For my digital extension project, I did my best to use the limited images, text styles, and backgrounds that PowToon provided for me to portray a serious sad book like Uncle Tom's Cabin.
For the background, I went with the parchment-like brownish paper. I thought it would be authentic to the time period, since in the 1800s, people used thick parchment like paper to write letters and literature.They did not use the thinner notebook paper that most people use today.
For the first slide, I thought it would be appropriate to include a quote that Emily Shelby, the wife of old Master Shelby, of what she truly thought of slavery. She was one of the many Southerners who tried to sugarcoat slavery into something that is wonderful. But she realized that you can not take a terrible thing and twist the image to make it more positive. Slavery is wrong, no matter how well you treat your slaves.
The words that I used in my digital extension project were basically that slavery brought in the cash for the masters and sorrows for the slaves, but then I mentioned one of the important themes of the book: love overpowering hate. In the last slide, I mentioned that reading the book will make people think of things they never thought of before.
As for clip art images, I used a man and a woman looking sad in the 3rd slide and money like images to represent profits in the 4th slide. For the 5th slide, I used sad black figures with a blue cloud above them and a lock beneath them to portray their sorrow and how trapped they are in the slavery system. The 6th slide has happy black figures with a heart above them to represent the love theme. Lastly, for the 7th and final slide, I used a thoughtful looking man and woman image to show viewers that reading Uncle Tom's Cabin will leave them thinking.
As for the music, I used a song called Silent Tears by Roger Subirana Mata from Jamendo. The song has a sad, harmonizing melody to it, with vocals and drums. It sort of reminded me how African American slaves used their own voices and drums to sing songs about their pain and their wishes to be free.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Most Significant Content
"It was on his grave, my friends, that I resolved, before God, that I would never own another slave, while it was possible to free him; that nobody, through me, should ever run the risk of being parted from home and friends, and dying on a lonely plantation, as he died. So, when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and pay it back with kindness to his wife and children. Think of your freedom every time you see UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; and let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was." (Chapter 44, 467)
I felt like this passage was a heart touching climax to the story and showed a symbolic theme. In this book, there are two worlds melted into one. The world of the slaves and the world of their masters. In the slaves point of view, you see them struggling to be people when most of society treats them as if they were not. As for their masters, there are some who lack empathy and are cruel like Marie St. Clare and Simon Legree, but there are others that are kind and do have empathy like George Shelby and Augustine St. Clare. Even though there is plenty of sorrows, there is also the message of how love can over power hate. Yes, Uncle Tom died a violent death, but his deep Christian love for his friends and enemies was so touching and inspiring to many people that it made George Shelby, the son of Tom's first master, motivated to change. Dear old Uncle Tom was still be remembered for who he was and what he died for, in the name of the Lord and his love.
So it was on his dear friend's grave that George vowed to never own another slave again. He freed them all and would start paying them for their work as well as help them become freedmen. This passage made me feel satisfied. There was quite a lot of pain and suffering going on in the book, and for someone, who is a Southerner, to finally see the true error of slavery and actually acted upon his conscience, made me feel like goodness has won in a sense. The passage also reminded me that even though hate can feel very strong at times, love can be more powerful and live on even after death. Love never dies after all.
I felt like this passage was a heart touching climax to the story and showed a symbolic theme. In this book, there are two worlds melted into one. The world of the slaves and the world of their masters. In the slaves point of view, you see them struggling to be people when most of society treats them as if they were not. As for their masters, there are some who lack empathy and are cruel like Marie St. Clare and Simon Legree, but there are others that are kind and do have empathy like George Shelby and Augustine St. Clare. Even though there is plenty of sorrows, there is also the message of how love can over power hate. Yes, Uncle Tom died a violent death, but his deep Christian love for his friends and enemies was so touching and inspiring to many people that it made George Shelby, the son of Tom's first master, motivated to change. Dear old Uncle Tom was still be remembered for who he was and what he died for, in the name of the Lord and his love.
So it was on his dear friend's grave that George vowed to never own another slave again. He freed them all and would start paying them for their work as well as help them become freedmen. This passage made me feel satisfied. There was quite a lot of pain and suffering going on in the book, and for someone, who is a Southerner, to finally see the true error of slavery and actually acted upon his conscience, made me feel like goodness has won in a sense. The passage also reminded me that even though hate can feel very strong at times, love can be more powerful and live on even after death. Love never dies after all.
