What Are Gender Roles In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, portrays females as strong lead characters throughout the story, but what is this purpose? Stowe was able to depict the horrors of slavery and create a vast impact on the views of the controversial subject. The women within the novel have social roles and gain importance through their interaction and impact on the male characters in their lives. Stowe created a direct contrast in the ways that the women acted in comparison the men, as well as showed the influence that the some of the women had on their male relationships. These relationships were present throughout the entire novel which not only told a story, but also showed the power of women. The first presence of the contrast between men
and Mrs. Shelby. Mr. Shelby had made a decision to sell Tom and Harry as a result of outstanding debt. When he discovered that Eliza fled with her son, he exclaimed, “…he’ll [Haley] think I connived at it, to get him out of the way. It touches my honour!” (Stowe 53). Mr. Shelby cared more about his deal and the thoughts of the slave trader than he did about his slaves. He supported the idea of her capture because it would save his reputation, even though it would result in a life of slavery for young Harry and punishment for Eliza. This occurrence of events results in a very negative image of Mr. Shelby, but his wife had a much different view and opinion of the entire situation. Mrs. Shelby treated their slaves as though they were nearly equal and wanted the best possible life for them. She wanted to help the girl and her son get away to allow them to have the best life possible and avoid one of violence. While telling one of the other slaves, Sam, to fetch the horses to go after Eliza, she whispers, “Be careful of the horses, Sam; you know Jerry was a little lame last week; don’t ride them too fast” (Stowe 58). Mrs. Shelby delivers a subliminal message that she wants the men to distract Haley from succeeding in the recapturing of Eliza. She takes into consideration how the lives of others will be impacted by her husband’s brash decision to try to earn back respect to his name. They are contrasted by the thoughtfulness that Mrs. Shelby exhibits, thus the audience views her as a compassionate character in comparison to her careless