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《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中主要人物的浅析(1)学毕

2013-10-18 01:09

[Abstract] The Bible influences western life and culture deeply. Mrs. Stowe (1811—1896)----the author of Novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin is also influenced by it. On the basis of Bible, the author attempts to analyze the backgrounds of times and the purposes she composes it, and analyze several characters, such as Uncle Tom, Little Eva, Eliza and some pious christian mothers. With the analysis of these persons and the comparison with the characters in Bible to reveal the christianity in this novel. At last, the author explores Mrs. Stowe’s solution to institution of slavery and the results. However, in her times, her non—resistant policy to topple the slavery fails completely.
[Key words] Bible; christianity;personal character    

[摘 要] 《圣经》对西方生活及文化的影响至深，《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的作者斯陀夫人也深受其影响。本文以《圣经》原形以及基督教义精神为基础，先试图分析斯陀夫人所处的时代背景及她创作这部小说的意图，再分析小说中的几类人物形象，如汤姆叔叔、小伊娃、及几位虔诚的基督教徒母亲。通过对这些人物特点的分析,以及所表现的基督精神，揭示这部小说中强烈的宗教理念。
[关键词] 圣经; 基督教; 人物特点

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
Greek culture and Hebrew culture have great influence on western culture. In Hebrew culture, there is a book named Bible, which is an important literacy work in the world. It is divided into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. It includes the essence of Hebrew culture. During the eleventh century, Hebrew people become prosperous and dominated a large area. At the same, they spread their culture, so Christianity becomes a powerful and influential religion during. Many famous artists and writers adapted the stories in Bible to compose the immortal works.
   Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811---1896), a nineteenth century American female writer, was also influenced by the book. Stowe was born into a respectable family that was to become famous: her father Lyman was a clergyman who was famous for supporting abolitionism, and ever held the post of director of Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. Her husband Calvin Ellis Stowe was one of the leading professors in the seminary. Two of her brothers, Henry Ward and Edward, were celebrated preachers. And her older sister—Catherine, she is the pioneer in Women’s education. The family were all opposing to raising slaves and they were all famous abolitionists[1] （科教作文网http://zw.ΝsΕAc.Com编辑整理）
   Coming from a family with good Christian tradition, she was deeply influenced by Christianity and became a pious Christian. As her family were all opposing to raising slaves, she was influenced by them and held the anti-slavery belief. She stood up for the belief that slavery should be abolished. Mrs. Stowe believed and loved religion and pays attention to the problems of society and morality. Influenced by Christianity, she held the belief that each man is born to be equal and should enjoy freedom, so she was strongly against slavery, which betrayed the ideas in Christianity. In Christianity, people are equal in soul and should enjoy freedom[2]. She often tried to do something about changing the conditions of slaves. To learn more details about slavery, she even went to the South to see the miserable conditions of slaves with her own eyes. Especially when the enactment of the “Fugitive Slave Act”(That allowed owners to pursue and recover their “property” in free states) in 1850. Mrs. Stowe was infuriated and influenced by the innumerable anti-slavery events and persons.[3] Influenced by the idea in Christianity that people are equal in soul and should enjoy freedom and the belief that slavery should be abolished, she decided to compose a novel to lash the slavery. The blending of pious belief in Christianity and abolishing slavery resulted in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1.2 The summary of novel
Tom was a slave of Mr. Shelby who was a slaveholder in Kentucky, he sincerely believed in Christianity. Once Mr. Shelby was encumbered by debt, he decided to sell Tom and another female slave and her son. Knowing the news, Eliza and her son ran away immediately but Tom would stay to be sold to Haley－ a slaver. As a result, he was sold to New Orleans by Haley.　
On board the boat bound for New Orleans, Tom saved the life of young Eva.   St. Clare, Eva’s father, purchased Tom with gratitude. In St. Clare’s home, Tom lived a happy life for two years. Eva and he became good friends. But after Eva and her father’s death, Tom’s fate was changed again. He was sent by Eva’s mother to an auction market to sell. Tom was bought by a slaveholder named Legree. Legree was cruel to slaves and addicted to alcohol. At last, when Tom protected two female slaves from being captured, he was beaten to death viciously by Legree. When he was dying, his former master’s son－George Shelby got the plantation and bought Tom’s body with huge wealth.

At the same time, Eliza and her son met her husband－George Harris, who disguised himself as a Spaniard and brought a gun with himself. He shot a slaver on his way to Canada. At last, he and his family got together in the Canada----a free country.   
      