Author's Style Analysis
"If it were your Harry, mother, or you Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, to-morrow morning,-if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve o'clock till morning to make good your escape,-how fast could you walk? How many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling at your bosom,-the little sleepy head on your shoulder,-the small, soft arms trustingly holding on to your neck?" (Chapter 7, 61-62)
I feel like Harriet Beecher Stowe's style in Uncle Tom's Cabin has deep pathos in it and is directed right at the readers. As I am reading the story, I feel like she is talking to me, towards the readers, as she asked questions like that in the excerpt above and used pronouns "we"and "our" as she is transitioning to another place or point in the novel. I think the reason for her writing this way is that she was trying to make us see her point of view and her morals and beliefs. This book is an anti-slavery novel after all. Practically, ninety-five percent of the novel is directed towards the heart, to stir up emotions and make the readers feel empathy towards the slaves; that was Stowe's goal. There are slaves that are treated like vermin, like cattle, so they are abused by cruel masters. Families are separated; some run away to freedom to avoid that fate or others do not see their loved ones ever again. Stowe's asks us to imagine how would we feel seeing our parents, our siblings, our children, or our friends being sold away in chains around their wrists and ankles, to never see them, talk to them, or hug them ever again. For me, I would be devastated to be in that position and see my dad or my brother taken away from me like that.
Stowe was very descriptive in the details of slave life and the various emotions that the slaves had as they go through the harsh slavery life. Her style of using pathos and using the narrative method of talking to the readers, she was able to get her anti-slavery belief across.
I feel like Harriet Beecher Stowe's style in Uncle Tom's Cabin has deep pathos in it and is directed right at the readers. As I am reading the story, I feel like she is talking to me, towards the readers, as she asked questions like that in the excerpt above and used pronouns "we"and "our" as she is transitioning to another place or point in the novel. I think the reason for her writing this way is that she was trying to make us see her point of view and her morals and beliefs. This book is an anti-slavery novel after all. Practically, ninety-five percent of the novel is directed towards the heart, to stir up emotions and make the readers feel empathy towards the slaves; that was Stowe's goal. There are slaves that are treated like vermin, like cattle, so they are abused by cruel masters. Families are separated; some run away to freedom to avoid that fate or others do not see their loved ones ever again. Stowe's asks us to imagine how would we feel seeing our parents, our siblings, our children, or our friends being sold away in chains around their wrists and ankles, to never see them, talk to them, or hug them ever again. For me, I would be devastated to be in that position and see my dad or my brother taken away from me like that.
Stowe was very descriptive in the details of slave life and the various emotions that the slaves had as they go through the harsh slavery life. Her style of using pathos and using the narrative method of talking to the readers, she was able to get her anti-slavery belief across.
Personal Response 3
A Hateful Concept:
It can be easy to hate someone or something, but then in the end, the hate does not make you feel very good does it? There were a couple of racist, hateful people in the book that I just could not comprehend fully of their thinking process or the hate that they feel towards African-American slaves. For instance, there is Marie St. Clare, who grew up her whole life in a rich Southern family and was brought up among slaves. She is described as uncaring, selfish, and someone who has no empathy at all towards black people. Marie only cares about her self and her "ailments". Marie even said so herself that she thought of slaves as "provoking, stupid, careless, unreasonable, childish, ungrateful set of wretches they are" (191). Marie does not believe one bit that black people are equal to white people at all and even though she goes to church on a regular Sunday basis, she does not think that "the Lord made them of one blood" (191) to white people. "A pretty story, truly!" she says, "They are a degraded race" (191). There is also Uncle Tom's third master, Simon Legree, who is by far the most evil, ruthless, and hateful man I ever met in literature. His whole manner and disgust towards black slaves and their "Methodist ways" was truly despicable! It is apparent that he is an atheist: "Humph! pious, to be sure'...'Well, I'll soon have that out of you. I have none o' yer bawling, praying, singing niggers on my place; so remember...I'm your church now! You understand,-you've got to be as I say'" (362). This clashes with Tom who is a devoted Christian, which makes Legree furious and hates him for that. Legree beaten Tom when he refused to obey his order of whipping another slave. He says, "... did n't you never hear, out of yer Bible, 'Servants, obey your master'? An't I your master? Did n't I pay down twelve hundred dollars, cash, for all there is inside yer old cussed black shell? An't yer mine, now, body, and soul?" (382). Tom simply replies that is own soul is belongs to himself and that will never change. This angered Legree more and he continued to beat Tom until he was black and blue all over. He was so determined to break his slave, but Tom, even to his deathbed, was always unbreakable because he had so much love for his friends and enemies and faith for the Almighty God.
