Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, remains widely classified as children’s literature, as Stowe originally categorized the novel herself upon its publication in 1852. Although the story is often commended for its moral teachings and portrayal of slavery, in today’s society many of the lessons that the story teaches are perceived as regressive and racist. Stowe’s plotline does not show an accurate portrayal of American slave trade and contains many messages that may be seen as highly racist in today’s society, even though at the time of the story’s original publication it was seen as progressive. The frequent application of Christianity as the justifying factor that makes slaves such as Tom ‘good’ is an act that can be seen as racist today. The novel teaches that only Christianity creates morality. Stowe does very little to attempt to solve any of the issues of slavery and instead asserts that the power of Christian love can overcome evil. Similarly, the language of the slaves is regarded as racist by modern readership. The ethics of the story do not relate to people living in the 21st century and need to be contextualised within its historical time period. Children are less likely to be able to comprehend this and may lead to a misinterpretation of the story’s overall message and what is classed as racist in modern society. The racial slurs and use of derogatory language are content that is not appropriate for young children to read within a fictional novel. I certainly agree that children need to be educated on the topic of racism and the slave trade, but reading non-fiction written specifically for the 21st century would warrant better than ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ for both children and adults. The social message of the novel is also horrendously outdated in comparison to modern thinking about the slave trade. Assuredly, teachings about the slave trade should be concerned with the accurate historical facts and descriptions that Stowe’s novel cannot adequately provide. ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ should not be regarded as children’s literature because, by today’s standards, the novel contains insensitive language and is not able to accurate educate children on the slave trade more so than a modern historical non-fiction book could. Instead, the novel should be reclassified as a work of historical fiction that can be better comprehended and understood by adults, who are more widely educated on the history the story covers and are able to pick up on the inconsistencies and racial subjectivity much better than a child can. The outdated views of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ need to be understood before they are read, and letting children read the novel before they have comprehended the history behind it is wrong and may easily lead to youngsters learning the wrong lessons from the book. Heather Gilligan, ‘The most famous book about slavery has been rejected by black thinkers since it was published’, 11th January 2017 (https://timeline.com/the-most-famous-book-about-slavery-has-been-rejected-by-black-thinkers-since-it-was-published-b8dce54984c8) Margaret Logan, ‘Harriet Beecher Stowe: She's Not What You Think’, 2019, (https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studentpub/274/)

I studied this novel in my second year of my undergraduate literature degree and it was never labeled as a children's book. I've never heard anyone allude to it as one.