2. Character Analysis
Mrs. Stowe portrays several vivid characters with distinctive temperament. Among them, there are the white and the black, the nobles and the slaves, the kind and the cruel. In her description of all these characters, we can learn that Mrs. Stowe advocates that people are equal and is against racial discrimination. Some people think that the dark skin of African slaves externally represents negative qualities such as evil or heathenism. However, Mrs. Stowe viewed slaves that evoke these presumptions actually contrasts their internal strength and spirituality. In fact, black men are better than some white slaveholders who have intentional purposes.
Mrs. Stowe herself is deeply influenced by Christianity; she held the belief that people are born to be equal and should enjoy freedom. So the main characters she portrayed in Uncle Tom’s Cabin are all Christians to different extent. This part of the paper deals with the analysis of perfect Christian, non-perfect Christian and half-Christian in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. From the analysis, we can get a better idea on how Christianity is reflected in the novel.
2.1 Tom
Uncle Tom is an old slave and the protagonist of the novel. His two most prevalent qualities are his inherent goodness and piety. He is a pious Christian and resembles Jesus in many aspects. He consistently forgives the wrongs committed against him and turns to God in time of crisis.
Mrs. Stowe is very successful in portraying Tom as a Christian figure. Let’s compare Tom to Jesus in Bible. 
Tom’s experience is quite similar to that of Jesus Christ. First, Tom and Jesus are all sold by the man they are familiar with. Jesus is betrayed by his disciple－Judas，who has the greed for the money; and Tom is sold by his master－Arthur Shelby, who also needs money to repay debts when he suffers the financial difficulties. Second, both Tom and Jesus have strong faith in God and never give up under pressure. When Jesus is near his death, the soldiers are all speaking sarcastically and crying to him, they shouted,“Hail, king of the Jesus!” [4] And struck him on the face, however, the Governor would not arrest Jesus, but he has no choice but to have Jesus crucified. When Jesus knows he will die, he does not complain only to pray to the God. Tom is in the similar situation, At Legree’s manor, Tom is not willing to sell out his friends, so he meets the brutal treatment. He dose not give up and continues preaching to Qimbo and Sambo. He said, “ Into thy hands I commend my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me, Oh Lord God of truth!” [5] Even if Qimbo and Sambo beat Tom almost to death, he still forgave them and prayed for them. Tom’ prayer is answered and his kindheartedness moves Legree’s two overseers----Qimbo and Sambo and they would not want to hurt Tom any more, but Legree will not be satisfied until he sees Tom’s death. Although Tom was beaten almost to death, he determined to say nothing. When thundered Legree struck him furiously, Tom answered, “I know, Mas’t, but I can’t tell anything. I can die!” However, Legree couldn’t understand him. Then Tom looked up to his master, and answered, “Mas’r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I’d give ye my heart’s blood; and, if taking every soul, I’d give ’em freely, as the Lord gave his for me. O, Mas’r! don’t bring this great sin on your soul! It will hurt you more than ‘ t will me! Do the worst you can, my troubles’ll be over soon; but, if ye don’t repent, yours won’t never end!” [6] At last, one who believes Jesus is Messiah and is saved at the very moment and spot. Third, Tom and Jesus are all redeemed by the person who esteems them. Joseph of Arimathaea, a secret apostle of him, redeems Jesus. He took the body of Jesus and wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial—customs. Tom is rescued by his former master’s son----George Shelby. He loves Tom for his faith, so he vows to find Tom when he is sold. However, when he found Tom, Tom was dying and died soon. Bearing great respect and sadness for Tom, George took Tom’s body away and decided to bury it decently. More important, Tom’s temperament is quite the same as Jesus. When Jesus sees people who sin, he pities them, helps them, tells them and cures them. His heart can forgive anyone, anything. He brings the gospel to people. Tom is obviously a Christ figure with black skin. He is full of love for his neighbors, both the black and white. He also serves as a Christian leader for the other slavers in the novel. In Shelby’s house, Uncle Tom is a sort of patriarch in religious matters in the neighborhood. Having, naturally, an organization in which the morale is strongly predominant, together with a greater breadth and cultivation of mind than his companions, he is looked up, as a sort of minister among them; and the simple, hearty, sincere style of his exhortations might have edified even better educated persons. But it was in prayer that he especially excelled. In the language of a pious old Negro, he “prayed right up.” While he is at St. Clare’s house, he meets the pitiful, old slave Prue. Prue should spend all her times to care her mistress and she loves the milk, but her mistress refuses to buy milk for her, so her only child is starved to death. Because of that, she becomes drunk and deranged. Tom sympathizes with her very much offers to carry her basket for her, and send the Gospel to her. He is always giving others the belief of life. He says to her, “ O, ye poor critter! Hadn’t nobody never telled ye how the Lord Jesus loved ye, and died for ye? Han’t they telled ye that he’ll ye, and ye can go to heaven, and have rest, at last?” [7] （科教论文网 lw.nseaC.Com编辑发布）
Tom loves not only black people, but also white people. When his first master is going to sell him, he has no complain on it. After he stays at the second master’s home, he often advises St. Clare not to go to these celebrating  parties. In order to let St. Clare have the words in mind, Tom even goes down on his knees and pleads with him not to attend those revelries. He quotes a sentence from the Bible “ it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder!” [8]P1 to persuade St. Clare. When he is on his deathbed, he says to George Shelby, “ Ye don’t know! Pears like I loves’em all! I loves every creatur, everywhar!----it’s nothing but love! O, Mas’r George! What a thing’t is to be a Christian!” [9]P433 And “ who,---who,---who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” [10]P434 From the above, we can conclude that Tom, like Jesus, is the embodiment of God and love in Christianity.
