Race and the American Novel Project: Part 1 of 4

Critical Commentary:

Using the UW-Manitowoc library database "JSTOR", I came across an article titled "Remodeling the Model Home in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Beloved" written by Lori Askeland. The article compares both Uncle Tom's Cabin and Beloved in terms of setting and the structural aspects of the homes in both novels. It states that "Beloved is set in part in the same place and during the same period as Uncle Tom's Cabin" (Askeland 787), it's near Cincinnati in 1873, and that both novelists "use and remodel traces of slave history to create narratives that will also remodel the ideologies that dominate the country's power structure. Yet both novels remain haunted by the figures that represent power" (787-788). The author of this article suggests that the remodeling of the houses in both novels symbolize power. 

In response to this article, I was amazed at what Lori Askeland had written. She states that both houses are "ultimately owned and haunted by a patriarchal figure who cannot be easily overcome" (791). It makes a lot of sense. Beloved is the figure that cannot be easily overcome. She ultimately holds all of the power over every character in the novel. I would've thought that slave history and masculinity held the power, given what we know about slavery...but instead it's a figure. 


Askeland, Lori. "Remodeling the Model Home in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Beloved." N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015.