Race and the American Novel: Uncle Tom's Cabin Background and Context

“A Slave Auction Described by a Slave, 1841” by Solomon Northup details the events of a slave auction. This essay describes how the slaves would be dressed nicely and taught to act intelligently before being paraded before potential buyers. The slaves were then thoroughly inspected by the buyers and bartered for based on their perceived worth. A couple was bought by the same person and were quite happy with their situation, while a mother was separated from her son and couldn’t contain her grief. This contrast shows that when your life is in someone else’s hands, all you can do is hope that you are met with a decent fate because ultimately you have no control over what happens to you. The main point of this text is to show how dehumanizing slavery is.

The inspection of the slaves is depicted by saying “Customers would feel of our hands and arms and bodies… make us open our mouths and show our teeth, precisely as a jockey examines a horse which he is about to barter for or purchase” (Northup, 436). This really emphasizes how dehumanizing the slave trade was. These human beings were viewed as property, no better than a work horse. There was no compassion for their familial bonds and money was of higher importance than they were. It was truly heartbreaking to read about the mother who could not keep her own son in her life, no matter how much she begged.

This text adds to our understanding of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by showing us how truly important the work was at its time. This essay grounds the book in reality by showing that it was accurate in its portrayal of slavery despite being a work of fiction. There are close parallels between the mother in this essay and Eliza in the book. For example, when Eliza first hears that her son might be sold away from her, she has a very protective reaction, “Her heart swelled and throbbed, and she involuntarily strained [her son] so tight that the little fellow looked up into her face in astonishment” (Stowe, 9). This is a more subdued reaction than the Eliza in Northup’s story, “Eliza was crying aloud, wringing her hands… Eliza burst into a paroxysm of grief, weeping plaintively” (Northup, 436). These reactions are similar and realistic, as having your child taken from you must be one of the greatest pains a person could go through. This was the kind of pain that was created within slavery, and the kind of thing that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” helped to put an end to.