Whitewashing Uncle Tom's cabin

By Joy Jordan-Lake

Book Description

This penetrating examination reveals how literature became a battleground for competing moral visions in nineteenth-century America. Joy Jordan-Lake uncovers the deliberate efforts of women writers who sought to challenge Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential work by embedding what she terms a "theology of whiteness" within their own novels.

Through careful analysis, Jordan-Lake demonstrates how these authors attempted to defend and justify slavery through their fiction, yet paradoxically exposed the fundamental contradictions within their own arguments. Their proslavery narratives ultimately revealed the moral bankruptcy of their position, undermining the very cause they sought to champion.

The book extends its scope beyond the antebellum period, exploring how plantation mythology has persisted and been reimagined in contemporary fiction. This broader perspective illuminates enduring patterns of how literature can both perpetuate and challenge systems of oppression.

For readers engaged in spiritual and ethical development, this work offers profound insights into the relationship between moral conviction and creative expression. Jordan-Lake's analysis reveals how the pursuit of economic advantage at the expense of human dignity creates spiritual and ethical disasters that reverberate across generations.

This scholarly yet accessible exploration invites readers to examine how narratives shape our understanding of justice, compassion, and human worth. It challenges us to recognize how literature can either serve as a tool for moral awakening or become complicit in perpetuating harm.

Who Is This For?

📖 Reading Level: Medium (200-400 pages) (~6 hours)

📄 Length: 204 pages

What You'll Discover

✓ Explore Women and literature
✓ Explore Women authors
✓ Explore American fiction, history and criticism, 19th century
✓ Explore Slavery in literature
✓ Explore Intellectual life.
✓ Explore Stowe, harriet beecher, 1811-1896
✓ Explore History
✓ Explore African Americans in literature

Topics Covered

Women and literature Women authors American fiction, history and criticism, 19th century Slavery in literature Intellectual life. Stowe, harriet beecher, 1811-1896 History African Americans in literature White authors In literature American fiction, history and criticism United states, history, 19th century United states, intellectual life Plantation life in literature History and criticism Slaves in literature American fiction, women authors American fiction Intellectual life White Women