The Institution of Slavery and Womanhood in Uncle Tom’s Cabin

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Stowe depicts women as courageous, moral, and trustworthy. Eliza acts as a true heroine
when she saves her son from slavery. Her mistress wanted to take her son away, something that
she could not allow. She decides to run away and save her son. She writes a letter stating her
intentions to go away. She writes that she is “going to try and save her boy” (Stowe 47). Eliza
fights selflessly for her son. She wants to have the opportunity to enjoy motherhood. She is
determined to ensure that this happens, and not even her role as a slave will deny her that
opportunity. Her escape is not an easy one, and she gets help from other women.
Women take on their power to fight slavery. Mrs. Shelby and Mrs. Bird assist Eliza in in
escaping with her son. Mrs. Shelby intentionally delays the mission of Haley’s search team. She
even invites Haley for lunch as he waits for the horses o be ready. This was a skillful act. Aunt
Choe also supports their mission. She takes quite a long time to get lunch ready. The aim of the
two women is to delay the search team as long as possible to give Eliza and her son time to find
a safe haven.
The men do not seem to support women in their anti-slavery fight. Senator Bird votes to
pass a law that intends to make it illegal for anyone to aid in the running away of slaves. Mrs.
Bird is the complete opposite of her husband. When she realizes that her husband had cast his
vote in support of the act, she gets angry, and this can be seen in her remarks. She tells him, “you
ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, useless creatures! It’s a shameful, wicked,
abominable law, and I’ll break it, for one thing, the first time I get a chance; and hope I shall
have a chance, I do!” (Stowe 68). Through these women, the reader realizes that the men in the
novel were not supportive of their women’s mission.
Both Mrs. Shelby and Mrs. Bird help Eliza and her son escape. Their concerted efforts
bear fruits. Eliza would not have made it on her own. She needed the support of these women to

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successfully rescue her son from her mistress, who wanted to take him away from her. The
mistress felt that since Eliza was a slave, she did not own anything, including her son. Eliza tells
Mrs. Bird, “they were going to take him away from [her], – to sell him, – sell him down south,
ma’am, to go all alone – a baby that had never been away from his mother in his life!” (Stowe
104). These words show a mother in distress. She manages to convince the two women to help
her save her only son. Her loss of children comes up in their conversation, and she asks, “have
you ever lost a child” (Stowe 104). Here Eliza appeals to the reader’s emotions. She knows that
pain and wants the reader to share in her agony. She is a mother in distress who is determined to
help her son escape to freedom.
Through Eliza’s treatment by her mistress, the gothic elements of oppression and
inequality are evident. Eliza is an innocent victim of her mistress’s cruelty. She is depicted as a
“tamed heroine” who realizes that she has the powers to save herself. Stowe intertwines gothic
elements and the themes of slavery and oppression as experienced in American society in the 19 th
century. Eliza will do anything to help save her only surviving son. She had already miscarried
twice. The death of her two children made her hold her only son more dearly, and she was
determined to do anything in her powers to save her. Through her, the gothic element of death is
introduced in the story.
Death pushes the characters out of their comfort zones. The death of Eliza’s two children
turns her into a heroine. She knows very well how it feels to lose a child and will not sit and
watch as her only son is taken away from her. Death is also common in her society. This is
evident when the trader is not shocked by the death. The author writes, “Even the awful presence
of Death struck no solemn chill upon him. He had seen Death many times—met him in the way

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of trade, and got acquainted with him” (Stowe 100). Thus, the slaves and people in the society
were used to seeing people die.
Overall, women in Uncle Tom’s Cabin are plagued by the effects of slavery which are
even compounded by the fact that they live in a patriarchal society. Masters trade slaves and
separate them from their families. The institution of slavery has disruptive effects on families.
This is clear through Eliza’s experiences. She decides to run away to save her son, who is on the
verge of being sold by her masters. The women in the novel join hands and support one another.
Eliza manages to run away through the support of Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Shelby. However, the men
make efforts towards supporting slavery. This is evident when Mr. Bird votes in favor of a law
intended to stop slaves from running away. The author manages to seamlessly intertwine
elements of gothic literature in the story. This helps the author demonstrate the devastating
effects of slavery on the women in the story. The death of Eliza’s two children propels her to
fight more fiercely against slavery.

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Work Cited

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin: 1852. Tauchnitz, 1852.