As of now, I am shaking my head as I am trying to wrap my mind around their blinding hate towards slaves, and I do not think I will ever understand it. They are so desensitized from it all; they have been raised to think that black people are only property and that they should be treated cruelly all the time. They think along the line that they are not actual people who can feel emotion. How dare they think that! It is apparent in slave auctions as families are torn apart that they can feel emotion. It is like they refuse to understand that black people are really not that different from white people. They are all still human, regardless of skin color or class system.
It is a shame that Marie and Legree have so much hate in their heart. It blinds them from what is morally right and wrong. From where I am standing, it is easy to hate people like that and be disgusted by their way of thinking. But in another sense, I fell pity for them, for never knowing what it is like to feel pure love and have it come from the heart.
It can be easy to hate someone or something, but then in the end, the hate does not make you feel very good does it? There were a couple of racist, hateful people in the book that I just could not comprehend fully of their thinking process or the hate that they feel towards African-American slaves. For instance, there is Marie St. Clare, who grew up her whole life in a rich Southern family and was brought up among slaves. She is described as uncaring, selfish, and someone who has no empathy at all towards black people. Marie only cares about her self and her "ailments". Marie even said so herself that she thought of slaves as "provoking, stupid, careless, unreasonable, childish, ungrateful set of wretches they are" (191). Marie does not believe one bit that black people are equal to white people at all and even though she goes to church on a regular Sunday basis, she does not think that "the Lord made them of one blood" (191) to white people. "A pretty story, truly!" she says, "They are a degraded race" (191). There is also Uncle Tom's third master, Simon Legree, who is by far the most evil, ruthless, and hateful man I ever met in literature. His whole manner and disgust towards black slaves and their "Methodist ways" was truly despicable! It is apparent that he is an atheist: "Humph! pious, to be sure'...'Well, I'll soon have that out of you. I have none o' yer bawling, praying, singing niggers on my place; so remember...I'm your church now! You understand,-you've got to be as I say'" (362). This clashes with Tom who is a devoted Christian, which makes Legree furious and hates him for that. Legree beaten Tom when he refused to obey his order of whipping another slave. He says, "... did n't you never hear, out of yer Bible, 'Servants, obey your master'? An't I your master? Did n't I pay down twelve hundred dollars, cash, for all there is inside yer old cussed black shell? An't yer mine, now, body, and soul?" (382). Tom simply replies that is own soul is belongs to himself and that will never change. This angered Legree more and he continued to beat Tom until he was black and blue all over. He was so determined to break his slave, but Tom, even to his deathbed, was always unbreakable because he had so much love for his friends and enemies and faith for the Almighty God.
As of now, I am shaking my head as I am trying to wrap my mind around their blinding hate towards slaves, and I do not think I will ever understand it. They are so desensitized from it all; they have been raised to think that black people are only property and that they should be treated cruelly all the time. They think along the line that they are not actual people who can feel emotion. How dare they think that! It is apparent in slave auctions as families are torn apart that they can feel emotion. It is like they refuse to understand that black people are really not that different from white people. They are all still human, regardless of skin color or class system.
It is a shame that Marie and Legree have so much hate in their heart. It blinds them from what is morally right and wrong. From where I am standing, it is easy to hate people like that and be disgusted by their way of thinking. But in another sense, I fell pity for them, for never knowing what it is like to feel pure love and have it come from the heart.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Personal Response 2
A Pure Heart:
I never thought there was such a thing as a pure heart. I always thought that someone who is of pure heart is someone who is one hundred percent good and innocent and has no drop of evil in its soul. How can that be possible though? Little children always start out innocent, but because of possibly negative outside influences, like bad family and friends, and their living environment, their innocence is stripped away and they could be bitter and mean as adults. I always had the assumption that everyone has goodness and badness inside. It must be hard to stay good all the time because we all make mistakes and hating someone or something is easy to do.
But then a special little girl named Evangeline ("Eva" for short), daughter of a Southern family of Augustine and Marie St. Clare, made me rethink of the possibility of someone having a pure heart. When Evangeline was first introduced into the story, she was a young child that was described as "the perfection of childish beauty", "an undulating and aerial grace, such as one might dream of some mythic and allegorical being" and she had "long golden-brown hair that floated like a cloud around it", and her "violet blue eyes" held "spiritual gravity" (161). Eva is often described as a loving, kind, and an innocent angel in the eyes of her father, her servants, her relatives, and her dear friend Uncle Tom, who loved her as "something frail and earthy, yet almost worshipped her as something heavenly and divine" (280). Her racist mother thought Eva was "a strange child" (187) and did not understand how her daughter can "put herself on an equality with every creature that comes near her" (189).
