VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
GRADUATION PAPER
THE CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND VALUES SEEN
IN SOME TYPICAL CHARACTERS
IN THE NOVEL “UNCLE TOM’S CABIN”
BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
Supervisor: MA. VĂN THỊ THANH BÌNH
Student: NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG CHI
Course: QH2010. F1. E4
HANOI, 2014

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH
KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP
NIỀM TIN VÀ GIÁ TRỊ ĐẠO CƠ-ĐỐC
ĐƯỢC THỂ HIỆN TRONG MỘT SỐ NHÂN VẬT
TIÊU BIỂU Ở TÁC PHẨM “TÚP LỀU BÁC TÔM”
CỦA HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
Giáo viên hướng dẫn: THẠC SĨ VĂN THỊ THANH BÌNH
Sinh viên: NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG CHI
Khóa: QH2010.F1.E4
HÀ NỘI - 2014
ACCEPTANCE PAGE
I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Phương Chi, being a candidate for the
degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirement of College relating
to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the
library.

author’s view point related to Christianity being expressed in some typical
characters, Harriet Beecher Stowe has appealed the reader’s sense of morality,
religion and emotion. Used as a weapon to appeal the public for slavery
abolishment, this novel is considered as one of the most influential cultural
events or factors that precipitated the movement to finally end slavery in the
United States.
This graduation paper focuses on the Christian beliefs and values seen
in some typical characters in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet
Beecher Stowe. It concludes three parts. The first one deals with the rationale,
aim and scope of the study. It also identifies the methods to be applied and the
structure of the study. Part two is the main content of the study divided into
five chapters. The first one mentions the literature review of the study, in
which attention is paid to the definition of the fiction as well as elements of
the fiction. The second one investigates Christianity’s beliefs and values. In
the next two chapters, the study focuses on the historical, social issues, the
author and some information about the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The last
one in part two expresses the Christian values and beliefs seen in some typical
character in this novel.
Finally, part three is not only a brief summary of the thesis but also a
general remark on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Christian beliefs and values.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENT 1
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
RATIONALE 1
AIM OF THE STUDY 2
SCOPE OF THE STUDY 2
METHODOLOGY 3

5.1 Belief – life after death 19
5.2 Appreciated values 24
5.2.1 Faith 25
5.2.2 Compassion 31
5.2.3 Forgiveness and sacrifice 39
PART III: CONCLUSION 43
ISSUES ADDRESSED IN THE STUDY 43
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 44
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 44
REFERENCES 45
PART I: INTRODUCTION
RATIONALE
The more the society develops, the better spiritual life will be improved
so the roles and values of literature in life of human beings are more and more
appreciated. Thanks to literature, people accumulate plenty of invaluable
knowledge for themselves about culture, people, society and history of
mankind. Through literary works - the "spiritual child" of the authors, the
pictures of labor force, struggle of our ancestors are depicted as a vivid film.
Literature is always a powerful and magical mirror reflecting almost every
aspect of human life and it is a window into many realities of different people
who live in different society. Besides, being an "encyclopedia", literature
expresses the whole gamut of emotions, from sadness to anger, love to
passion. Therefore, that is the reason why the researcher is always fond of
literature and without hesitance, chooses it as her graduation paper.
Among talented American writers, the researcher is very attracted to
and impressed by Harriet Beecher Stowe – one of the most prominent
American writers. In her life time, she had witnessed many social and
political upheavals in American happening in the nineteenth century such as
the serious racial problem, the passage of the new Fugitive Slave Law in 1850
and etc. With the view point related to Christian spirit, to reveal the cruelty of

SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The Christian beliefs and values can be seen in a large number of
factors such as plot, theme and setting of the novel, but the study focuses only
on some typical Christ-like characters and non-Christian characters. Firstly,
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this beliefs and values are showed in the two protagonists’ belief of life after
death. Secondly, the teachings in Bible are also revealed in characters’
virtues like unshakable Christian sense of faith and unrelenting compassion.
Finally, the study focuses on the forgiveness and sacrifice of two Christian
characters – Uncle Tom and Evangeline.
METHODOLOGY
So as to successfully complete the tasks mentioned above, my attention
will be paid to read the novel both English and Vietnamese. Besides, finding
out the historical and social issues as well as the background of the novel to
deeply understand about the content of this masterpiece is required.
In order to investigate the Christianity’s basics and values, in the next
step, I collect the data related to this issue from different materials such as
books, literature critiques, online journals, and previous studies relating to the
topic. The Internet is use as a source because of the limitless of the
networking of resources. Sources used from the Internet were written by
professionals in their fields and published on reliable sites or on professional
organizational sites. Instructors at the University of Language and
International Studies in Hanoi were also consulted.
Upon collecting the targeted data, careful analysis shall be done with
the most suitable and reliable information chosen. Finally, all of them will be
synthesized and to reflected in this study before coming to the conclusion.
ORGANIZATION
This graduation paper concludes three parts. The first one deals with
the rationale, aim and scope of the study. It also identifies the methods to be
applied and the structure of the study.

