Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of my favorite books. I recommend it to everyone; it's so full of racism that our generation has no real experience with. Sure we've all seen the movies, but in South Dakota, even the biggest city of South Dakota, how often do we come face to face with it? Harriet Beecher Stowe puts it right in our faces right away. She does not tipy-toe around it. It is what it is.
Many people say that Stowe is racist throughout the book--and, honestly, I agree. Her descriptions of Uncle Tom and Aunt Cloe and the other slaves on Shelby's plantation is racist. She uses negative words to represent the slaves, i.e. crows. But, regardless of her word choice, Stowe was very much for emancipation; and I do believe that she influenced popular belief on the subject.
One observations: On the first page, Stowe remarks that she will not retell Haley's graphic profanity because it is so terrible, but she will (later) recount tales of brutal murders and beatings. I know these horrors must be told in order to be an affective book, but still it seems a little backwards to me.
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I think you are right. She does use words that are negative to us now. To her though, I don't think she thought that her words were offending anyone. It was just her time period. But yeah now us looking back, her word choice definentley would not fly today. She would get all kinds of criticism today in 2010.
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