Analysis of Portrayal of the Protagonist in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly and William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner.
ABSTRACT
Dalam penulisan skripsi ini, saya akan menganalisis karakter tokoh utama
dari dua novel. Novel pertama berjudul Uncle Tom’s Cabin Or, Life Among The
Lowy karya Harriet Beecher Stowe dan novel kedua berjudul The Confessions Of
Nat Turner karya William Styron. Kedua novel ini menceritakan kehidupan yang
dialami oleh seorang budak pada jaman perbudakan di Amerika pada tahun 18301860an.
Harriet Beecher Stowe dan William Styron menggambarkan karakter
tokoh utama tersebut dengan sikap/respon yang berbeda. Harriet Beecher Stowe
menggambarkan Uncle Tom dengan karakteristik yang tetap. Ia bersifat peduli,
berprinsip, tidak egois dan pemaaf. William Styron menggambarkan Nat Turner
dengan karakteristik yang berubah. Awalnya, Nat Turner bersifat pintar, patuh,
dan baik hati. Lalu ia berubah menjadi orang yang licik, pemberontak dan keras.
Sebagai kesimpulan, saya berpendapat bahwa dengan menganalisis
karakter tokoh utama dari masing-masing novel, pembaca dapat mengetahui
respon/sikap seorang budak pada jaman perbudakan. Harriet Beecher Stowe dan
William Styron berhasil menggambarkan bagaimana keadaan perbudakan pada
waktu itu dan menunjukkan bahwa perbudakan itu buruk karena memberikan
dampak negatif terhadap kehidupan para budak pada waktu itu.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................
ii
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................ iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study.........................................................................
Statement of the Problem.........................................................................
Purpose of the Study................................................................................
Method of Research................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis........................................................................
1
3
3
3
4
CHAPTER TWO: DISCUSSION ON PORTRAYAL OF THE
PROTAGONIST IN UNCLE TOM’S CABIN OR LIFE AMONG
THE LOWLY............................................................................................
5
CHAPTER THREE: DISCUSSION ON PORTRAYAL OF THE
PROTAGONIST OFTHE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER....... 16
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION................................................................ 27
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................. 31
APPENDICES:
Summary of Uncle Tom Cabin’s or Life among The Lowly.....................
Summary of The Confessions of NatTurner.............................................
Biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe.......................................................
Biography of William Styron...................................................................
34
35
36
37
ii
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
“Racism is the unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race;
violent behaviour towards them. The belief that some races of people are better
than others” (“Racism”). “Racism world-wide is manifested in every continent. In
Europe, extreme racist groups have gained more and more acceptability in
countries like France, Germany, and Austria . . . . Many African countries have
endured long-term civil wars, some beginning shortly after that nation’s freedom
from former colonial countries . . .” (“World Racism” par 4). In the United States,
racism existed in the form of slavery. “Slavery in the United States began soon
after English colonists first settled Virginia and lasted until the passage of the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. Racism in the
United States was worse during this time at any period before or since”
(“Background on Racial Discrimination” par 7). Africans as slaves sufferred
during that time as they were treated as things not human beings by their master.
1
Maranatha Christian University
Two American writers who deal with slavery in their writings are Harriet
Beecher Stowe and William Styron. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a 19th Century
American author, wanted to help people in the North to understand better the
realities of slavery (“Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography” par 6). She wants people
in the North know and understand how bad slavery is so that they will participate
and help to abolish slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United
States in his 1863 meeting with Harriet Beecher Stowe, said, “So you’re the little
woman who wrote the book that started this great war” (“Harriet Beecher Stowe
Biography” par 7 ). It is mostly true because her work Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life
among the Lowly is the first novel to criticize the institution of slavery and
becomes the bestselling anti-slavery novel. “She needed to tell the nation what it
should have already known, that slavery was unjust, immoral, and evil. This was
her mission when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin” (“Harriet Beecher Stowe” par 3).
Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp is her second anti-slavery novel.
William Styron is a 20th Century American novelist who became well
known for his novel The Confessions of Nat Turner, a fictional recreation of the
1831 slave rebellion in Virginia led by Nat Turner (“William Styron” par 1). The
Confessions of Nat Turner won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and also became one
of the most controversial novels (“Biography” par 2). It becomes controversial
because some critics say that William Styron cannot describe Nat Turner well
enough since he is white.
I have chosen Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among
the Lowly and William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner because both
stories deal with slavery. These two novels show the condition of slaves at that
2
Maranatha Christian University
time. Both the protagonists are African-American slaves who experience
inhumane treatment from their cruel masters. In the beginning, born as slaves,
Uncle Tom and Nat Turner receive the promise of freedom from their masters.
