英语专业毕业论文汤姆叔叔的小屋的宗教意义

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1、编号本科生毕业设计（论文）题目：Religious Consciousness of Uncle Toms Cabin 外国语 学院 英语(师范) 专业学 号 学生姓名 指导教师 二九年六月17摘 要汤姆叔叔的小屋是斯托夫人最为重要的作品。在推动奴隶制瓦解上，这本小说有不可磨灭的贡献，甚至可以说它改变了美国历史的进程。长期以来，人们多是研究该小说的废奴意义。一名作家的作品，必定与他的个人经历与生活的时代紧密相联。处在十九世纪矛盾重重的美国社会，身为虔诚基督徒的斯托夫人通过该小说想表达的不仅仅是奴隶制的罪恶。本文关注该小说浓厚的宗教意识，运用文学批评家诺思洛普 弗莱的原型批评理论，从圣经原型的角

2、度出发, 试图分析汤姆叔叔的小屋中的各类人物形象，比如汤姆叔叔、小伊娃等。通过对这些人物的经历与性格的分析，本文也将探讨作者试图表达的对当时美国社会的反思，及对利用宗教维护奴隶制度的批判。关键词：宗教意识；基督教；原形；人物AbstractABSTRACTUncle Toms Cabin is the most important one of Mrs. Stowes works. To the collapse of American slavery, this novel made great contribution. Some people even think it changed

3、the process of American history. For a long time, people have done myriad research on the significance of its anti-slavery function. The works of a certain writer are related to the society he lives in and his own background. Social conflicts and her Christian identity urged what Mrs. Stowe want to

4、say with the novel are not only condemning slavery. Behind the obvious themes, she also paid attention to American society and religion. This thesis focuses on the obvious religious consciousness of Uncle Toms Cabin. With the application of the renowned Canadian literary critic Northrop Fryes theory

5、 of archetype, this thesis attempts to analyze various characters, like Tom, little Eva, in terms of Biblical archetype. Further more, this thesis will discuss Mrs. Stowes reconsideration of American society and her criticism on the southern church.Keywords: religious consciousness; Christianity; ar

6、chetype; characterContentsContentsCHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION11.1 Mrs. Stowes Life and Her Major Works11.2 The Background of Uncle Toms Cabin21.3 A Brief Introduction to the Novel21.4 Literature Review3CHAPTER2 THE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE -NORTHROP FRYES THEORY OF ARCHETYPE5CHAPTER3 CHARACTERS IN THE NOVE

7、L73.1 Uncle Toma True Black Christian, Jesus Christ with Black Skin73.2 Evangeline St. Clare - an Evangelist, the OnlyTrue White Christian83.3 Sambo, Qimbo and George Harris -Those Once Lost Souls93.4 Eliza -the Most Fortunate and Beloved Woman9CHAPTER4 MRS. STOWES RECONSIDERATION OF AMERICAN SOCIET

8、Y AND CRITICISM ON “RELIGION”11CHAPTER5 INFLUENCE OF THIS NOVEL135.1 Crisis of Christianity Reflected by the Novel135.2 Its Influence on the Liberation of the Blacks: from Slaves to the President13CHAPTER6 CONCLUSION15REFERENCES16ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS17Religious Consciousness of Uncle Toms CabinChapter 1

9、 Introduction1.1 Mrs. Stowes Life and Her Major WorksHarriet Beecher Stowe (18111896), a 19th century female novelist and abolitionist, was born in a family of religion at Litchfield, Connecticut on the 14th of June 1811. Her father, Lyman Beecher was one of Americas most celebrated clergymen and th

10、e principal spokesman for Calvinism in the 19th century. Her father dedicated his life to his religion and to helping others. Her mother was a woman of prayer who died when Harriet was four years old. The community in which she spent her childhood was one of the most intellectual in New England. Sto

11、we received her formal education at Hartford Female Seminary. The school had been opened and operated by Stowes sister, Catharine Beecher. Stowe was fond of reading and began to write when she was 9 years old. After graduating, Stowe became a teacher at the seminary. In 1832, the Beecher family move

12、d to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Lyman Beecher had accepted a position as president of Lane Theological Seminary. Harriet accompanied her father. While in Cincinnati, she met Calvin Stowe, a professor at the seminary. The two people fell in love and later were married. Naturally, a woman with such domin

13、ant Christian background is doomed to be a pious Christian. She had her own deep understanding of the Bible and the Bible or God guided her thoughts and deeds all through her life.Without doubt, among Mrs. Stowes works the most famous novel was Uncle Toms Cabin. As a woman of letters, she made great

