Woman’s Struggle as a Part of Anti Slavery Critique in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin

ARDIANTI, NIA. 2012. Woman’s Struggle as a Part of Anti Slavery Critique in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Final Project. English Department. Faculty of Language and Arts. Semarang State University. First advisor: Henrikus Joko Y S.S, M. Hum. Second advisor: Rini Susanti Wulandari S. S, M. Hum. Keywords: woman’s struggle, woman’s equality, sociology, anti slavery critique. This final project deals with Woman’s Struggle as a Part of Anti Slavery Critique in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This topic punctuates the roles of women as a mother, wife, and child to fight against slavery focused on two problems, namely the characterization of female characters against slavery portrayed in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the female character’s struggle against slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I employed Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the object of this study. This study is a descriptive qualitative study with characterization in literature and sociology criticism as the approaches. It is descriptive qualitative since the data of the study are in the form of words, phrases, sentences, narrations and dialogues and I do not employ computation. The data gained by reading the novel thoroughly, were identifying, inventorying, classifying, selecting, and reporting. The analysis was done by several techniques including exposing, explaining and interpreting. This investigation results in several findings. First, the characterization of three female characters which are religious, courage and devoted. Second, through those characteristics the female characters perform their struggle against slavery. Their struggles are full of sacrifice and sadness for losing someone they love. Their struggle can be assumed as dream and hope of women on their life. The final conclusion in this study is that women have the specific role toward anti slavery movement. Harriet Beecher Stowe declared that women have to struggle to get equality in a society. Slavery is not the end of the struggle for women to get their freedom. On the basis of the conclusions, several suggestions can be offered. First, in reading a literary work, the readers should see everything from different point of views. This might help them to see something more objectively as in Uncle Tom’s Cabin in which they are helped to be more critical about political ideologies or system they are following now.