In Everybody’s Protest Novel, James Baldwin criticized Stowe’s
writing as a bad writing. The main reason is that Stowe depicted the White as
good and the Black as evil. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Eva is described as a perfect
and unimpeachable Christian child and Topsy is described as uncivilized child
whom Miss Ophelia couldn’t reform.
When Eva persuades
Topsy to be a good child and cries for her, Stowe shows her racism in her
passage: “Yes, in that moment, a ray of real belief, a ray of heavenly love,
had penetrated the darkness of her heathen soul! She laid her head down between
her knees, and wept and sobbed, - while the beautiful child, bending over her,
looked like the picture of some bright angel stooping to reclaim a sinner”
(p258). This passage specifically shows Stowe’s mindset the White (Eva) is
beautiful, Christ-like, and perfect child whereas the Black(Topsy) is heathen,
sinful, and uncivilized.
This passage supports Baldwin’s critique on Stowe’s writing
that Stowe shows her racism throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe depicts the White
characters as civilized and the Black characters as uncivilized and need to be
civilized and Christianized. Baldwin
would point out this passage and argue that this passage proves Stowe’s implied
racism in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Even though Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a great book and brings
great impact on end of slavery, I could see Baldwin’s argument that Stowe’s way
of description on Black slaves and racism found in the writing somewhat degrades her work.
I completely agree with the points that you made regarding Stowe's emphasis on the black slave's need for spiritual salvation being a display of her own racism. At first, when I read the passage that you referred to, I felt that Stowe was merely pushing her religious beliefs throughout the novel. However, as I read further into the novel, I found that the depiction of black slaves as heathen and whites as good is a consistent trait in her writing. Very rarely do we see her refer to whites as needing salvation, even though most would say that the point of her writing is to show the evil of slaveowners and the idea of slavery. For these reasons, I also believe that Stowe's writing, even if not intended to be, promotes racism even though this was the problem she was addressing. I too strongly agree with Baldwin when he says that this implicit racism discredits her writing.
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