Like Jesus, Tom often forgives others, no matter the man who treats him kind or cruel. Tom forgives his first master, he says, “Mas’r always found me on the spot----he always will.” [11]P39 When he is flogged by Legree. He says, “ Ye poor miserable critter! There an’t no more ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul!” [12]P428  Jesus forgives the men who betrayed him, he thinks they are innocent people and asks the God would not send down calamities to them. 
Though Tom is submissive to his master, he has the consciousness to define the right and wrong. If the master treats him kindly, he will pay more reciprocation to his master. His first master Mrs. Shelby gives him all his property to manage. He once lets Tom to go to Cincinnati alone to do business for him. Tom has the opportunity to run away. Instead, he comes back on time. He does not want to betray his master, and he says, “Ah, master trusted me, and I couldn’t.” [13]P2 Tom’s second master St. Clare gives him money without looking at it, because he trusts Tom very much. “Tom had every facility and temptation to dishonesty; and nothing but an impregnable simplicity of nature, strengthened by Christian faith, could have kept him from it. But, to that nature, the very unbounded trust reposed in him was bond and seal for the most scrupulous accuracy.” [14]P208Even Tom’s third master Legree also gives him his property to keep. However, once his master does the thing he thinks wrong, he will do it at his own will. Legree asks Tom to beat other slaves, but Tom does not do it. He says, “ I’m willin to work, night and day----and , Mas’r , I never shall do it,----never!” [15]P369 His worship is not blind in that he only obeys what he thinks right. From learning to read the Bible and writing letters to his kids, Tom is consistently trying to improve himself despite the limits placed upon him by slavery. 大学排名
From the above paragraph, we can conclude that, Tom is loyal and submissive to his master and at the same time he has a good distinction between what is right and what is wrong.
Mrs. Stowe has her intention to depict Tom as a Christ—figure. Her most obvious purpose is to evoke the white men who believe in Christianity in the north, to let them have the position to support anti—slavery actions and to hope them to realize the evil to keep slavery system in a Christian country. She needs to compose a character of black man who can be accepted by most whites[16]. So she endorses Tom a lot of characters similar to Christ. Tom is the man who can arouse the sympathy from the white.
We all think Tom is a man with good qualities and immaculate character. He is a stereotype with typical African features and disposition of that race, yet Tom has the passive character in his life. His non-resistant principle is not accepted by the white readers, but his upright quality is not separated from his firm belief and personal strength. In a word, Tom is the representative of a kind of person rather than a single man. Whatever happens, he sticks to his belief in Christianity and tried to help others to change by persuasion. Mrs. Stowe portrayed such a character as Tom because she herself believes in Christianity and was greatly influenced by Christianity and believes in the kindness in human beings.
2.2 Little Eva
The five-year old “Litter Eva” is characterized as a beautiful, angelic child. It is a female character that can’t be ignored. Eva’s name is “Evangeline St. Clare”; “Evangeline” symbols the ideal image of an angel. In Bible, angel is sent by God to help and save those who needed. The little Eva is full of love and friendliness to others. She tries to do her bit to help others. In this way, she is just like an angel sent by God. Somehow she always tries to put herself on equality with every creature that comes near her. Tom and her become best friends, and they are bonded by the common love they have for those around them. Once her father asks her whether it is better to live in her grandpa, Vermont or to have a house full of servantHer reason is to have so many more round you to love. She chooses the latter. The reason she asks her father to buy Tom is also to make Tom happy. When Tom tells the Prune’s story to Eva, “ She did not claim, or wonder, or weep, as other children would do. Her cheeks grew pale, and a deep, earnest shadow passed over her eyes. She laid both hands on her bosom, and sighed heavily.” [17]P222 Eva has many puzzling problems, such as why the black men would be slaves, why Tom would be separated from his wife and children, why Prue would be dead, why Topsy is so disliked by others. She hopes that the people around her are all happy. Just as her name “ Evangeline” suggests, she is an evangelist to everyone. She often listens to the stories from Bible told by Tom. She shares the Gospel with the slaves in her father’s plantation and helps them to learn knowledge and gives them hope. Unfortunately, she does not live a long life. Towards her death, she gives every slave servant in her house a lock of fair golden hair and asks the slaves to be good Christians; she also has her father promised that he would let them free.
Mrs. Stowe shows the idea of trying her best to change the society for the better and save people with Christian spirit and actions. She hopes to spread the universal love in Christianity by Eva. [18] Though Eva dies at a young age, her death is not sad. The reason is that for Mrs. Stowe, who believes in Christianity from her childhood, death is a better reflection of heroism. And for her, death stands for victory rather than failure. The death of Eva is the same of Jesu’s death. Mrs. Stowe hopes to save souls of the evil by Eva’s death. Eva’s death changed Topsy. We can learn from the novel that Topsy is originally one without love from his mother and refuses to do as he is told. It is Eva that changed him for the better. We can see this from the following dialogue between Eva and Topsy.

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