Literary analysis: Beloved and Uncle Tom's Cabin

I believe that Dehumanization is a crucial tool in UTC and Beloved to show the negative effects of slavery on slaves and that it was the foundation for slavery as a system. First, Let’s look at Stowe’s central argument as we discussed it in class. Stowe, a middle class, white, abolitionist wanted to show other middle class whites why slavery was wrong from a Christian moral standpoint. Her message can be summed up as such: Slaves are humans and slavery is morally cruel by the rules of the christian religion. So, if we are to save ourselves from damnation, we need to stop the cruel system of slavery. Stowe shows this argument by the presence of white, christian men and women thought the novel. Characters such as Mrs. Bird, Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, among others, who are all devout christians feel that slavery is morally wrong. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, although they own slaves, treat them with respect and let them, for the most part, make their own decisions. None of the character who are depicted as “righteous” individuals, believe that slavery should exist and feel appalled by the thought of slaves being sold and seen as property. Any character who thinks that it is okay is depicted as “evil” However, you can see how deeply engraved dehumanization is in the minds of those affected by slavery. Even those who believe that slavery is wrong, see slaves as poor and unfortunate creatures. Thoses who do believe in slavery refuse to see slaves as human and only weigh their lives in gold. When looking into Beloved we see first hand how the dehumanizing effects of slavery mentally repress former slaves and even their children. Event such as “the milking” and slaves being whipped and treated like cattle create lasting scars, mental and physical in minds and bodies of former slaves. They are mentally anguished when they look into their past and it forces them to do things that many would see as “crazy” and unjustifiable. Nobody in their right minds would think that killing their child would be better than letting the child live. However, because of the inherent brutality of slavery, Sethe chooses to keep her child “safe” from slavery by killing the child. It is not in human nature to see death as better than life but the appalling effects of repression can twist the minds of those affected into believing otherwise. In conclusion, dehumanization was used in both novels to show the audience the effects of slavery on slaves, and how wrong it is to treat other human beings as less than what they are. Also, with the moral structure of american society, slavery couldn’t of existed unless the populus saw blacks as subhuman. Finally, we need to use these novel to show the effects on social and legal oppression and use that to make decisions on contemporary racial issues.