The Evils of Slavery

Slavery is a major topic of the book. The book is about slavery but it specifically tells the reader of the evils of slavery. There are many moments throughout the book where slavery is mentioned. There is a lot of racism in this book. The slave owners are all money hungry people. The only decent slave owner in the book is George Shelby. He is a nice owner who says that will let all his slaves free when he dies. Everybody else treats the slaves like animals. The book was written after the law for runaway slaves was passed. It was illegal for anyone to help slaves in the 1800s. This book demonstrates the evil of slavery by giving examples of runaway slaves that needed help.

Emancipation of Slavery

“It was on his grave, my friends, that I resolved, before God, that I would never own another slave while it was possible to free him-that nobody, through me, should ever run the risk of being parted from home and friends and dying on a lonely plantation, as he died. So when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and pay it back in kindness to his wife and children. Think of your freedom every time you see UNCLE TOM’S CABIN. And let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was.” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Page 434)
This is the last paragraph in the book. When George Shelby returns home he tells all the slaves that he will pay them and that when he dies they will all be free. He says the reason for their freedom is Uncle Tom. Tom had a very big impact on Shelby’s life. Shelby looks at Uncle Tom’s Cabin where he was taken away from his family. He tells his slaves to look at Uncle Tom’s Cabin when they think of freedom. This book ends sort of on a happy note because the slaves get emancipation but Uncle Tom dies which isn’t good. But overall the book has a happy ending.

Slavery Is Not In The Bible

“And he showed how all the orders and distinctions in society came from God, and that it was so appropriate, you know, and beautiful, that some should be high and some low, and that some were born to rule and some to serve, and all that, you know. And he applied it so well to all this ridiculous fuss that is made about slavery, and he proved distinctly that the Bible was on or side, and supported all our institutions so convincingly. I only wish you’d heard him.” (Page 182-183)
In this quote Mrs. St. Claire is talking about her beliefs about slavery. She is saying that slavery is needed. She believes the Bible says that slavery is not an option and that God made slavery for a reason. Her husband however disagrees saying that slavery is just there for convenience. It isn’t really needed; it just makes white people’s lives easier. Miss Ophelia the maid of the St. Claire house has a different opinion about slaves. She doesn’t think slaves should not be a degraded race. She doesn’t love slaves but she doesn’t believe slavery is a good thing.

Seperating Families Through Slave Trading

“‘They want to sell the boy and the old woman together,’ said the man. ‘Find a tight pull-why, she’s an old rack o’ bones, not worth her salt.’ ‘You wouldn’t be then?’ said the man. ‘Anybody’d be a fool ’twould. She’s half blind, crooked with rheumatis, and foolish to boot.’” (Page 121, Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
In this chapter Haley is in his wagon with Tom going around buying more slaves. In this scene he is trying to buy a young boy named Albert without his mother coming with him. Haley seems to like to separate families apart. He doesn’t really care if he buys a son and leaves the mother behind. He sees black people as just property which is despicable. In this chapter Haley buys more slaves and separates them from their families. He buys a man named John and doesn’t give him a chance to say bye to his wife. He also buys a women and her infant and sells the infant to another slave trader. The mother commits suicide because of this. Haley shows no emotion and puts her name under the losses category.

Uncle Tom's Personality

“Tom was sitting very mournfully while this conversation was going on. Suddenly he heard the quick, short click of a horse’s hoofs behind him, and before he could fairly awake from his surprise, young Master George sprang into the wagon, threw his arms round his neck, and was sobbing and scolding with energy.” (Page 101, Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
In this chapter Tom is being taken away by Haley, the slave trader. Uncle Tom is very sad and depressed that he is being taken away from the Shelby’s plantation. In this quote George Shelby is chasing after Tom to tell him good bye. He finds Tom and a tavern and gives him a hug and starts crying. It seems as if the slave trader has grown attached to his slave like a friend. Their relationship is not slave owner and slave. They are actually friends and they respect each other. In the south there was no such thing as white people and black people being friends. There were slaves and slave owners. Uncle Tom seems to have a big impact on people because of his kind gentle nature. Uncle Tom is one of the nicest people in the book even though he is being forced to work for no pay. He doesn’t get mad at anyone he just says “let god have mercy on them”.

