When considering how Stowe represents gender, it is necessary to foreground the fact that men and women inhabited different sectors within American society nineteenth century. Males belonged almost exclusively to the world of public work, while females were relegated to the private, domestic sphere. Different characteristics that were stereotypically gendered – compassion and domesticity in women, and control and chaotic violence in men – may therefore be responsible for the different spheres to which they belonged. Furthermore, we cannot examine Stowe's approach to gender as a singular concept; both masculinity and femininity are challenged through their synthesis with other concepts such as religion and slavery. A person's gender is then labeled based on the antithetical sphere to which their characteristics most accurately align. Therefore, Stowe does not address gender biologically, but instead socially in accordance with what is expected of both men and women within society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Through assumptions within American society of both masculine and feminine attributes, Uncle Tom can be seen as “feminine” as he does not fully meet the expectations of Americans masculinity. In Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Humble, Tom inhabits the world of slavery where the owners are mostly incapable of religion. The characterization of behavior is therefore mainly based on gender. Therefore, when Tom displays Christian attributes such as compassion and unconditional love, he can only be described as "feminine" because the source of these emotions is typically feminine. This gendered expectation is not only contextual, but is constructed within the novel: education and guidance arise naturally from female characters such as Eva and Rachel Halliday, while little more than chaos and harm are caused by the patriarchal influence of Legree and Mr Shelby . Therefore, to examine the construction of gender through Christianity, it is necessary to consider Tom's interaction with a male figure. Although Legree is perhaps the cruelest slave owner, Tom vows that: "if taking every drop of blood in this poor old body could save your precious soul, I would give it to him freely, as the Lord gave his to me." [1] While a female submission seems evident through "[giving]" physical strength to another, this act is elevated in presenting Tom through a religious context. Sacrificing himself for the sake of believing that all souls are "precious" despite their sins aligns him with Jesus; his behavior is therefore not specifically subservient to Legree but heroic for the good of humanity. Being forced to submit to life as a slave, it can be argued that Tom has no choice but to exhibit Christian values; he either seeks a higher salvation by showing humanity where Legree lacks, or he submits to a hatred that leaves him damned spiritually as well as physically. Although the emotion of compassion can be characterized as feminine, its sacrifice is physical and therefore remains predominantly masculine. This suggests a pain and fatigue that only men would encounter through work and women would not experience while residing at home. Thus, Tom's construction of gender depends not only on his personal identity and actions, but also on the beliefs of others. Those who remain inherently faithless can only attribute her kindness to femininity through a lack of knowledge of Christian values.Through Stowe's interaction with larger issues of slavery, the female role is not centered on the pursuit of relationships. Without this concern with romance and lack of objectification, the presentation of gender within the novel is more flexible. However, women can only display masculine traits through a perversion of their own femininity. Within The Feminization of American Culture, Douglas sees a “continuation of male hegemony in various forms”[2]. Previously, work and home were contained in separate male and female spheres, but this is complicated by the introduction of race. Dinah is a woman in sex, but she is disorganized and works without “logic and reason” (Stowe, p.620), characteristics of chaos that are typically representative of masculinity. The kitchen can also serve as a symbol of the slave economy, which Dinah attempts to organize through what: “she called “clarin’ up times,” […] and make ordinary confusion seven times more confusing.” (Stowe, p.315) In an attempt to rectify this process of domesticity and instead only present it as “more confusing,” she suggests that the female sphere also needs reform before addressing the flaws within the male sphere. However, as with slavery, the focus remains on outcomes. All that matters to St Clare is the fact that Dinah “gives you a great dinner” (Stowe, p.316); this almost identifies Dinah as a slave trader through her preference for a chaotic method but effective results, as slavery produces similarly. Dinah itself, as a purchase, also brings the economic aspect into the domestic context. The expectation of American women was to influence men by exercising “wise and appropriate influence”[3] in the home. By placing a lower class of slaves in the home instead, it is made impossible to realize the expectations of the American wife. Stowe thus inverts the gender by presenting a female character who exists within a female world, but this "continuation of male hegemony" is essentially an economic purchase invested by men. However, one must also ask whether this lack of femininity is caused by patriarchal influence or an initial lack of femininity in Dinah; although she belongs economically to Saint Clare, she intrinsically lacks a feminine nature embodied by domesticity and organization. Stowe's narrative does not only function to describe events, but itself becomes a self-constructed “penetrating”[4] voice. Gender roles are then reversed and Stowe takes on a voice that can reach everyone through publication. It also transcends its sphere through the subject matter; Stowe violates typically male topics such as slave auctions and violence outside the family. Once his character's problems have been resolved as much as possible, he uses the 'Concluding Remarks' to bring these problems to reality: "But asks any person who knows the world, are such characters common, anywhere?" (Stowe, p.621) Instead of using a first person, she consciously places herself in the third, highlighting her gender's ability to speak publicly where women were usually silent. The reader is also asked to consider what kind of person he is. He seeks answers only in a specific group, those who "[know] the world," thus suggesting a challenge to look inward after a novel in which one examines others. Stowe acts almost as a conscience, reiterated by Jane P. Tomkins, who suggests that "the novel functions both as a means of describing the social world and as a means of changing it".[5] In considering whether characters of “nobility, generosity and humanity” (Stowe, p.621) are common within humanity, he further encourages a, 1994)