Race and the American Novel Project Part II: Synthesis

One of the more interesting things that I think parallels the multiple discussions, readings, blog posts, and other activities that have taken place throughout the course of the semester is how views of African Americans have changed throughout the years, even in regards to those who have historically supported them. From Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to Beloved, to the blog posts, to the class discussions, and eventually to the contemporary racial issues of today, views on African Americans have changed significantly over the years.

In regards to Beecher Stowe, her view of blacks seems to be very one dimensional and, although sympathetic towards them, rather stereotypical. She paints the African American characters in her stories as having one personality trait and not being complex. Tom is a loving grandfather figure, Chole is a happy grandmother figure, Eliza a brave mother, Geroge a strong and intellectual father and husband, Cassy a hardened worker, etc. While none of these traits are necessarily bad, many of them are simply not complex, and they seem to be there to fulfill one specific role in the story. I also feel this has to do with the writing style of Beecher Stowe’s day, but this nonetheless translates to her African American characters. An example of this is one of the first descriptions given of Uncle Tom mentions his piety. “Uncle Tom was a sort of patriarch in religious matters, in the neighborhood….it was at prayer that he especially excelled,” (Stowe, 27).

In the novel Beloved, the characters are given much more depth, complexity, and they are much more flawed. Again, this could be a product of the time as this type of writing has become more popular, but even several short decades ago, one would assume that African Americans were not always written this way. I also feel this is also because Morrison is an African American woman, and therefore has a better grasp on what it is like than Stowe. I feel that, like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the way that the characters are introduced gives us a lot of details about them. A flaw in Sethe’s character is evident within the first few pages of the novel, “Counting on the stillness in her soul, she had forgotten the other one: the soul of her baby girl,” (Morrison, 5). Every character in the novel is flawed in some way, some more than others, but none are the picture perfect example of piety and diligence like the African American characters in Stowe’s novel. All of Morrison’s characters are complex and have more than one or two simple attributes to them.

The article that I chose for my commentary section on this project also speaks to this theme. The author herself is an African American, like Morrison, and she identifies with the struggles that they went through, and she herself says that she still feels the scars of slavery. “That is, I am always reminded of that historical period where I am referred to as ‘black,’ or ‘African American’; these identities, labels, are a manifest struggle to name the curious result of slavery in this country,” (Gourdine, 18).

Through our discussions and blog posts, it is evident that views towards African Americans have changed since the time of Stowe. I think that our discussions and the various ways that we talked the characters in Stowe and Morrison’s novel demonstrate that everyone in the class has a positive view of African Americans, and expresses pity at their plight depicted in the novel. But more than this, the students saw them not only as objects of pity but also as complex characters that represented more than just themselves. This was evident in our discussion of Stowe’s novel when we talked about the character attributes of some of the major characters and “peeled back the layers” so to speak to reveal more than just what was written there. I also found the blog posts often dove into the complex issues surrounding slavery and showed that people really thought about what they were posting, it was not just an expression of pity but also an attempt to understand all the issues in regards to the culture of slavery in the south.

The current issues of the day, such as the riots in Baltimore and other places over the past year, as well as the increasing sensitivity worldwide to racial issues clearly shows that people’s attitudes have changed. Many now are becoming more and more aware of racial issues that are prevalent today, and people are doing more and more to stop it and raise awareness of it. An example of this that appears in the article that I used in my post on contemporary issues is about a top high school football player who uncommitted to Oklahoma University following the racist comments of the fraternity. “One of the nation’s most sought-after high school football players, Jean Delance of Mesquite, Tex., who is black, withdrew his commitment to play for Oklahoma, citing the videos,” (Fernandez, Perez-Pena).

I hope that it is clear that since the times of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the public’s views of African Americans has changed. They have gone from being feared, stereotyped, or pitied to being accepted into society, befriended, and defended when attacked racially. The struggle of African Americans is not fully over, and they have many obstacles to overcome, but they have certainly come a long way since the days of before the Civil War. Theirs is a story of struggle, sacrifice, hardship, and perseverance, and I hope that we all take the time to appreciate the fact that they have contributed so much to this nation and that we can learn so much from them.

Works Cited:

Fernandez, Manny, & Perez-Pena, Richard. “As Two Oklahoma Students Are Expelled for Racist Chant, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Vows Wider Inquiry”. nytimes. The New York Times Company. 10 Mar. 2015. Web. May 14 2015.

Gourdine, Angeletta KM. “Hearing Reading and Being ‘Read’ by Beloved”. NWSA Journal. Vol. 10. No. 2. (Summer 1998): pp. 13-31. JSTOR. Web. 14 May 2015.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Random House, Inc., 1987. Print.

Stowe, Harriet beecher, and Elizabeth Ammons. Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.