Anyone Could Save a Life or Two

“When they had gained the top of the bank, the man paused. ‘I'd be glad to do something for ye,’ said he, ‘but then there's nowhar I could take ye. The best I can do is to tell ye to go thar’ said he, pointing to a large white house which stood by itself, off the main street of the village. ‘Go thar. They're kind folks. Thar's no kind o' danger but they'll help you—they're up to all that sort o' thing.’ ‘The Lord bless you!’ said Eliza earnestly. ‘No 'casion, no 'casion in the world,’ said the man. ‘What I've done's of no 'count.’ ‘And oh, surely sir, you won't tell anyone!’” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Page 64)
In this chapter Haley the slave trader is searching for Eliza and Harry the runaway slave. After being told about the sale Mrs. Shelby doesn’t want Haley to own her slaves. She and Mr. Shelby are shown as very nice considerate people. In this scene Eliza is trying to escape Haley and she falls in a river. Mr. Symmes, a farmer, hears her cries for help. He says he can’t do much for her except tell her that she can go to a nearby house where the white people will help her. This quote shows the reader that not every person in the south was pro slavery. There were many people against slavery and helped runaway slaves. This kind of relates to the Jews when they needed help from people except people that helped Jews faced dire consequences where as in the south people that helped runaway slaves would not experience many consequences. By having helped Eliza and Harry escape Tom now has to be sold alone for 1000 dollars.

Jim Crow

“ 'Come here, Jim Crow,’ said he. The child came up, and the master patted the curly head and chucked him under the chin. ‘Now, Jim, show this gentleman how you can dance and sing.’ The boy at once commenced a wild, grotesque song common among the Negroes, in a rich, clear voice, accompanying his singing with many comic movements of the hands, feet, and whole body, all in perfect time to the music.” (Page 3, Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
Here is a talented young boy and he is being sold as a slave to another master. The name of this boy is actually Harry but he is called Jim Crow which is a very familiar name. This gives the reader an understanding of where the Jim Crow Laws originated from. It is said that Jim Crow was a dance that white people would do to make fun of black people. Here the boy’s nickname is really Jim Crow. The master has him dance and sing to impress the buyer. It seems cruel that the boy is being forced to act like a circus animal. Mr. Shelby is the slave owner that is selling him and Tom to another slave owner named Haley. Mr. Shelby has a heart and he is not a mean slave owner. He still is pro slavery but he doesn’t treat his slave with cruelty like Haley does. However in this one part he makes the boy dance to sell him to settle his debts. Slavery was wrong no matter how it is looked upon. The slave owner could be nice but he is still a slave owner which doesn’t make him a saint. This book shows the reader that there were differences between the slave owners in the south.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is about a black slave that is sold many times in the book with no problem. He is one of the few slaves that can read and he makes a very big impact on a white girl that he saves from drowning. I read a short version of this book in seventh grade and it was on of the best books I ever read. The short version was hard to read because it was in old English with many grammatical mistakes. Harriet Beecher Stowe does a great job of representing the life of slaves back in the 1700s and 1800s and she makes Tom seem like the hero of the book. Tom may not have powers or super strength but his intelligence is what makes him a hero in this book. This book is what started the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln says, “So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that made this Great War.” Stowe’s book showed the evils of slavery throughout the world. She showed people how horrible it was that her people were being treated like animals. This is a book that should at least be heard of by anyone that knows about racism and slavery.

Invisible Black Community

At the end of the book in the last chapter a riot breaks out in Harlem because of the Brotherhood. The narrator goes to see what is happening and he sees that his brotherhood brethren are the cause of the riot. Police come to the scene shooting at the black people for causing the riot. Rocks are being thrown around, shots are being fired, and fights are breaking out. The narrator is being chased by his own people. There is violence within the black community. The black people use each other to get what they want. There are many cases where people are being used. The brotherhood uses the narrator for their plans and the narrator uses a woman for his plans. The brotherhoods plan the whole time was to have the black community turn their backs to each other. The narrator was the cause of the black people fighting each other. His speeches that he made throughout the book were all a plan from the brotherhood to get the riot started. The brotherhood sold out their own people by starting this riot. Why would anyone sell out their own race? Maybe it was money and power? The narrator sees the reason there is racism is because of people like the brotherhood. The white man sees this senseless fighting as primitive and believes that blacks should not be given an identity. He believes black people are just pawns of the white supremacists. The black people are unimportant in the white community. They are invisible to the white people. Back in that time most black people were invisible men through the eyes of the racist whites.

