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.