Eva had so much love in her heart and she loved and treated her family slaves as equals. Even though she was surrounded by slaves and heard how they suffered, the sorrows of her friends does not make her grow hateful at all. Instead, she gets sad and wishes that she had lots of money so that she could free all the slaves and teach them to read and write.
Her divine love even touched the hearts of those that had hate or prejudice in their souls and changed them for the better. Miss Ophelia, Augustine's cousin, came from the north to help take care of his household. Even though she is against slavery, she had a personal prejudice against African-Americans. Augustine commented that her kind of people "loathe them as you would a snake or a toad, yet you are indignant at their wrongs" (195). To teach his cousin a lesson about slaves, Augustine bought a little slave girl named Topsy, who too had hate in her heart and knew nothing else, for Miss Ophelia to teach and educate. Topsy was a very mischievous little girl and thought she was "the wickedest crittur in the world" (271). She never knew love: "There can't nobody love niggers" (304) she says. But then Eva showed her the love she never knew before: "Oh, Topsy, poor child, I love you!...I love you, because you have n't had any father, or mother, or friends;-because you 've been a poor, abused child! I love you, and I want you to be good" (304). Eva's kind and loving words were like "a ray of heavenly love, [that] penetrated the darkness of her [Topsy's] heathen soul!" (304). Topsy was so touched that she sobbed and vowed to do good. This pure act of kindness even touched the heart of Miss Ophelia who said, "I wish I were like her. She might teach me a lesson" (305).
This fictional character touched my heart too. I even cried when she died. Evangeline teaches readers a very important lesson of love and acceptance of all people regardless of race and color. I admire her for that quality.
I never thought there was such a thing as a pure heart. I always thought that someone who is of pure heart is someone who is one hundred percent good and innocent and has no drop of evil in its soul. How can that be possible though? Little children always start out innocent, but because of possibly negative outside influences, like bad family and friends, and their living environment, their innocence is stripped away and they could be bitter and mean as adults. I always had the assumption that everyone has goodness and badness inside. It must be hard to stay good all the time because we all make mistakes and hating someone or something is easy to do.
But then a special little girl named Evangeline ("Eva" for short), daughter of a Southern family of Augustine and Marie St. Clare, made me rethink of the possibility of someone having a pure heart. When Evangeline was first introduced into the story, she was a young child that was described as "the perfection of childish beauty", "an undulating and aerial grace, such as one might dream of some mythic and allegorical being" and she had "long golden-brown hair that floated like a cloud around it", and her "violet blue eyes" held "spiritual gravity" (161). Eva is often described as a loving, kind, and an innocent angel in the eyes of her father, her servants, her relatives, and her dear friend Uncle Tom, who loved her as "something frail and earthy, yet almost worshipped her as something heavenly and divine" (280). Her racist mother thought Eva was "a strange child" (187) and did not understand how her daughter can "put herself on an equality with every creature that comes near her" (189).
Eva had so much love in her heart and she loved and treated her family slaves as equals. Even though she was surrounded by slaves and heard how they suffered, the sorrows of her friends does not make her grow hateful at all. Instead, she gets sad and wishes that she had lots of money so that she could free all the slaves and teach them to read and write.
Her divine love even touched the hearts of those that had hate or prejudice in their souls and changed them for the better. Miss Ophelia, Augustine's cousin, came from the north to help take care of his household. Even though she is against slavery, she had a personal prejudice against African-Americans. Augustine commented that her kind of people "loathe them as you would a snake or a toad, yet you are indignant at their wrongs" (195). To teach his cousin a lesson about slaves, Augustine bought a little slave girl named Topsy, who too had hate in her heart and knew nothing else, for Miss Ophelia to teach and educate. Topsy was a very mischievous little girl and thought she was "the wickedest crittur in the world" (271). She never knew love: "There can't nobody love niggers" (304) she says. But then Eva showed her the love she never knew before: "Oh, Topsy, poor child, I love you!...I love you, because you have n't had any father, or mother, or friends;-because you 've been a poor, abused child! I love you, and I want you to be good" (304). Eva's kind and loving words were like "a ray of heavenly love, [that] penetrated the darkness of her [Topsy's] heathen soul!" (304). Topsy was so touched that she sobbed and vowed to do good. This pure act of kindness even touched the heart of Miss Ophelia who said, "I wish I were like her. She might teach me a lesson" (305).