Dancing Dolls

“A grinning doll of orange and black tissue paper with thin flat cardboard disks forming its head and feet and which some mysterious mechanism was causing to move up and down in a loose-jointed, shoulder-shaking, infuriatingly sensuous motion, a dance that was completely detached from the black, mask-like face. It’s no jumping-jack, but what, I thought, seeing the doll throwing itself about with the fierce defiance of someone performing a degrading act in public, dancing as though it received a perverse pleasure from its motions. And beneath the chuckles of the crowd I could hear the swishing of its ruffled paper, while the same out-of-the-corner-of-the-mouth voice continued to spiel.” (Page 326)
The narrator is in Harlem buying some new shoes when he sees a crowd of people. He approaches them and he sees that they are watching a man show of his dancing black dolls. These dolls are stereotypical because they dance in odd ways when the string is pulled. The narrator finds this very degrading and he wants to destroy the dolls. The person that is selling these dolls is a person from the brotherhood named Tod Clifton. The brotherhood’s own people are selling them out. This stereotype really enrages the narrator. He sees one of the dolls in the street but he doesn’t step on it. He picks it up and wonders why his brotherhood friend was doing this. It could probably have been that he wanted money. Would you degrade your own race to make a few extra dollars?

The Brotherhood

“This is advice from a friend who has been watching you closely. Do not go too fast. Keep working for the people but remember that you are one of us and do not forget if you get too big they will cut you down. You are from the South ad you know that this is a white man’s world. So take a friendly advice and go easy so that you can keep on helping the colored people. They do not want you to go too fast and will cut you down if you do. Be smart.” (Invisible Man, Page 289)
The narrator is a member of the Brotherhood. The brotherhood is group of black people fighting against the white oppression. There are also white people in the brotherhood and they also fight against white racism. This quote shows that no matter what white people think they are on top. It says in the quote that it is a white man’s world and that the narrator should be careful as to what he says. This quote is actually a letter to the narrator to be careful or else he will be cut from the brotherhood. This letter is meant to have the narrator be checked upon. They want to control the narrator and his identity. This letter confuses the narrator because he does not know where it’s from. Do you believe this letter is from a white man or a black man?

The Solution to Beauty and Happiness

“I passed on to a window decorated with switches of wiry false hair, ointments guaranteed to produce the miracle of whitening black skin. ‘You too can be truly beautiful,’ a sign proclaimed. ‘Win greater happiness with whiter complexion. Be outstanding in you social set.’ I hurried on, suppressing a savage urge to push my fist through the pane.”(Invisible Man, Page 199)
The narrator is walking around the streets of Harlem because he got bored of reading books and decided to take a stroll. As he was walking he was passing by through many signs and statues. He walks by a beauty shop and sees the sign that talks about whiter skin being the way to happiness and beauty. When reading this the narrator becomes and angry wants to punch the sign and break it. This is an example of white racism saying that white skin is better then colored skin. They are trying to make black people have a whiter complexion with their products. Usually the narrator is a pushover and he would just accept the sign. But after the accident when he lost his memory he felt more free and was mad at the sign. This showed that he wasn’t ashamed to be black. He sees the evils of white society towards black people. The narrator finally sees that he has given up so much on life because of white society. He used to do whatever society told him to do but now he actually has a mind of his own and able to see the racism going on in the world. If you had seen that sign and you were black would you be offended?

Harlem's black community

The narrator finally moves to Harlem from the south. Harlem is a completely different world to him. There is less racism in Harlem. When he arrives there he sees many black people with regular jobs such as cashiers and policemen. He is shocked by this because he wouldn’t see something like this in the south. White people are nicer in Harlem too.
However the narrator is still a little bit self conscious. He is afraid because of his skin color that he will not make it in Harlem as if he had a better chance in the south.