However, later they have to be separated from their families, friends, and their
master’s families, due to their being sold to pay their masters’s debt. They
experience the cruelty of their new masters and in the end, they die as slaves. As
the two novels deal with the struggle of the protagonists, the literary element I
will analyze in this thesis is the portrayal of the protagonists. The meaning of
protagonist is “the leading character or one of the major characters in a play,
novel, film, etc” (“Protagonist,” def. 1). By reading the portrayal of the
protagonists, the readers can understand their attitudes towards slavery.
Statement of the Problem
The problems I would like to discuss are:
1. How is the protagonist portrayed in each novel?
2. What is the purpose of each author in portraying such a protagonist?
Purpose of the Study
Based on the above problems, the purpose of the study are:
1. To show how the protagonist is portrayed in each novel.
2. To show the purpose of each author in portraying such a protagonist.
Method of Research
3
Maranatha Christian University
The method of research that I use is library research. I begin the research
by reading Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among the Lowly
and William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner. After that I analyze each
text by using some information and materials from the Internet that can support
my analysis. Lastly, I draw some conclusions of what has been discussed.
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters, preceded by the Acknowledgements,
the Table of Contents, and the Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the
Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two contains the analysis of the portrayal of the protagonist of Stowe’s
Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among the Lowly. Chapter Three comprises the
analysis of the portrayal of the protagonist of Styron’s The Confessions of Nat
Turner. Chapter Four is the Conclusion. This thesis ends with the Bibliography
and the Appendices, which consist of
the synopsis of the novels and the
biography of the authors.
4
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I am going to draw some conclusion of my analysis on the
portrayal of the protagonists in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or
Life among The Lowly and William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner. I
found several similarities and only one outstanding difference between the two
protagonists in those two novels.
Both the protagonists are black American slaves. They witness and
experience the cruelty of some white American masters and also the bitterness of
a slave’s life. They have to be separated from their families because of being sold
to pay their master’s debt. They are treated as property, which means that their
lives are in the hands of their masters. Both of them actually receive the promise
of freedom from their masters; however, the masters cannot fulfill it. In the end,
they die as slaves.
The only difference lies on the reaction of the protagonists towards the
problem they face, which is reflected in their characteristics. Uncle Tom, the
protagonist of Uncle Toms’s Cabin, or Life among the Lowly, is portrayed as
27
Maranatha Christian University
being caring to the others no matter who they are. He shows an act of love to
everyone unconditionally whether they are good or bad. He is also a selfless
person. He thinks more about the needs of other people rather than his own. It
does not matter for him to face everything that happens in his life as long as the
others are safe. He is also a principled person. He knows what is right or wrong
and tries to do the right things. He will accept every consequence that he has to
face in his life for doing the right things. From the beginning until the end of the
story, Uncle Tom’s characteristics remain the same. He is a static character.
Different from Uncle Tom, Nat Turner, the protagonist of The Confessions
of Nat Turner, is portrayed as a character whose characteristics change in the
course of the story. He is a dynamic character. At first, he is portrayed as a person
with positive characteristics. He is an intelligent, obedient, and kind person. Later
in the story, after he feels betrayed and hatred, his characteristics changes. He
becomes a cunning, rebellious, and violent person. He tries to fight and change the
conditions he has been through by acting rebelliously and violently.
Despite the distinctive portrayal of the protagonists, both Harriet Beecher
Stowe and William Styron have successfully made use of their portrayal of the
protagonists to serve their purpose. Harriet Beecher Stowe has clearly portrayed
Uncle Tom as a slave with all his positive characteristics. Having positive
characteristics does not guarantee the slave to have a good life; even his life ends
in the hands of his cruel master, Simon Legree. Stowe wants to show how the
conditions of slaves at that time. She wants to criticize the institution of slavery
since it gives a bad impact on slaves’ life. White Americans treat black American
slaves as property, not as human beings. By portraying Uncle Tom, the readers
28
Maranatha Christian University
will understand more about the bad impact of slavery. A slave cannot do anything
except to accept everything, whether it is good or bad, that will happen to him. In
other words, his life is determined by the master.
William Styron has portrayed Nat Turner clearly even though he does not
live in a slavery time just like Harriet Beecher Stowe. He wants to show a slave’s
life based on a true story that happened in the past. The slave tried to fight for his
rights, but in the end he still lost and had to face the penalty for what he had done.
