UNCLE TOM'S CABIN by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is one of the classics I missed reading. I’d heard of little Eva, Eliza and Topsy and thought I knew something about the characters. However, this novel was very different from what I anticipated. Since it was first published in 1852, I expected to have to trudge my way through it. That was not the case at all. This book kept my interest throughout. It’s easy to understand why it was so successful.

 

An early printed report says that when they first met, Abraham Lincoln said to Mrs. Stowe, “Is this the little woman who made the great war?” Certainly her portrayal of the cruel treatment of Uncle Tom, and other slaves, had a great impact on society of that era. The Civil War was horrible, but it brought about an end to slavery in America.

 

I recommend that everyone read Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It brings home what slavery was really like to those of us who are far removed from that period. At the end of the Kindle version I read there are notes about Mrs. Stowe’s background and it says her characters were gleaned from stories of real slaves and the trials they actually faced.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

As a young woman.

It surprises me that the term, “an Uncle Tom,” is meant as a negative slur today. Her character, Uncle Tom, does obey his masters, yet when one insists he give up his Christian faith Tom is a true martyr, willing to suffer pain and death before giving in. That and other acts of courage, make Tom a character to emulate, not denigrate.

 

It’s my belief that history will judge today's society as a time of great cruelty and moral apathy. Since I'm currently working on a novel, Cast Me Not Away, that shines a light on the horrors of abortion, I thought it appropriate to read the book that led to an end of another horrific period in American history. I have high hopes my novel will open people's eyes as Harriet Beecher Stowe's did.

 

God bless America and may this country once again choose to take the high road and get off the low road we’re presently on.
 

—Zara Heritage
 

Classic "1984" by George Orwell

Did you know that George Orwell's real name was Eric Blair? I didn't until I read it in the copy of 1984 I checked out at our local library. An Englishman, he was a political writer who "hated totalitarianism" and was very concerned about the advance of Communism and other cruelties throughout the world. Published in 1949, the futuristic novel 1984 was written as a warning. Despite the fact that 1984 is well behind us, this novel—which has become a classic—is still relevant today.

Protagonist Winston Smith is employed by the Party and always under surveillance by a "telescreen" at work and at home. It shouts out daily propaganda that can't be switched off, and is always transmitting his actions back to "Big Brother is Watching." Hate and war are constants in his life and that of others. Yet, he begins to question whether it has to be this way.

In rebellion, he and a co-worker strike up a relationship and risk their lives to sneak away to be together. She, too, has come to believe that Big Brother is evil and not the way people should be required to live. You may already know the story, as I did, and that they are found out and "converted" over many years of cruel tortures. But, the real story is in the details ... how and why civilization was converted into hate and war, worshiping no religion except "Big Brother." 

Amazingly, today some of Big Brother's "doublethink" has invaded our society. The most obvious is that babies before birth aren't really babies, only blobs of tissue that don't feel pain. They do, by the way. That is a perfect example of 1984's "doublethink" where two plus two can equal five and the slogans "War is Peace," or "Freedom is Slavery," and "Ignorance is Strength" are promoted as true. In our own time, terrorist acts are being termed "man caused disasters," and class envy is encouraged through making the wealthy scapegoats, rather than the government admitting to its failures.

Instead of the values once held by America, many young people now think America is somehow evil in spite of all the wonderful achievements of the generations who came before us. The inventions, the medical accomplishments, the help given to third world nations, are all overlooked and our positive history is seldom taught any longer.

An Afterword in this book was written by Erich Fromm, copyrighted in 1961. He couldn't see ahead to the dangers of Socialism, but warned against individuals acting like machines and losing their humanity. We must always question our leadership and remain truly human, which means caring for one another and valuing life at all stages, from conception to an elderly death. Let's not allow our government or anyone else to inflict "doublethink" on us.

— Gail Lewis

Product Details:
Trade Paperback: 267 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
ISBN: 0-452-26293-0