For Jane Tompkins' argument about UTC

For me, I prefer Jane Tompkins’ argument. I think “male-dominated scholarly tradition” is one of the vital topics in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, while the immorality and evil of slavery is another important theme. When reading the book, I find that Harriet Beecher Stowe tends to describe more about the female characters, it seems that she tried to emphasize the immorality and power of female. The main female characters she described are mostly kind and holy. For example, there is a character named Eliza who is a slave and escapes to the North with her five-year-old son Harry, and finally get reunite with her family. Besides, there is also an important female character named Eva who is a holy Christian and she is really nice to the slaves, especially Tom.

The passage I found is in Chapter XXVI, which is the part that Eva died. In the passage, Eva asked Miss Ophelia to cut some of her hair to give to all the slaves, and she even gave a “speech” to the slaves before she died, telling them to be good Christians so that they can meet each other in the heaven. It seems that Eva is willing to bless everyone, regardless of position and class. This part impressed me a lot. I think this passage is emblematic of what Tompkins meant. Since, the description of Eva in this part perfectly implies the kindness, holiness and the moral integrity of this female character.

I think both the claims of two critics are helpful for me to understand the novel deeper. Since these claims indicate different points of the novel which are good aspects for me to think about. I think it possible to believe in the two responses even they are different. The novel is truly sentimentalism, but we can also think about the literature environment at that time. As is known that this kind style of novel was popular in 19^th century, since it can make audience feel sympathy and get moved.