He could not do anything. Through the portrayal of Nat Turner, William Styron
wants to show the bad impact of slavery on slaves’ lives. The bitterness that the
slave experiences in slavery has changed his positive characteristics into negative
ones, which later lead him to his death. Being the property of his master, a slave’s
life is in the hands of his master; however hard he tries, he has no power to change
his fate.
In conclusion, it is clear that through the portrayal of Uncle Tom and Nat
Turner, both Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Styron have the same purpose,
that is, to show how bad the institution of slavery is. Being the masters’ property,
a good slave like Uncle Tom or a rebellious one like Nat Turner, has to accept the
fact that their fate is in the hands of their master. They do not have the rights as
human beings.
In my opinion, a slave is a human being with feelings and mind just like
white Americans. Therefore, I disagree with the institution of slavery because it
was not in accordance with the America’s Declaration of Independence, which
states that mens are created equal: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
29
Maranatha Christian University
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness” (“The Declaration of Independence : A Transcription” par 2).
30
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Texts
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among the Lowly. New York:
Penguin Classics. 1986. Print.
Styron, William. The Confessions of Nat Turner. New York: Vintage Books.
1993. Print.
References
“About William Styron.” pbs.org. 8 Oct. 2002. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“Backround on Racial Discrimination.” dosomething.org. N.d. Web. 28 Apr.
2014.
Baker, Lyman A. “Critical Concepts: “Static” and “Dynamic” Characterization”.
k-state.edu. 7 Mar. 2001. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
“Biography.” openroadmedia.com. N.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“Caring.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2010. Print.
“Cunning.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe.” netstate.com. 27 Jun. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
31
Maranatha Christian University
“Harriet Beecher Stowe.” spartacus-educational.com. Aug 2014. Web. 20 Sept.
2015
“Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography.” biography.com. N.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography.” ducksters.com. N.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Life.” harrietbeecherstowecenter.org. N.d. Web. 27
Mar. 2014.
“Intelligent.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. NewYork: Oxford
University Press. 2010. Print.
“Kind.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Merciful.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Obedient.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2010. Print.
“Principled.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Protagonist.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New
York: Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Racism.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2010. Print.
“Rebellious.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. NewYork:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Selfless.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2010. Print.
32
Maranatha Christian University
“The Declaration of Indepedence : A Transcription.” archives.gov. N.d. Web.29
Nov. 2015.
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin Study Guide.” gradesaver.com. N.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.
“Violent.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“William Styron.” biblio.com. N.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“William Styron.” infoplease.com. N.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
“William Styron is born.” history.com. N.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“World Racism.” allaboutpopularissues.org. N.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
33
Maranatha Christian University
Dalam penulisan skripsi ini, saya akan menganalisis karakter tokoh utama
dari dua novel. Novel pertama berjudul Uncle Tom’s Cabin Or, Life Among The
Lowy karya Harriet Beecher Stowe dan novel kedua berjudul The Confessions Of
Nat Turner karya William Styron. Kedua novel ini menceritakan kehidupan yang
dialami oleh seorang budak pada jaman perbudakan di Amerika pada tahun 18301860an.
Harriet Beecher Stowe dan William Styron menggambarkan karakter
tokoh utama tersebut dengan sikap/respon yang berbeda. Harriet Beecher Stowe
menggambarkan Uncle Tom dengan karakteristik yang tetap. Ia bersifat peduli,
berprinsip, tidak egois dan pemaaf. William Styron menggambarkan Nat Turner
dengan karakteristik yang berubah. Awalnya, Nat Turner bersifat pintar, patuh,
dan baik hati. Lalu ia berubah menjadi orang yang licik, pemberontak dan keras.
Sebagai kesimpulan, saya berpendapat bahwa dengan menganalisis
karakter tokoh utama dari masing-masing novel, pembaca dapat mengetahui
respon/sikap seorang budak pada jaman perbudakan. Harriet Beecher Stowe dan
William Styron berhasil menggambarkan bagaimana keadaan perbudakan pada
waktu itu dan menunjukkan bahwa perbudakan itu buruk karena memberikan
dampak negatif terhadap kehidupan para budak pada waktu itu.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................
ii
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................ iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study.........................................................................
Statement of the Problem.........................................................................
Purpose of the Study................................................................................
Method of Research................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis........................................................................
1
3
3
3
4
CHAPTER TWO: DISCUSSION ON PORTRAYAL OF THE
PROTAGONIST IN UNCLE TOM’S CABIN OR LIFE AMONG
THE LOWLY............................................................................................