“White folks were funny; Mr. Bates might not wish to see a Negro the first thing in the morning. I turned and walked down the hall and looked out of the window. I would wait awhile.” (Invisible Man, Page 126)
In this passage he is meeting up with a white man for a job interview because he needed a job to survive. He is scared that the interviewer might not hire him because he is black. The narrator thinks that the white man doesn’t want to see a black man right away in the morning. The narrator actually degrades his race by doing this. He shouldn’t be intimidated by a white man because of his skin color. It doesn’t seem as if the narrator cares too much about racism. He just does whatever he thinks is right and he thinks obeying white people is right. But by doing that he is only setting his people one hundred years back.

Job Interview In Harlem

The narrator finally moves to Harlem from the south. Harlem is a completely different world to him. There is less racism in Harlem. When he arrives there he sees many black people with regular jobs such as cashiers and policemen. He is shocked by this because he wouldn’t see something like this in the south. White people are nicer in Harlem too.
However the narrator is still a little bit self conscious. He is afraid because of his skin color that he will not make it in Harlem as if he had a better chance in the south.

“White folks were funny; Mr. Bates might not wish to see a Negro the first thing in the morning. I turned and walked down the hall and looked out of the window. I would wait awhile.”
In this passage he is meeting up with a white man for a job interview because he needed a job to survive. He is scared that the interviewer might not hire him because he is black. The narrator thinks that the white man doesn’t want to see a black man right away in the morning. The narrator actually degrades his race by doing this. He shouldn’t be intimidated by a white man because of his skin color. It doesn’t seem as if the narrator cares too much about racism. He just does whatever he thinks is right and he thinks obeying white people is right. But by doing that he is only setting his people one hundred years back.

Fighting to Survive

Invisible Man is a compelling story that deals with racism and violence to black people in the south and New York. In chapter one the story grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Right from the beginning the story is tense and interesting.
“But as we tried to leave we were stopped and ordered to get into the ring. There was nothing to do but what we were told. All ten of us climbed under the ropes and allowed ourselves to be blindfolded with broad bands of white cloth. One of the men seemed to feel a bit sympathetic and tried to cheer us up as we stood with our backs against the ropes. Some of us tried to grin.” (Invisible Man, Page 17)
Chapter one takes place in a hotel. The narrator goes to the hotel to give his speech to the white men that own the town. He is asked to join the entertainment. Little did he know that he was going to be the entertainment. He and some other black men were at a boxing ring watching heavy weight champs fight. Then when they were done the black men were told to fight each other all at the same time. The black men had no choice. They had to obey the white men. They were all blindfolded and they started fighting each other nearly to death. The narrator was the second to last one standing. He got knocked out by a bigger person. The reader can see that the racism already starts from here. The white men have all the power and they can tell the black men whatever they want because they have the authority. The black men didn’t even say anything back to the white men. They just did what they were told because they were scared of them. What happened in this quote is cruel. The white men acted as if they were in Roman times in a coliseum. They watched other men fight each other just for their amusement. Do you think that making the black men fight each other was racist or not?

Invisible Man

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison



Invisible Man talks about a black man’s life in a white world. When it was published in 1952 it was a shocking book when it came out. Nowadays it is an important work of literature because it talks about the hardships of a black man in the south. This book is about a young man’s journey in the south to the streets of New York. As the book goes on the man learns more about the world and starts to have a very different views. This book reveals racism in the U.S.The book starts of with the main characters telling the reader how no one can see him because he is invisible to them. They bump into him as if they don’t even see him. He keeps getting disrespected by people so he doesn’t stand for it anymore. One night he confronts a man for knocking him down on the ground. The invisible man pulls a knife on the man making the man think badly about his race. The white probably thought of him and his people as a violent race. Right at the beginning you can see the racism already starting to form.

Family Reunion

The book ends on a happy note even though it started out with racism and violence. As the years passed by the characters seemed to mature and the violence and racism was starting to fade away. Celie writes her last letter to God, the stars, the sky, the people and everything else. She writes this letter as if it were a prayer. The last letter basically sums up everything they have gone through in the story and how it all turned out. It is about a homecoming of Nettie, Olivia, and Adam. These were the people that were in Africa the whole time the story took place. Celie finally sees her children for the first time. They all have a big family reunion on the Fourth of July. Celie ends the letter by saying Amen. The reader can see that one strong black woman was able to withstand violence and racism from almost everyone in the book. Racism still goes on today but it isn’t as bad as it was back when this story took place.