14、 achievements and her works are far more than Uncle Toms Cabin. In 1843 she published The Mayflower, a collection of tales and sketches. In Brunswick, Maine, she wrote for serial publication in The National Era, an anti-slavery paper of Washington, DC, the story of Uncle Toms Cabin; or, Life among t

15、he Lowly. The publication in book form (1852) was a factor which must be reckoned in summing up the moving causes of the war for the Union. The book sprang into unexampled popularity, and was translated into at least twenty-three languages. Mrs. Stowe used the reputation thus won in promoting a mora

16、l and religious enmity to slavery. She reinforced her story with A Key to Uncle Toms Cabin. In 1856 she published Dred; a Tale of the Dismal Swamp, in which she threw the weight of her argument on the deterioration of a society resting on a slave basis. The establishment of The Atlantic Monthly in 1

17、857 gave her a constant vehicle for her writings, he wrote ten novels, of which The Ministers Wooing (1859) and Old Town Folks (1869) are the most popular.Mrs. Stowe other works include The Pearl of Orrs Island (1862), Men of Our Times (1868), Little Pussy Willow (1870), My Wife and I (1871), Pink a

18、nd White Tyranny (1871), Woman in Sacred History (1873), Palmetto-Leaves (1873), We and Our Neighbors (1875), Poganuc People (1878), The Poor Life (1890). Among her works, Uncle Toms Cabin is the greatest and has the highest historical status. Uncle Toms Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th

19、century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. 1 1.2 The Background of Uncle Toms CabinMrs. Stowe passed eighteen years in Cincinnati under conditions which constantly thrust the problem of human slavery upon her attention. Cincinnati is near Ohio, which still advocat

20、ed slavery in the 19th century. The two states are only separated by a river. Slaves were continually escaping from their masters, and were harbored, on their way to Canada, by the circle in which Mrs. Stowe lived. Since the middle of 19th century American racial problem became more and more serious

21、. Slavery lied in the central of racial problem. In Cincinnati Mrs. Stowe witnessed many tragedies caused by slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was an immediate cause of Uncle Toms Cabin. If this law was put into effect, running slavers should be caught and returned to their “owners”. Nearly al

22、l people of Justice adopted various means to fight against the law. Mrs. Stowe was not an exception. As a pious Christian, she treated fighting with slavery as her responsibility and her relatives also encouraged her to “write something to show how evil slavery is”. Partly, Stowe was inspired to cre

23、ate Uncle Toms Cabin by the autobiography of Josiah Henson, a black man who lived and worked on a tobacco plantation in North Bethesda, Maryland. Henson escaped slavery in 1830 by fleeing to the Province of Upper Canada (now Ontario), where he helped other fugitive slaves arrive and become self-suff

24、icient, and where he wrote his memoirs. Stowe evidently acknowledged that Hensons writings inspired Uncle Toms Cabin. 2 In 1851, Uncle Toms Cabin first appeared as a 40-week serial in National Era, an abolitionist periodical. Because of the storys popularity, the publisher contacted Stowe about turn

25、ing the serial into a book. The publication of Uncle Toms Cabin (At that time, it was called “Uncle Toms Cabin or the Man that Was a Thing”) was a great success. Just in Britain, one million copies were sold. Mrs. Stowe and her book became world-famous. Mrs. Stowe was equal to the spokeswoman of ant

26、i-slavery force. This novel also greatly promoted the liberation of slavers and speeded up the collapse of slavery. Even President Abraham Lincoln is said to have remarked when meeting Mrs. Stowe for the first time in the White House “So you are the little woman who started this Great War!”1.3 A Bri

27、ef Introduction to the Novel Tom was a slave of Mr. Shelby who was a slaveholder in Kentucky. 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.

28、 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, Evas father, purchased Tom with gratitude. In St. Clares home, Tom lived a happy life for two years. Eva and he became good friends. But after Eva and her fathers d

29、eath, Toms fate was changed again. He was sent by Evas 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.

