The Portrayal of Slavery in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin

Fadel Fadhlurahman Hakam. 2021. The Portrayal of Slavery in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (Supervised by Fathu Rahman and Herawaty).
This study aims to portray the act of slavery and its effects towards the characters in a literary work entitled Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by an American writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The objectives of this study are: (1) to know how the act of slavery was portrayed and how the characters encounter them in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and (2) to analyze the effects of slavery towards the characters found in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The method of research that is used in this study is descriptive qualitative method. The data source of this study is Wordsworth version of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This novel was originally published in 1852 with 415 pages in total. Moreover, the technique of data analysis that is used in this study is based on the theory proposed by Alan Swingewood entitled Sociology of Literature which examines the relationship between literary works and its social contexts.
The results of this study indicate that in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there were series of events in the novel which portrays the cruelty and inhuman act of slavery towards the black characters. The slaves were treated as properties, forced to work hard labor without getting pay, became child breeder or victims of sexual abuse, victims of endless violence, family separation, and violation of human rights. In consequence of this, the characters were affected by the act of slavery in different ways. Some of them made a daring escape, disguised as a white person, committed suicide, had an uncommon behavior, made an ugly appearance in order not to be sold, and to the extent of killing their own child.
Keywords : Slavery, Slaves, Effect, Sociology of Literature, Novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin