Uncle Tom's Cabin - A Few Thoughts

I just finished reading this classic American novel byHarriet Beecher Stowe, and though I have no intention of trying to do a full review of it I would like to mention a few thoughts about it.

First of all, what words describe this book? Sad, sickening, astounding are a few that came to mind. Amazing, interesting, heart- breaking, heart-warming - those are a few more.

It's a book of slavery, race, faith, family, departures and arrivals, loss, love, belief. It tries to show differences in how a Southern character and his Northern cousin perceive slavery and slaves and ho living in a new locale provides her with a different view.

I did think that there were too many "happy coincidences" at the end of the story, but that's a small nit to pick. The story was very readable, though some of the scenes tough to read, with so much sadness and bigotry often dominating. It is easy to see how and why this book stirred up so much controversy when it came out, with how the author describes some of the slaveholders, salve traders and slave catchers, not to mention her gripping word pictures of the shaves themselves, particularly Tom and his family. 

I am glad I finally re-read this story. It took me longer to finish than I wish it had, but it was worth the effort. It is no new scholarly account of the war or the coming of the war, but I think it still is a valuable telling of various parts of mid nineteenth century life in the United States, particularly in the border and deep southern states. 

Religion and faith, family and friendship, buying and selling, departure and reunion, freedom and slavery - all themes found throughout Stowe's influential and still interesting work. If any readers of this entry have not read it, or have not done so recently, I certainly suggest you consider doing so. It is a fascinating perspective on the United States of so many years ago.

Any Civil War Fiction Recommendations?

I have been thinking recently of trying to add some Civil War-related fiction into my reading, to help expand my perspective on the perception and "image" of the war.

A couple of months ago, I did read a modern novel called March as part of a program at a local library. I also read some bits and pieces of other works in an anthology for that program and with my fairly recent introduction to the concept of Civil War memory, I am starting to wonder what I am missing by having read so little fiction over the years. Is there more to be learned or gained from reading that style of writing? Creating A Confederate Kentucky offered a couple of examples of works of fiction that reflected the feelings of many Kentuckians about the state's role in the war. Such books may not create imagery or memory of the war, but if they reflect what people feel, is it important to try to understand those reflections?

I have never read a lot of fiction or historical fiction. In college, I did read Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Killer Angels and enjoyed both. I am thinking about one of those as a possibility, though admittedly Stowe's work is not technically a Civil War book. Would re-reading these be worth it? That was over 15 years ago, so I certainly would have a different approach upon re-reading those then I did so long ago.

Red Badge of Courage is a famous book that I've never read, yet have heard is a very good book. Maybe I should find a copy of it and add that to the list of ones I have read.

I do have a book of short stories written by Ambrose Bierce and I did read some excerpts from him in the anthology mentioned above.

What other such books should I consider, either older books, such as late nineteenth century, or even more modern novels like March? Are there any "must reads" or classics that I'm not aware of or am forgetting? I think I'll still focus mostly on non-fiction, but maybe adding at least an occasional bit of variety into my reading can give me a wider perspective not just on the war, but on how it is portrayed and remembered as well.

Book Review: March: A Novel

 

March: A Novel

by Geraldine Brooks

copyright 2005

Viking

I readily admit I am not really a fan of fiction, even historical fiction, but I read this book as part of a Civil War discussion group at a local library.

The author chose as the main character the father from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, a book I have heard about but never read. I personally wonder why an author would use another author's character, even one that apparently had not been deeply developed in the original work, instead of coming up with his or her own subjects, but perhaps that is due to my lack of experience in this genre. She used aspects of the life of Alcott's father to help flesh out the character of Mr. March.

With my lack of reading fiction in recent years, I also do not really know how to review such work, but will give a few words here.

I thought this was a decent book - not great, but not bad. There were times when I got into it quite deeply and did not want to put it down.

The story is told from the perspective of Mr. March, almost auto-biographically, except for a section at the end told from h is wife's view. It goes back and forth from experiences he had prior to the Civil War, to the War itself for most of the book, until the ending, which describes his return home.

The author does appear to have done a lot of research on the scenes from the war as well as the homefront, which is something I may not appreciate enough about writers of fiction.

I found it interesting that she touched on the current hot-button topic of "black Confederate soldiers" in a way, describing the sons of a freedman voluntarily serving the Confederacy with their masters, and even taking part, apparently very happily, in a raid on the land where the freedmen were raising cotton. She never uses terms such as "black Confederate soldiers" but the descriptions of their attitudes make it seem like they were willingly serving the Confederate cause and behaving like soldiers (though these characters were kind of a side-plot and she did not describe how they behaved outside of the chapter about their raid.)

March also explores the relationship between Mr. March and a slave woman named Grace, whom some in my discussion group said represented Louisa May Alcott, at least partially. It describes March's life, his experiences with a slave owner and slavery, as well as his feelings of seeing Grace whipped after he had attempted to teach another young slave girl to read.  March was an abolitionist and even an idealist, but had to adapt to a reality - both in the scene of the whipping and later during his work on the land where the freedmen raised cotton - that was not always ideal. His struggles to match his ideals and what was really happening make up much of the story.

Again, I thought this was a fairly decent read.  It was a book from the library and is not something I will purchase for my own collection, but I am somewhat glad I went out of my own comfort zone to read this style of writing and to see that historical fiction is not simply an author making up anything and everything to fit his or her own whims - or at least it does not have to be so.

I still greatly prefer non-fiction but am now less certain about my stance on fiction. Perhaps it has more importance and can be more informative than I had realized, especially in the area  of historical memory and perception. This may be something I ponder more often now, thanks to my reading of this book.