30、 When he was dying, his former masters sonGeorge Shelby got the plantation and bought Toms body with huge wealth. At the same time, Eliza and her son met her husbandGeorge Harris, who disguised himself as a Spaniard and brought a gun with himself. He shot a chaser on his way to Canada. At last, he a

31、nd his family got together in the Canada-a free country.1.4 Literature Review As the first widely read political novel in the United States, Uncle Toms Cabin greatly influenced development of not only American literature but also protest literature in general. Later books which owe a large debt to U

32、ncle Toms Cabin include The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.Many critics have praised the novel. Edmund Wilson stated that To expose oneself in maturity to Uncle Toms Cabin may prove a startling experience. Jane Tompkins states that the novel is one of the classics of Ame

33、rican literature and wonders if many literary critics arent dismissing the book because it was simply too popular during its day.Over the years scholars have postulated a number of theories about what Stowe was trying to say with the novel. For example, as an ardent Christian and active abolitionist

34、, Stowe placed many of her religions beliefs into the novel. 3 Some scholars have stated that Stowe saw her novel as offering a solution to the moral and political dilemma that troubled many slavery opponents: whether engaging in prohibited behavior was justified in opposing evil. Was the use of vio

35、lence to oppose the violence of slavery and the breaking of proslavery laws morally defensible? Which of Stowes characters should be emulated, the passive Uncle Tom or the defiant George Harris? 4 Stowes solution was similar to Ralph Waldo Emersons: Gods will would be followed if each person sincere

36、ly examined his principles and acted on them. Scholars have also seen the novel as expressing the values and ideas of the Free Will Movement. In this view, the character of George Harris embodies the principles of free labor, while the complex character of Ophelia represents those Northerners who co

37、ndoned compromise with slavery. In contrast to Ophelia is Dinah, who operates on passion. During the course of the novel Ophelia is transformed, just as the Republican Party (three years later) proclaimed that the North must transform itself and stand up for its antislavery principles.5 Ironically,

38、in the 20th century the novel has also been dismissed by a number of literary critics as merely a sentimental novel,” while critic George Whicher stated in his Literary History of the United States that Nothing attributable to Mrs. Stowe or her handiwork can account for the novels enormous vogue; it

39、s authors resources as a purveyor of Sunday-school fiction were not remarkable. She had at most a ready command of broadly conceived melodrama, humor, and pathos, and of these popular cements she compounded her book. Stowes moral and theological views and domestic discourse were accepted as being pr

40、ogressive in the nineteenth century. It is ironic that in the twentieth century, she has come to exemplify both impotent white liberalism and the source of racist preconceptions about African Americans. 6Chapter2 The Theoretical Perspective -Northrop Fryes Theory of Archetype In Greek, arch means fi

41、rst, typos means form or type. So, archetype means first type/form or original type/form. In the theories of Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), archetypes are primordial mythic forms that embody psychological drives and forces that originate in the collective unconscious. For the Canad

42、ian literary critic Northrop Frye (1912-1991), archetypes are the socially-concerned organizing forms and patterns of literature that originate in myth and which unify and reveal literature as an imaginatively-inhabitable world. His great work, such as The Secular Scripture (1976), The Great Code (1

43、982) and Words with Power (1990) all center on the study of the Bible. In Fryes system, the organizing principles that give literature coherence and structure are derived from the archetypal imagery found in the Bible and the myths of ancient Greece. He suggests that all literature is based on displ

44、acements of these myths. Archetypal criticism focused on characters, images, symbols, metaphors, plots, events and themes. 7In Uncle Toms Cabin, the Bible was mentioned more than 70 times. Mrs. Stowe quoted many sentences from the Bible and almost all the people of the justice side are pious Christi

45、ans. So some critics even think it is a novel of religion. Without doubt, her strong religious background brought deep religious consciousness to her novel. Christian spirit also acts as an important reason of the great success of this book. The moral spirit out of Christian charity and humanity adv

46、ocated by Uncle Toms Cabin has the greatest impact. 8 Consciously or unconsciously, we can sense Christian spirits and values on various characters like Uncle Tom and little Eva. Under Mrs. Stowes pen, these characters all have their respective counterpart in the Bible. Through these characters, Mrs

47、. Stowe expressed her thoughts publicized her solutions to slavery. In terms of Biblical archetype, we will analyze those characters like Uncle Tom and little Eva. Whats more, we will also focus on the reason of the evident religious consciousness to discuss Mrs. Stowes reconsideration of American s

48、ociety at that time.Chapter3 Characters in the Novel3.1 Uncle Toma True Black Christian, Jesus Christ with Black Skin In this novel, Uncle Tom is a perfect pious Christian. We would feel almost all the good qualities of Christian on him. He is loving, faithful, Obedient, and full of integrity. All o

