Race and the American Novel: Uncle Tom's Cabin Critical Commentary

In James Baldwin’s article titled “Everybody’s Protest Novel”, he brings up many points to support his opinion that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is not as good of a novel as it has been historically known to be. One of his more interesting criticisms is that the characters of Eliza and George are essentially white in every way except for the fact that Stowe tells us they are black. He brings up that Uncle Tom, however, is much darker skinned, and because of this, Uncle Tom’s only path to salvation is through enduring his life until he dies and may enter into heaven. Because George and Eliza are lighter than Tom, they are able to gain their freedom while on Earth. He portrays this point most directly when he writes, “Black equates with evil and white with grace...” (535). He believes that this issue, including Stowe’s poor writing in general, is not discussed because the novel is fighting for a good cause, and therefore criticism of it would be a criticism of progress.

There was a lot to process in this reading. Though it was hard to see his point at all times, I believe that in general this added to our understanding of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by offering opinions that were never expressed by anyone in our class. His opinions certainly help you to reexamine the novel. It is interesting to wrap your head around an entirely different perspective of the book and then see how you interpret it. Because of that change in thought, we have even more to chew on than just the popular opinion. I don’t believe anyone ever tried to make the case that Uncle Tom had the fate he did simply because his skin was darker than that of other slaves, therefore, I never considered it. This article forced me, and likely others, to look at the book with a more critical eye. It is important to take in everything you read with a dose of skepticism.

It is interesting to consider the different skin tones of Eliza and George compared to Uncle Tom and their different fates. I have a difficult time believing that if Eliza and George had had very dark skin, Stowe would not have had them escape from the South. The shade of their skin seemed to have little influence on their outcome, in my opinion. I cannot say that I disagree with Baldwin’s point entirely, however. It is certainly true that the slaves with lighter skin had a better fate, but it doesn’t matter how dark they are to any of the slave owners. All that matters is that they have any dark coloring, because that’s enough to make them a slave. Regardless of skin tone, I believe that these three characters made the decisions that they did because of who they were and what they believed in.