해리엇 비쳐 스토우의 『톰 아저씨의 오두막』에 나타난 모성중심적 기독교 사회 개혁론

Abstract

This thesis explores the denunciation of slavery and the vision for Christian maternal society shown in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe, who had grown up in puritan surroundings, had a dream of establishing America as an ideal Christian country. However, when the government passed the Fugitive Slave Act which was directly against the egalitarian principle of Christianity, she criticized the American society including the free states that approved the slavery through her novel. Furthermore, Stowe noticed the close relationship between slavery and patriarch value. Instead of arguing for a return to an ideal puritan society based on patriarchy, she suggested a new ideal Christian society founded on maternity which would only be possible through the abolition of slavery. In this respect, this thesis investigates Stowe’s social reform through female-centered, Christian view, that starts from a criticism on the society to an suggestion for a construction of an ideal society. Stowe views slavery as a cardinal sin and condemns the secularization of Christianity that approved slavery. She believes that advocating slavery by passing the Fugitive Slave Act meant that America society chose egoism, materialism, and rationalism instead of Christianity. She demonstrated that slavery can never be virtuous by describing how the black people suffered while the white people became corrupted under slavery. For Stowe, abolishing slavery was the only solution for the spiritually depraved society and contested that a systematic amendment should be made from emotional changes in people. She claims that this process should foremost take place through the innovations of personal consciousness rather than political or regulatory means, while pointing out female and domesticity as the root of this change. Her desire for a social reform was not just directed toward abolishing slavery but ultimately for constructing an ideal Christian society. Through her description of the Quaker settlement, George Harris’s vision for Liberia, and a reformation of George Shelby, who sought the change from the South, Stowe portrays a Christian maternal society for which is constructed and affected by devout females. Therefore, in discussing and reassessing religious, emotional, and feminine aspects of this novel, this thesis claims that Stowe expressed her desire for ideal social reform in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.