49、f those are indispensable to a pious Christian. Uncle Tom is saint-like or even Jesus-like, both his experience and characters are quite similar to that of Jesus Christ. Uncle Tom is loyal to his master and pious to God. His first master, Mr. Shelby trusts him. Once, Mr. Shelby let him to go to Cinc

50、innati alone to do business for him. Tom doesnt run away, instead, he comes back because he thinks, “Ah, master trusted me, and I couldnt!” 9 Just as himself asks Mr. Shelby, “have I ever broke word to you, or go contrary to you, especially since I was a Christian?” 10 St. Clare, a careless master,

51、who gives Tom a bill without looking at it, trusts Tom so much that Tom had every facility and temptation to dishonesty, yet nothing but an impregnable simplicity of nature, strengthened by Christian faith, could have kept him from it 11 Tom is full of love for his neighbors, blacks and whites. All

52、the blacks nearby treat him as a priest and Godfather. He is a Christ-like figure. When Mr. Shelby sells Uncle Tom to the coarse slavedealer in financial straits, Tom could have run away. But when he realized if he runs away, another slave would be sold without hesitation. He stays in the plantation

53、 and sacrificed himself for other slaves. Jesus is also sold by his apostle Judas who is prompted also by his desire for money. So they are betrayed and sold by theones who are close to them.On the other hand, they all sacrificed themselves to save others. He refuses to run away to prevent Mr. Shelb

54、y from selling other slavers. Jesus and Uncle Tom are all innocent, but all die for others. Jesus is crucified to redeem sinners while Uncle dies for the two running slavers, Cassy and Emmeline. In essence, they all die for their faith and religious devotion. While he struggles with his faith, as Je

55、sus does in the last hours of his life when he says, “my God, why have you forsaken me?”, he and Jesus both never lose their simile faith. In Uncle Toms Cabin, the chapter 40s title is “Martyr” which precisely defines Uncle Toms identify.The Bible said “Pray for those who persecuted you”. Pious Chri

56、stian is characterized by their extraordinary forgiveness. Jesus forgives those who persecute him for he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” Uncle Tom also forgives his third cruel master Legree and Legrees two overseers who harshly flogged him by saying, “I forgive you, w

57、ith all my soul!”12Uncle Tom is so sympathetic and loving. While he is at St. Clares home, he meets that pitiful, wretched old slave Prue whose only left child is starved to death because she devotes all her time to tend her mistress and loses her milk, yet her mistress refuses to buy milk for her b

58、aby. Tom offers to carry her basket for her and sends the Gospel to her. Just as when Jesus sees sinners, he pities them, helps them, cures them and tells them the good news. Such examples are too many. Uncle Toms great love can be found almost everywhere in the novel.His temperament is like that of

59、 Jesus Christ. They are both loving, faithful, forgiving and obedient.Some critics think Uncle Tom is born a slave, physically and psychologically, because he never fights to change his destiny. But in my mind, as a pious Christian, Tom is submissive and obedient but only to God. When Jesus is facin

60、g his immediate bitter death, he prays in the Mount of Olives, yet, not my will but yours be done. Tom says similar words, The Lords will be done! 12 when he learns he will be sold to the south after the unexpected death of St. Clare. Yet his obedience is not to everyone. For example, once Legree re

61、quires Tom to flog a weak slave woman, Tom refuses, saying, but this yer thing I cant feel it right to do; and masr, I never shall do it-never! 13 So his obedience is no blind. He only obeys what he believes right. Why Mrs. Stowe depicted Tom as a Christ-like figure? Perhaps she wanted to elicit sym

62、pathy from her readers most of who were whites. If Tom is not portrayed as a prefect, if his image doesnt remained readers of Jesus, the great historical status and effect are hard to be achieved in a Christian country.3.2 Evangeline St. Clare - an Evangelist, the Only True White Christian In Uncle

63、Toms Cabin, there are two perfect Christian images: Uncle Tom and little Eva. One is white and the other black. In Toms eyes, Eva is an angel. Mrs. Stowe named this girl “Evangeline”, which represents pure and beauty. Uncle Tom and little Eva are both without human weakness and too pure to exist in

64、real life. Little Eva is full of Christian love, like a good guardian angel. When little Eva hears Pruces tragic story by accident, her heart is bleeding and doesnt want to go out to play again for the terrible story “sinks into her heart” 14. When Uncle Tom finds little Eva hear the story and sees the expressions on her face, he is so nervous. Because he realizes such terrible story will exert lifelong hurt on a pure heart. In little Evas pure heart, there is no racial