Racism Since The Beginning Of Man

“When the missionaries got to the part bout Adam and Eve being naked, the Olinka peoples nearly bust out laughing. Especially when the missionaries tried to make them put on clothes because of this. They tried to explain to the missionaries that it was they who put Adam and Eve out of the village because they was naked. Their word for naked is white. But since they are covered by color they are not naked. They said anybody looking at a white person can tell they naked but black people can not be naked because they can be white.” (The Color Purple, Page 240)
This is the 83rd chapter in the book. In this part of the chapter Nettie is explaining in her letter the Olinka version of Adam and Eve. Usually people think that white people are the ones being racist when it is also people of color being racist too. They claim that Adam was the firs white man not the first man. They believed that black people were there before white people. The missionaries explain that Adam was naked and the Olinka burst out laughing saying that Adam was white and being white made you naked while being colored did not make you naked. The Olinka say that the black people kicked Adam out of the Garden of Eden because he was white. Because of this the white people think of black people as snakes and want to get back at them. It is true that whites were racist against blacks back in that time but black people in Africa thought very highly of themselves saying that they were the first people and they were better then white people which made the white people racist towards them. Do you think it is still like that today? Do races think they are better then other races?

Racism Around the World

“Two white men came yesterday and spent a couple of hours strolling about the village, mainly looking at the wells. Such is the innate politeness of the Olinka that they rushed about preparing food for them, though precious little is left, since many of the gardens that flourish at this time of the year have been destroyed. And the white men sat eating as if the food was beneath notice.
It is understood by the Olinka that nothing good is likely to come from the same persons who destroyed their houses, but custom dies hard. I did not speak to the men myself, but Samuel did. He said their talk was all of workers, kilometers of land, rainfall, seedlings, machinery, and whatnot. One seemed totally indifferent to the people around him - simply eating and then smoking and staring off into the distance – and other, somewhat younger, appeared to be enthusiastic about learning the language. Before, he says, it dies out.” (The Color Purple, 173)

This passage is from one of Nettie’s letters to Celie talking about her life in Africa with the Olinka tribe. In this passage the reader can see a little bit of racism from the two white men that are mentioned. It’s not only America where black people are treated unfairly; it’s everywhere else where there are black people. White people believe that they are superior no matter what. We see that in this passage. Two white men were strolling around the village and the Olinka were rushing to make a special dinner for them because they were white. The white men did not even like food. It was given to them for free in a hurry to satisfy them but it didn’t. One of the white men wanted to learn the Olinka language before it died out. This to me seems that he didn’t believe the Olinka were going to survive. He probably thought the white man would take over and that would be the end of the Olinka tribe. If you were in the Olinka tribe would you make food for the white man that is going to destroy your tribe?

Now I've seen everything!

“What can I tell you about New York-or even about the train that took us there! We had to ride in the sit-down section of the train, but Celie, there are beds on trains! And a restaurant! And toilets! The beds come down out of the walls, over the tops of the seats, and are called berths. Only white people can ride in the beds and use the restaurant. And they have different toilets from colored.One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going-we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.” (The Color Purple, Page 126)
In this chapter Nettie is writing a letter to Celie saying that she is going to Africa with her missionary friends. In this quote she tells her about New York and we see a perfect example of racism and segregation in this quote. Nettie is saying how the trains in Africa have all these features such as toilets, beds, restaurants, and berths (seats that turn into beds). However these luxuries are only for the white people. The black people had their own train carts. This is a perfect example of the Jim Crow Laws. Separate but equal. These features are separate but are they really equal. The white passengers had berths and clean toilets and were able to use the restaurants in the train while the black people had their own dirty bathrooms and could not use the restaurants. This quote shows that black people did not have the luxuries that white people. Another example of racism in this quote is when Nettie and her missionary friends meet a white man. The white man asks where they are going and they tell him that they are going to Africa. When they tell him this he says “Niggers going to Africa now I have seen everything”. He is disgusted and tickled. Why would he be disgusted by black people going to Africa?