Jenna Wang April 24, 2013 Period 5 UTC vs.

NFD Comparison Essay The books, Uncle Toms Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography by Douglass, both discuss the evils of slavery and share the views of abolitionism. But, even though their books both promote abolitionism, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass individual lives and experiences were two completely different stories, as Uncle Toms Cabin is fictional while The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a non-fictional narrative of Frederick Douglasss life. Both Douglass and Stowe had clear influence in the decisions that they made in their writing. Raised in a Christian family, Harriet Beecher Stowe was the sixth child of a famous protestant preacher, Rev. Lyman Beecher and Roxanna Foote Beecher (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). Her parents had expected and encouraged their children to bring change into the world and shape their own world for the better. As the Beechers had expected, all of their eleven children had contributed to the world in significant ways. All seven of Stowes brothers became ministers, the most effective way to influence society at the time (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). Her oldest and most influential sister to Stowe, Catherine, supported education for women and paved a way for womens rights. Her youngest sister, Isabella, was a founder for the National Women's Suffrage Association. Stowe decided that her purpose in life was to write, as she was good with the pen and had been a skilled writer since she was a child, beginning with winning essay writing contests in school. Her most famous works express the greatest social injustice in her time- slavery (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). In stark contrast, Frederick Douglass

grew up with initially no parental guidance and was born a slave, as his mother was said to be a slave woman and his father was said to be a white man- possibly his master. Douglass was raised as a slave for about 20 years of his life (A Short Biography). Although the childhoods of Stowe and Douglass were drastically different, each authors childhood greatly influenced their writing and promoted significant goals in their lives. Harriet Beecher Stowe was raised in a loving, Christian family and was positively influenced by each of her family members at a young age. Even though she wrote strongly about slavery and accurately expressed slaves views in Uncle Toms Cabin, Stowe had never experienced firsthand slavery, although she had worked in the Underground Railroad. In Uncle Toms Cabin, Stowe has her main character, Tom, encounter many kind masters until he lands into the cruel hands of Simon Legree. Unlike Stowes childhood, Frederick Douglass led a difficult, suffering life as a slave boy. He had experienced slavery firsthand and wrote about his hardships and suffering in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his book, Douglass describes his cruel masters and his once-kind mistress, who was hardened by her power over her newly acquired slaves. Both Stowe and Douglass had an eager interest in learning and education (A Short Biography). From an early age, Stowe enjoyed writing and won her first school essay contest at the age of 7. She also learned to make a persuasive argument at the family table. Her father taught religion at Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy sharpened the debating skills of both his students and his children (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). She began her formal education at her fathers academy and later, in 1824, became first a student and then a teacher at Hartford Female Seminary, founded by

Jenna Wang April 24, 2013 Period 5 her sister Catherine (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). Her passion for writing allowed her to freely express her thoughts and beliefs, especially when women at the time could rarely speak publicly. In Uncle Toms Cabin, many of the slaves clearly are not educated, but in the beginning of the book Master George is teaching Uncle Tom how to write (Stowe 28). However, Douglass started out illiterate and only learned to read and write in secret, taking lessons from school boys and teaching himself at the same time (Douglass 51). But, through his determination and perseverance to learn, Douglass strive to educate himself allowed him to write and captivate the attention of his readers and helped him become one of the most celebrated orators of his time (Frederick Douglass 1818-1895). Although pursued in different ways, Stowes and Douglass passion for writing allowed their voices to be heard and influenced many abolitionists of their time. As she was raised in a Christian household, Stowe became a religious woman herself, as she was a reverends daughter, had 7 brothers that became ministers, and later became a ministers wife. Many of her books discuss religion and or have religion as one of the main themes of the book. In fact, one of Stowes first works was the Primary Geography for Children in which she was particularly sympathetic toward Catholicism which was unusual for the time period (Harriet Beecher Stowes Life). In her bestselling book, Uncle Toms Cabin, most of the characters- especially the slaves- use religion as a stronghold and put their faith in religion in their hardships (Stowe 410). Her characters, Uncle Tom and Evangeline St. Clare are both the epitomes of innocence and pure Christians, who both end up dying like martyrs to their beliefs (Stowe 474). As a contrast to Uncle Tom and Evangeline, Stowe also incorporate disbelieving slaves that end up doubting religion because of their suffering circumstances as a slave (Stowe 417).

In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass talks about times when he worked for his cruel master, Edward Covey, where he has doubts of Gods existence and prayers that his fate might change (Douglass 74). He also possesses the view that the church was pro-slavery, for the church had much power at the time but was not using it to stop human slavery. In a letter from Stowe to Douglass, it is revealed that Stowe and Douglass have different views on slavery and the churchs power (Letter to Frederick Douglass). In the letter, Stowe expresses her belief that the church has the power to stop slavery, as most of the well-known and most influential abolitionists at the time were Christians. Therefore, religion has greatly influenced both Stowe and Douglass, as religion is one of the main themes in both of their books. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass, two of the most influential abolitionists in history, wrote books on the topic of abolitionism, influenced by their social and cultural values and backgrounds. Stowes best-selling book, Uncle Toms Cabin and the famous autobiography by Douglass, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, both portray their shared views on slavery. Though both authors have similar views on abolitionism and values in their books, the backgrounds, childhoods, education, and beliefs of each greatly impacted their writing.