Column – ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ still packs a punch
January 3, 2013 at 6:00 pm in Alexandria Echo Press
When Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, met President Abraham Lincoln in the White House, the great man supposedly said to her, “So you are the little lady who helped start this big war.” Continue Reading
It’s an inconvenient truth that people’s opinions are shaped by melodramatic novels. Having heard it was a hokey melodrama and knowing it had spawned negative stereotypes, yet never have read it is so characteristic of the way media is used to shape opinions and influence policy. A Silent Spring documented the misuse of DDT and led to it’s ban and millions of Africans die from malaria that properly applied DDT could save. Orson Wells “War of the Worlds” led to widespread panic and impending doom and “Jaws” kept beaches empty in the 70′s. Hitler used propaganda to demonize certain classes to unify people against them while his underlying agenda moved forward. Just as in todays world, the producers are pictured as the villains and the parasites are depicted as victims. So, as a student of literature, one should be aware of the use of it as a tool to shape opinion. Of course, one needs to know the difference between fiction and reality. A skill that is disappearing today.
Like or Dislike:
13 
2