A cabana do Pai Tomás, apresenta, de forma romanceada, o conflito vivido entre os escravos norte-americanos e os ricos proprietários de terras no sul dos Estados Unidos, mostrando quão infame era a
escravidão. A cabana do Pai Tomás é uma história de fé, coragem, determinação, perseverança e luta pela
liberdade.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, que conheceu de perto a realidade do cenário que narra, passa ao leitor um sentimento de revolta e indignação ao apresentar detalhadamente o comércio "legal" de seres humanos e a forma brutal e selvagem com que os senhores tratavam os negros a fim de obterem mais lucros em suas propriedades. Este registo literário contribuiu intensamente para a abolição da escravatura. Basta observar que, dois anos depois de seu lançamento, surge o
Partido Republicano, que abraçou a causa abolicionista. A autora chegou até mesmo a merecer do presidente norte-americano,
Abraham Lincoln, esta consideração: "Foi a senhora que, com seu livro, causou essa grande guerra" (a guerra entre os estados). Clássico da literatura mundial que merece ser conhecido por sua contundente denúncia da
escravatura norte-americana.
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-
slavery novel by American author
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the
Civil War", according to Will Kaufman.
Stowe, a
Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Academy and an active
abolitionist, featured the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other characters revolve. The
sentimental novel depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that
Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings.
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century
and the second best-selling book of that century, following the
Bible.
It is credited with helping fuel the
abolitionist cause in the 1850s.
In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States; one million copies were sold in Great Britain.
In 1855, three years after it was published, it was called "the most popular novel of our day."
The impact attributed to the book is great, reinforced by a story that when
Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the
Civil War, Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who started this great war."
The quote is apocryphal; it did not appear in print until 1896, and it has been argued that "The long-term durability of Lincoln's greeting as an anecdote in literary studies and Stowe scholarship can perhaps be explained in part by the desire among many contemporary intellectuals ... to affirm the role of literature as an agent of social change."
The book and the
plays it inspired helped popularize a number of
stereotypes about
black people.
These include the affectionate, dark-skinned "
mammy"; the "
pickaninny" stereotype of black children; and the "
Uncle Tom", or dutiful, long-suffering servant faithful to his white master or mistress. In recent years, the negative associations with
Uncle Tom's Cabin have, to an extent, overshadowed the historical impact of the book as a "vital antislavery tool."
(...)
Uncle Tom's Cabin first appeared as a 40-week serial in
National Era, an abolitionist periodical, starting with the June 5, 1851, issue. Because of the story's popularity, the publisher
John Jewett contacted Stowe about turning the serial into a book. While Stowe questioned if anyone would read
Uncle Tom's Cabin in book form, she eventually consented to the request.
Convinced the book would be popular, Jewett made the unusual decision (for that time) to have six full-page illustrations by
Hammatt Billings engraved for the first printing.
Published in book form on March 20, 1852, the novel soon sold out its complete print run. A number of other editions were soon printed (including a deluxe edition in 1853, featuring 117 illustrations by Billings).
In the first year of publication, 300,000 copies of
Uncle Tom's Cabin were sold. At that point, however, "demand came to an unexpected halt... No more copies were produced for many years, and if, as is claimed,
Abraham Lincoln greeted Stowe in 1862 as 'the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war,' the work had effectively been out of print for many years." Jewett went out of business, and it was not until
Ticknor and Fields put the work back in print in November 1862 that demand began again to increase.
The book was translated into all major languages, and in the United States it became the second best-selling book after the
Bible.
A number of the early editions carried an introduction by
Rev James Sherman, a
Congregational minister in London noted for his abolitionist views.
Uncle Tom's Cabin sold equally well in
Britain, with the first London edition appearing in May 1852 and selling 200,000 copies
. In a few years over 1.5 million copies of the book were in circulation in Britain, although most of these were
pirated copies (a similar situation occurred in the United States).
