Questions
Part 1
Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin is clearly an abolitionist text, it shows the horrors of slavery and the degrading conditions of African-Americans in the nineteenth century. The dialogue in the play has many insulting epithets directed at the slaves, and used by them as well, which reveal the roots of racism today. For most of us, this is a painful reading. So, my question this week is: why should a play like this be on a course about Western drama/theatre taught in Canada? What can it hope to teach us both formally and content-wise?
Part 2
What identifies Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a melodrama? What are the situations and characters that show “unambiguous moral contrasts” (Norton Anthology 56)? How is the excessive sentimentality demonstrated? Please cite from the dialogue and/or stage directions to support your answer.
The Norton Anthology 56 page reference which discusses Melodrama can be found in the “Files’
Uncle Tom’s cabin, or, Life among the lowly a domestic drama in six acts can be found in :
Sample Solution
