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Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin through the Eyes of Popular Culture and Religion
[Introduction]
Popular culture and religion have the same thing in common: symbols. Symbols are an inherited system of notions that express in representation forms a people’s “knowledge about and attitude towards life” (Geertz 89). Being symbols, their meanings are defined by people in accordance to their popular culture or religion. Consequently, these symbols can get shared between popular culture and religion; while their meanings change (enhanced or diminished) in accordance to the strength of cultural or religious influence upon them.
Meanwhile, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life among the Lowly (1852) is an American novel rich with American religious and cultural symbols. Chapter 26 (“Death”) recounts the last days of Eva St. Claire, a beautiful blond child who loves everyone around her. Her life and death illustrate many cultural and religious symbols that are interesting to study, which will be explored selectively here.
[The Interaction of Religion and Culture]
Religion interacts or relates with culture, particularly popular culture, in four major ways: religion as a component of popular culture; popular culture as component of religion; popular culture as religion; and religion in dialogue with popular culture (Forbes 10). The St. Claire household is an interesting study for religion-culture interaction. Augustine, the father, was an atheist who changed his mind. Marie, the mother, was a slave owner who was as selfish as she was cruel to her slaves. Eva, the only St. Clair daughter, was a religious child who spread Christianity in her small ways by loving everyone around her.
Religion as a Component of Popular Culture: Forbes’ “Religion in Popular Culture” (10) occurs when “themes, language, imagery, and subject matter” unique of religion integrate (or represent) themselves into popular culture as elements of significant importance to movers of popular culture. Religious elements manifest not only in movie characters (e.g. Jesus Christ Superstar, The Exorcist, Thor, The Last Airbender, Prince of Persia, etc.) and plots; but also in other popular culture channels (e.g. praise & worship music, country music, novels, and comic strips). In Chapter 26 of the Stowe novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Christian religion is a stable component of the popular culture of slavery in this period of American history. In the St. Claire household, Christian symbols can be seen among the relatively affluent family culture, which loves everything Parisian and everything elegant. There was the “statuette of Jesus receiving little children” or the half-open Bible in her “little transparent fingers” (Stowe 413-414). Eva’s practice of unsullied Christianity may also be considered a religious symbol embedded in the family culture and the popular culture in that community.
Popular Culture as a Component of Religion: Popular culture may also encroach into the realm of religion. This situation occurs when certain religious groups (individuals or institutions) appropriate popular culture elements as important components of their religious activities (Forbes 12). These popular culture influences can be seen in the use of several entertainment mass media, such as television [televised church services, TV programs exclusively on religious subject matters (e.g. EWTN)], advertising boards and tarpaulins [e.g., the International Eucharistic Conference in the Philippines], among others. In Chapter 26, the focus on the St. Claire family makes it difficult to take a closer look at the Christian religion in this period. However, the Christianity of Marie St. Claire indicates a religion sullied with slavery ethos (Stowe 115-117). It is hard to determine, which precedes which, religion or popular culture.
Popular Culture as Religion: This form of interaction depends largely on people’s definition of religion (Forbes 14). Functional (effect in concrete life) and formal (involvement of sacred stories, specific rituals, communities, and even moral codes) definitions have been associated with this interaction. The so-called Super Bowl Christianity with its own theology, which is popular in the United States, is a definite example. Chapter 26 does not present any illustration of a popular culture turning into a religion. The system of belief nearest to that of religion was the prevailing subscription to the principles of acceptable slavery or slaveholding. However, based on Corbet’s working definition, slavery will fall short in the criteria of being taken as “holy, sacred, or of the highest value” (Forbes 9). Even Marie cannot argue sensibly with Eva on the merits of slavery or slaveholding against Christian values (Stowe 416).
Religion in Dialogue with Popular Culture: Forbes’ “Religion and Popular Culture in Dialogue” (15) involves an interaction of religion and popular culture at equal and non-intrusive level. The interaction revolves around issues relevant to both, such as violent computer games, same-sex marriages, legalization of abortion, or raising a family through artificial insemination. Chapter 26 presented only an indirect dialogue, albeit a meaningful one, between Eva and the culture of slavery over the cruelty and inhuman attitudes against Africans (Stowe 416).
[Learning about Religion through Popular Culture]
Much of religion can be learned through studies on popular culture because culture utilizes religious symbols that provide rich information about religion. These symbols induce “worshippers a certain distinctive set of dispositions” (Geertz 95), which transforms human experience in a more or less enduring way that the person carries around in community and express themselves into the popular culture, putting a perceivable stamp of religion there. In effect, popular culture is the reflection of current human values (Forbes 5), which can, and oftentimes does, include religious values. Thus, we learn about the Christian religion in 1852 by reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In a sense, religion is learned through the popular culture by observing the way popular culture reflect or not religious values.
[Learning about Culture through Religion]
The popular culture in a religious community can be studied because certain cultural norms tend to find themselves into religious activities. People practicing religion are products of their popular culture as well as their religion. Cultural acts as well as religious symbolisms are often social in character (Geertz 91). Marriage, for instance, is a religious ceremony, which is rich with cultural information as obtained from the songs sang during the wedding, the music used in the ceremony, etc. In Chapter 26, we can understand the popular culture shaping Marie by studying her Christian religion vis-à-vis the Christian religion of Eva. The contrasts of these cultures are stunning (Stowe 415).
[Simultaneous Study: Benefits and Drawbacks]
Benefits: One benefit of simultaneous study is the ability to detect subtle changes both in religion and popular culture as a result of influence of one to the other. Another benefit involves the greater appreciation of the religious and cultural forces involved in the dynamics of religion and culture interaction, making it possible to predict probable developments in the future.
Drawbacks: An important drawback to be encountered in performing a simultaneous study is feasibility and technical realism. The observers of religious and cultural dynamics must be thoroughly knowledgeable of the historical dynamics and must have standardized observational skills to ensure comparability of results. Another drawback involves financing it.
Works Cited
Forbes, Bruce David. “Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places.” (1-20) Forbes,
Bruce David and Jeffrey H. Mahan. Religion and Popular Culture in America (Rev. Ed.). London: University of California Press, 2005. Print.
Greetz, Clifford. “Chapter 4: Religion as a Cultural System.” (87-125). The Interpretation of
Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, 1973. Print.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life among the Lowly. 1852. Print.