5
CHAPTER THREE: DISCUSSION ON PORTRAYAL OF THE
PROTAGONIST OFTHE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER....... 16
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION................................................................ 27
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................. 31
APPENDICES:
Summary of Uncle Tom Cabin’s or Life among The Lowly.....................
Summary of The Confessions of NatTurner.............................................
Biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe.......................................................
Biography of William Styron...................................................................
34
35
36
37
ii
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
“Racism is the unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race;
violent behaviour towards them. The belief that some races of people are better
than others” (“Racism”). “Racism world-wide is manifested in every continent. In
Europe, extreme racist groups have gained more and more acceptability in
countries like France, Germany, and Austria . . . . Many African countries have
endured long-term civil wars, some beginning shortly after that nation’s freedom
from former colonial countries . . .” (“World Racism” par 4). In the United States,
racism existed in the form of slavery. “Slavery in the United States began soon
after English colonists first settled Virginia and lasted until the passage of the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. Racism in the
United States was worse during this time at any period before or since”
(“Background on Racial Discrimination” par 7). Africans as slaves sufferred
during that time as they were treated as things not human beings by their master.
1
Maranatha Christian University
Two American writers who deal with slavery in their writings are Harriet
Beecher Stowe and William Styron. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a 19th Century
American author, wanted to help people in the North to understand better the
realities of slavery (“Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography” par 6). She wants people
in the North know and understand how bad slavery is so that they will participate
and help to abolish slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United
States in his 1863 meeting with Harriet Beecher Stowe, said, “So you’re the little
woman who wrote the book that started this great war” (“Harriet Beecher Stowe
Biography” par 7 ). It is mostly true because her work Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life
among the Lowly is the first novel to criticize the institution of slavery and
becomes the bestselling anti-slavery novel. “She needed to tell the nation what it
should have already known, that slavery was unjust, immoral, and evil. This was
her mission when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin” (“Harriet Beecher Stowe” par 3).
Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp is her second anti-slavery novel.
William Styron is a 20th Century American novelist who became well
known for his novel The Confessions of Nat Turner, a fictional recreation of the
1831 slave rebellion in Virginia led by Nat Turner (“William Styron” par 1). The
Confessions of Nat Turner won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and also became one
of the most controversial novels (“Biography” par 2). It becomes controversial
because some critics say that William Styron cannot describe Nat Turner well
enough since he is white.
I have chosen Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among
the Lowly and William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner because both
stories deal with slavery. These two novels show the condition of slaves at that
2
Maranatha Christian University
time. Both the protagonists are African-American slaves who experience
inhumane treatment from their cruel masters. In the beginning, born as slaves,
Uncle Tom and Nat Turner receive the promise of freedom from their masters.
However, later they have to be separated from their families, friends, and their
master’s families, due to their being sold to pay their masters’s debt. They
experience the cruelty of their new masters and in the end, they die as slaves. As
the two novels deal with the struggle of the protagonists, the literary element I
will analyze in this thesis is the portrayal of the protagonists. The meaning of
protagonist is “the leading character or one of the major characters in a play,
novel, film, etc” (“Protagonist,” def. 1). By reading the portrayal of the
protagonists, the readers can understand their attitudes towards slavery.
Statement of the Problem
The problems I would like to discuss are:
1. How is the protagonist portrayed in each novel?
2. What is the purpose of each author in portraying such a protagonist?
Purpose of the Study
Based on the above problems, the purpose of the study are:
1. To show how the protagonist is portrayed in each novel.
2. To show the purpose of each author in portraying such a protagonist.
Method of Research
3
Maranatha Christian University
The method of research that I use is library research. I begin the research
by reading Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among the Lowly
and William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner. After that I analyze each
text by using some information and materials from the Internet that can support
my analysis. Lastly, I draw some conclusions of what has been discussed.
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters, preceded by the Acknowledgements,
the Table of Contents, and the Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the
Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two contains the analysis of the portrayal of the protagonist of Stowe’s
Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among the Lowly. Chapter Three comprises the
analysis of the portrayal of the protagonist of Styron’s The Confessions of Nat
Turner. Chapter Four is the Conclusion. This thesis ends with the Bibliography
and the Appendices, which consist of
the synopsis of the novels and the
biography of the authors.
4
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I am going to draw some conclusion of my analysis on the
portrayal of the protagonists in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or
Life among The Lowly and William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner. I
found several similarities and only one outstanding difference between the two
protagonists in those two novels.
