characters can be seen when George Harris walks into the tavern. Stowe describes George’s physical presence using glorified diction with:

“He was very tall, with a dark, Spanish complexion, fine, expressive black eyes, and close-curling hair, also of a glossy blackness. His well-formed aquiline nose, straight thin lips, and the admirable contour of his finely-formed limbs, impressed the whole company instantly with the idea of something uncommon.” (97)

Baldwin suggests that Stowe portrays herself as a racist in describing the main characters. As the above quote reveals, Stowe includes phrases like “Spanish complexion” and “glossy blackness” in order for George Harris to appear and act as white as possible in order to be accepted by others. These words completely contradict how black people were described during the time of this novel. Baldwin also outlines Stowe’s racism by pointing out how Stowe relates whites to elegant words like heaven and peace while associating blacks with demoralizing diction such as devil, illiterate and violent. Stowe’s techniques, whether deliberate or not, weakens her credibility as an activist since she is outlining unrealistic and fake characters while remaining hypocritical with the diction she uses to describe whites and blacks.

Ultimately, I support Baldwin’s claims regarding the poor character descriptions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and subtle racism observed throughout the novel. Although Stowe intended for her novel to initiate social reform, I find it extremely difficult for reform to occur when the key black characters are being glorified and described using phrases intended to make the reader perceive them as white. As previously discussed, George and Eliza were two of the three primary black characters, and they were described as having a Spanish complexion (George) and relatives with French gentility (Eliza). Virtuous sentimentality is thus created as the audience is unable to truly identify with the key characters regarding social injustice, and the novel is unable to depict reality.