Uncle Tom's Cabin Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

The writer has given only a faint shadow, a dim picture, of the anguish and despair that are, at this very moment, riving thousands of hearts, shattering thousands of families, and driving a helpless and sensitive race to frenzy and despair. There are those living who know the mothers whom this accursed traffic has driven to the murder of their children; and themselves seeking in death a shelter from woes more dreaded than death. Nothing of tragedy can be written, can be spoken, can be conceived, that equals the frightful reality of scenes daily and hourly acting on our shores, beneath the shadow of American law, and the shadow of the cross of Christ. (45.16)

The author admits that the text of Uncle Tom’s Cabin alone cannot portray the full enormity of the devastation and suffering caused by slavery. The reality, she tells us, is worse still.