Uncle tom's cabin : when the pen becomes mightier than the sword

Abstract EN

Although Historians have listed many contributing factors behind the outbreak of the American Civil War such as the political and the economic differences between the north and the south, humanitarian concerns, and anti slavery movements, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel “Uncle Tom's Cabin” has enormously influenced public opinion since its publication in 1852 to become indeed a leading factor to the American Civil War.

Through “Uncle Tom's Cabin”, Stowe sought to personalize slavery for her readers, mainly the northerners who had little information about the life of a slave as slavery prevailed more in the south than in the north.

She wanted to expose the brutalities of the institution; hoping that her readers will erupt against slavery if they understand the beatings, the rapes, the torture, and the division of families that had often occurred.

This paper is an attempt to spot light on how a piece of literature succeeded to influence public opinion, raise anti-slavery sentiments, and provoke a wild hatred between the northerners and the southerners.