perspective on life which has strong attraction and appeal to the readers.
Sequence of events and changes are formed primarily based on the character's
actions and are organized by causality or revealing meaning relationships. On
this basis, each author in each literature work builds a separate method.
Therefore, comprehending the plot is not the way to understand what the story
is telling about, but the intent and messages of the author.
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1.2.2 Character
Character is the most important factor in each literary work. Goethe –
the great German writer points out that human is the most interesting thing for
people whereas M. Gorki believes that literature is anthropology. Indeed,
human is the major factor of literature. People are depicted in the literature are
called literary characters. “Character” is a concept used to describe the
individual image in literature work which the writer was aware and re-created
by different means of personal lingual artistic. The common elements of a
character include: name, origin, language, action, psychology, personality,
destiny and so on. Thanks to character with words and interactive actions, the
plot is formed. It is seen as a key for the writer to step into the real world,
approach new themes and subject, describe and generalize different types of
social personality. Therefore, the protagonist reflects ideal and theme of the
work and show the conception of human and philosophy of life of the writer.
Moreover, describing the appearance is a useful measure which the
writer uses to reveal the appearance, position and the nature of certain
characters. Besides, the appearance and the form of each person have personal
and identifiable characteristics, which help readers, distinguish one person
from another. Furthermore, through description of appearance, the expression
of innermost feeling and personality of characters is depicted clearer. For
example, in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, Harriet Beecher Stowe described
Haley is the person “in a gaudy vest of many colors, a blue neckerchief, […]
with yellow spots”. Besides, his hands “[are] plentifully bedecked with rings;

work.
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Normally when mentioning the setting of a story, it is often thought that
this consists of time and place. However, it should be understood that setting
refers to all of the physical aspects of the story including the geographical
location, natural, social, cultural, spiritual environment in which writer let his
characters live and do their different interactions. Settings may be the means
of creating atmosphere, revealing character and reinforcing theme. Besides,
these elements of settings have the function of revealing the true value of a
certain society and writer’s attitudes toward that society.
1.2.4 Theme
What object in life is usually reflected and described when the writers
compose a novel. The readers often see the landscape, the people or the
specific event in literature works The framework of the phenomenon, the
mood or feeling set out in the work is considered to be the theme.
Theme is an aspect of a story that binds together various essential
elements of novel. Theme gives readers better understanding of the main
character’s conflicts, experiences, discoveries and emotions as they are
derived from them. Through themes, a writer tries to give his readers an
insight into how the world works or how he or she views human life. Jane
Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is a good example. It has a theme of
matrimony around which the whole narrative revolves as well as love,
friendship, affectation and etc.
CHAPTER II: CHRISTIANITY’S BASIC BELIEFS AND VALUES
2.1 Belief – life after death
The Bible is a book mentioning Jesus' teachings about human life. This
book preaches Christians how to experience eternality in life after death, and
also how to enjoy an abundant life on earth like Christian belief. In life after
death, Christians believe that one day God will raise all the people who have
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Besides faith and compassion, forgiveness and sacrifice are appreciated
virtues are seen in each Christian. According to the Bible, God provides ways
to deliverance from sin and spiritual death through repentance and faith.
Christian belief is mentioned that forgiveness and salvation is offered to all
people and comes only by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ and His
resurrection from the dead. Jesus said that there is no place for hatred, holding
a grudge, revenge, retaliation or getting even in the life of a Christian: “Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of
your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Scott, 2008, p.91).
Therefore, forgiveness and sacrifice are the gift of God to all who personally
put their faith in Jesus as their sin-bearer.
CHAPTER III: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
3.1 Slavery in Southern States of the U.S.A
In the first half of nineteenth century as well as throughout its history,
the diversity and the vast of the young nation had made difficulty for the
unification and led to a contradiction: America was a society that has both
love of freedom and institution of slavery, a national that had territorial
expansion and the original territory and a society that composed of urban
forming on the basis of commercial development and industrialization. The
disagreement in the interpretation of the Constitution and the legitimacy of
U.S. banks, the expenditures of the federal government and a protective tariff
build up the tension between the North and the South. However, the most
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stressful and persistent problem was still slave ownership. Slavery was an
institution being formed and caused tension between the two domains.
Slavery itself was a controversial and provoked issue about both
emotion and morality in Southern States. Although about three quarters the
white population in the South did not have slaves, in general, the whites in the
South advocated slavery. Becoming planters and slave owners were the

