The Message of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Introduction
Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin sought to evoke certain emotions from her audience. The novel which was written at a time when the black people were oppressed sought to put into light the inhuman practice of human slavery. Through her work, Harriet sought to get her audience to view this practice from her angle. It was the intention of the author for her audience to realize that this practice was not proper and should not be validated as had been the case. Her portrayal of the practice meant to awaken the minds and open the eyes of her readers so that they can collectively speak against the practice of slavery. The author is offended and upset that human beings with their infinite value have been reduced to mere property who can be sold for a few bucks. What she finds even more concerning is the fact that the practice has been widely practiced and is now almost validated as proper.
Race has played a significant role in getting the readers to empathize with the author. At the time of writing of the novel, slave trade was a norm in various parts of the world. The people who were mainly targeted were the black people, Hispanics and those belonging to minority races. Ironically, all these people put together were the majority compared to the white people. The use of race by the author was hence to appeal to the majority who were directly touched by what was happening. By introducing the aspect of race, the author hoped to capture the emotions of the reader’s majority of whom belonged to the minority groups that were affected by slave trade. As such, use of race to speak out against slavery worked well to ensure that the points put forward by the author would get emotional backing by the audience.
One of the downside of this approach taken by the author is that it could have easily sparked sectional conflict. The manner in which she portrays the various issues in the novel has had the effect of putting to sections of society in conflict. The emotions elicited in the read could easily see one section of the society go up on arms against the other. There was a high likelihood the minori...