July 14, "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

The entire purpose and of the story was to connect white America with slaves who were commonly viewed as livestock. Having the story told from their point of view gave the readers a small insight into what awful endeavors a slave goes through. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” humanized the America’s slaves and showed how they had the same emotions as anyone else. One very emotional line says, “if it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, to-morrow morning,- if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve o’clock till morning to make good your escape,- how fast could you walk? How many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling little blossom,- the little sleepy head on your shoulder,- the small, soft arms trustingly holding on to your neck?” The text repeatedly asks what “you”, the reader, would do in that situation. A technique that forced its audience to step into a slave’s shoes and imagine how they would feel if it were them. Obviously this story reached a lot of people and helped move us towards a slavery free nation, even the President thought so.