new states were entering the Union that did not permit citizens to own slaves,
because the more "free" states that entered the Union, the weaker Southerners'
influence in the Federal government would become. Therefore, slavery was a
major cause in the Civil War because it was a cog in the wheel of all the
social - economic - and political issues for the Civil War.
3.3 Movement of anti-slavery
During the 1930s and 1940s, the North had witnessed a disturbance in
both social reform and the life of intellectuals and religion. There were many
movements happening in order to fight for justice, women's rights, gender
equality movement, and social improvement through education and religious
activities. However, the most revolutionary movement was the holy war
against the institution of slavery. The holy war developed and awoke cultural
and moral feelings as well as drew attention to the economic and social
aspects in the North.
Southerners were opposed to most of the reforms and considered that
they were only cliché theories so they lapsed more and more into conservative
thinking. Specifically, the abolition of slave was rejected in the South. They
began to see that slave is a good and honest thing instead of a sin. Baptist
(always quote scripture to justify the institution of slavery) had become a
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solid fortress protecting the Southern culture. In the North, there were many
people follow abolitionist; most of them were the Methodist, Quaker and in
congregation, especially among women activists. Two major religions in the
United States, Baptist and Methodist, were divided into several distinct
branches between the North and the South. Presbyterian Church divided into
two schools of thought and brings the social and theological being different as
night and day.
In the nineteenth century, The Second Great Awakening was a
Protestant revival movement which affected the entire nation made the church
system growth quickly. This movement started around 1790; after 1820

4.1.1 The author’s life
A 19
th
century female novelist and abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811 - 1896) was born in a Christian family at Litchfield, Connecticut on the
14
th
of June 1811. Her father, Lyman Beecher was one of America’s most
celebrated clergymen and the principal spokesman for Calvinism in the 19
th
century. He dedicated his whole life to his religion and to help others.
Affected by her father and her brothers since Stowe was still young, she was a
pious Christianity. Intellectual community in New England made her spend
time in the most her childhood. Received the formal education at Hartford
Female Seminary which had been opened and operated by her sister, Stowe
wrote some religious articles when she was nine and became a teacher at
seminary after graduating. In 1832, because her father had accepted a position
as president of Lane Theological Seminary, Stowe accompanied her father
and Beecher family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. While being here, she fell in
love and got married with Calvin Stowe, a professor at the seminary.
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Naturally, a woman with such dominant Christian background is doomed to
be pious Christian. Therefore, understanding deeply of the Bible and the Bible
or God guided her thoughts and deeds all through her life.
4.1.2 The author’s writing career
In Mrs. Stowe’s writing career the most famous masterpiece is “Uncle
Tom’s Cabin”. As a woman of letters, she made great achievements and her
works are far more than “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. In 1843 she published The
Mayflower, a collection of tales and sketches. In Brunswick, she wrote for
serial publication in The National Era, an anti-slavery paper of Washington,

Cabin” was the first social protest novel published in the United States. In
analyses of “Uncle Tom's Cabin”, many critics feel that Stowe's writing was
deeply influenced by the fact that her father, husband, and brothers were all
ministers. Because she was a woman and therefore could not preach, Stowe
let her Christianity inspire her first, most important and influential novel.
Stowe was also inspired by her personal experience with the antislavery
movement during her childhood on the northern side of the Ohio River, a
border between slave states and freedom. With the urging of her sister-in-law,
Stowe decided to use her writing skills to further the abolitionist, or anti-
slavery, cause. Thus, Uncle Tom's Cabin was born.
It began as a series of stories throughout 1851-52 for the National Era,
a Washington abolitionist newspaper. Upon its publication in 1852 by the
Boston publishing company Jewett, Uncle Tom's Cabin became so popular
that it sold more copies than any book before that with the exception of the
Bible. Stowe toured the United States and Europe to speak against slavery and
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wrote A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin a year later, in 1853, to provide
documentation of the truth upon which her novel is based.
Today, Uncle Tom's Cabin is valued because it raises still pertinent
issues of racism in the United States, as well as inspiring feminist thought on
the role of women and the conjunction of race and sex. Some criticize the
novel, however, for being racist because of its sentimental and stereotypical
characterizations of slaves. The triumph of the novel is not that it shows the
widespread experience of slavery in the South, but rather that it portrays the
personal tragedies the system caused. So too, Uncle Tom's Cabin challenged
Northerners to end their hypocrisy and recognize their participation in the
propagation of slavery. Moreover, it argued that slaves were not property, but
human beings with emotions like those of the readers. For this reason, Stowe
chose to portray intimate stories to show the harm being done to individual
humans. To the modern reader, Uncle Tom's Cabin may appear over-

into the hands of Simon Legree, an evil and bitter plantation. On Legree's
plantation, Tom meets two fellow slaves, Emmeline and Cassy. Legree has
planned to turn Tom into a brutal overseer, and when he thinks that Tom will
not participate in cruelty, he becomes enraged and takes out his wrath on
Tom.
At last, when Tom protects two female slaves from being captured, he
is beaten to death by Legree. His body is bought by his former master’s son –
Geogre Shelby. Cassy and Emmeline eventually escape and they are reunited
with their family in Canada – a free country. George Shelby gives all the
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