Both the protagonists are black American slaves. They witness and
experience the cruelty of some white American masters and also the bitterness of
a slave’s life. They have to be separated from their families because of being sold
to pay their master’s debt. They are treated as property, which means that their
lives are in the hands of their masters. Both of them actually receive the promise
of freedom from their masters; however, the masters cannot fulfill it. In the end,
they die as slaves.
The only difference lies on the reaction of the protagonists towards the
problem they face, which is reflected in their characteristics. Uncle Tom, the
protagonist of Uncle Toms’s Cabin, or Life among the Lowly, is portrayed as
27
Maranatha Christian University
being caring to the others no matter who they are. He shows an act of love to
everyone unconditionally whether they are good or bad. He is also a selfless
person. He thinks more about the needs of other people rather than his own. It
does not matter for him to face everything that happens in his life as long as the
others are safe. He is also a principled person. He knows what is right or wrong
and tries to do the right things. He will accept every consequence that he has to
face in his life for doing the right things. From the beginning until the end of the
story, Uncle Tom’s characteristics remain the same. He is a static character.
Different from Uncle Tom, Nat Turner, the protagonist of The Confessions
of Nat Turner, is portrayed as a character whose characteristics change in the
course of the story. He is a dynamic character. At first, he is portrayed as a person
with positive characteristics. He is an intelligent, obedient, and kind person. Later
in the story, after he feels betrayed and hatred, his characteristics changes. He
becomes a cunning, rebellious, and violent person. He tries to fight and change the
conditions he has been through by acting rebelliously and violently.
Despite the distinctive portrayal of the protagonists, both Harriet Beecher
Stowe and William Styron have successfully made use of their portrayal of the
protagonists to serve their purpose. Harriet Beecher Stowe has clearly portrayed
Uncle Tom as a slave with all his positive characteristics. Having positive
characteristics does not guarantee the slave to have a good life; even his life ends
in the hands of his cruel master, Simon Legree. Stowe wants to show how the
conditions of slaves at that time. She wants to criticize the institution of slavery
since it gives a bad impact on slaves’ life. White Americans treat black American
slaves as property, not as human beings. By portraying Uncle Tom, the readers
28
Maranatha Christian University
will understand more about the bad impact of slavery. A slave cannot do anything
except to accept everything, whether it is good or bad, that will happen to him. In
other words, his life is determined by the master.
William Styron has portrayed Nat Turner clearly even though he does not
live in a slavery time just like Harriet Beecher Stowe. He wants to show a slave’s
life based on a true story that happened in the past. The slave tried to fight for his
rights, but in the end he still lost and had to face the penalty for what he had done.
He could not do anything. Through the portrayal of Nat Turner, William Styron
wants to show the bad impact of slavery on slaves’ lives. The bitterness that the
slave experiences in slavery has changed his positive characteristics into negative
ones, which later lead him to his death. Being the property of his master, a slave’s
life is in the hands of his master; however hard he tries, he has no power to change
his fate.
In conclusion, it is clear that through the portrayal of Uncle Tom and Nat
Turner, both Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Styron have the same purpose,
that is, to show how bad the institution of slavery is. Being the masters’ property,
a good slave like Uncle Tom or a rebellious one like Nat Turner, has to accept the
fact that their fate is in the hands of their master. They do not have the rights as
human beings.
In my opinion, a slave is a human being with feelings and mind just like
white Americans. Therefore, I disagree with the institution of slavery because it
was not in accordance with the America’s Declaration of Independence, which
states that mens are created equal: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
29
Maranatha Christian University
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness” (“The Declaration of Independence : A Transcription” par 2).
30
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Texts
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life among the Lowly. New York:
Penguin Classics. 1986. Print.
Styron, William. The Confessions of Nat Turner. New York: Vintage Books.
1993. Print.
References
“About William Styron.” pbs.org. 8 Oct. 2002. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“Backround on Racial Discrimination.” dosomething.org. N.d. Web. 28 Apr.
2014.
Baker, Lyman A. “Critical Concepts: “Static” and “Dynamic” Characterization”.
k-state.edu. 7 Mar. 2001. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
“Biography.” openroadmedia.com. N.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“Caring.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2010. Print.
“Cunning.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. 8th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe.” netstate.com. 27 Jun. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
31
Maranatha Christian University
“Harriet Beecher Stowe.” spartacus-educational.com. Aug 2014. Web. 20 Sept.
2015
“Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography.” biography.com. N.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe Biography.” ducksters.com. N.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Life.” harrietbeecherstowecenter.org. N.d. Web. 27
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