This fictional character touched my heart too. I even cried when she died. Evangeline teaches readers a very important lesson of love and acceptance of all people regardless of race and color. I admire her for that quality.
Personal Response 1
General Opinion of the Book:
One day, as I was casually looking through Mr. Mitchell's book shelf, searching for a book for an independent reading assignment that would perk my interest, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe caught my eyes. Even though it was not on the independent reading novel list, Mr. Mitchell gave me the go ahead to read it and do an independent assignment project on it.
I was very excited to read it at first. Of course, I have heard of this antislavery novel in history classes and how it was the book that "help start the Civil War", but I never read it before and I am glad that I finally read this historically famous piece of literature.
Uncle Tom's Cabin has so far been one of the best books I have ever read; it is now one of my favorites that I plan to get a copy of my own. Even though the text was pretty small and there were some long sentences, it did not sway me from wanting to give up reading the story. I was pulled into the story line, the characters, the plot, and the symbolic messages that left me both profound and thoughtful and, in a couple of incidences, in tears bawling my eyes out. Yes, it was a sad book, but sometimes, the books that make us the most sad, tend to be the most meaningful. And there were some happy moments too, to balance out the miseries and the dreadful life of slavery. Families were reunited after so many years of separation due to the slave system and families that ran away made it to freedom in Canada. I could not help but sigh with relief when George Harris, and his wife Eliza and son Harry made it to Canada to pursue the life of freedom and to be someone.
There were characters that I fell in love with, such as Uncle Tom himself. He was a slave who was the most faithful and loyal servant and Christian, who even though was separated from his family and suffered unspeakable cruelty from his third master, he never let hate penetrate his heart and it was his love and his preachings of the Lord that kept him strong and whole. And there was little Eva, the daughter of Tom's second master. Even though she was brought up where slavery was considered right, she thought it was wrong. She had the purest heart who loved her servants dearly and wanted them to be freed. Her love and innocence affected everyone around her and left a profound mark even after her passing.
This book really got down to the horrors of slavery and how morally wrong it was, and that is another reason why I love the book so much and why I think it should be in our English curriculum. This subject is one of the things I am passionate about. I think people wonder as they learn about African-American slavery and the Civil War era, what was it like to be a slave. Uncle Tom's Cabin can answer that question. It is a heart-wrenching book, but I think Stowe did a fantastic job.
One day, as I was casually looking through Mr. Mitchell's book shelf, searching for a book for an independent reading assignment that would perk my interest, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe caught my eyes. Even though it was not on the independent reading novel list, Mr. Mitchell gave me the go ahead to read it and do an independent assignment project on it.
I was very excited to read it at first. Of course, I have heard of this antislavery novel in history classes and how it was the book that "help start the Civil War", but I never read it before and I am glad that I finally read this historically famous piece of literature.
Uncle Tom's Cabin has so far been one of the best books I have ever read; it is now one of my favorites that I plan to get a copy of my own. Even though the text was pretty small and there were some long sentences, it did not sway me from wanting to give up reading the story. I was pulled into the story line, the characters, the plot, and the symbolic messages that left me both profound and thoughtful and, in a couple of incidences, in tears bawling my eyes out. Yes, it was a sad book, but sometimes, the books that make us the most sad, tend to be the most meaningful. And there were some happy moments too, to balance out the miseries and the dreadful life of slavery. Families were reunited after so many years of separation due to the slave system and families that ran away made it to freedom in Canada. I could not help but sigh with relief when George Harris, and his wife Eliza and son Harry made it to Canada to pursue the life of freedom and to be someone.
There were characters that I fell in love with, such as Uncle Tom himself. He was a slave who was the most faithful and loyal servant and Christian, who even though was separated from his family and suffered unspeakable cruelty from his third master, he never let hate penetrate his heart and it was his love and his preachings of the Lord that kept him strong and whole. And there was little Eva, the daughter of Tom's second master. Even though she was brought up where slavery was considered right, she thought it was wrong. She had the purest heart who loved her servants dearly and wanted them to be freed. Her love and innocence affected everyone around her and left a profound mark even after her passing.
This book really got down to the horrors of slavery and how morally wrong it was, and that is another reason why I love the book so much and why I think it should be in our English curriculum. This subject is one of the things I am passionate about. I think people wonder as they learn about African-American slavery and the Civil War era, what was it like to be a slave. Uncle Tom's Cabin can answer that question. It is a heart-wrenching book, but I think Stowe did a fantastic job.
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