2nd Classics Response

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Harriet Beecher Stowe

           This book is a classic because of the impact that it had on America during its time period and even now.  This book was a turning point in African American history.  It exposed the poor conditions that slaves were put under, and because of it, many people in the North changed their ideas on slavery.  Without this book being published, who knows how long it would've taken someone to educate the public on the true story behind slavery, or if someone would've even exposed it at all.  This book is a classic because it helped to shape the future.
           In this book, the idea of exposing the flaws of slavery was definitely new.  Various types of print had been written about slavery, but none of them had been totally truthful.  Most were written to make slaves sound more like servants instead of telling about the punishments and horrible conditions that these African Americans had to live under.  Another new aspect to this book would be the fact that the author was a woman.  This was not unheard of during the slave era, but what was unheard of was the fact that this book became published.  Women were not respected during this time period.  Most thought that all they could do was take care of the home and the children in it.
           People of the South were outraged when the book was published.  They did not want the way they were treating these people to be known to the rest of the nation.  They did not believe that what they were doing was wrong and wanted to stick with their cruel ways.  Many southerners also tried to claim that all that Stowe published were lies, but the people of the North didn't buy it.  These northerners were astonished to find out what was really going on in the South.  This made even more people turn against slavery and many people's hatred toward the South grew even more.
           This book captured the time period perfectly.  It elaborated on and showed the truth about the issue that divided the nation during the time.  It shared the struggles that African Americans went through daily and the hardships that one would have to go through in order to become free.  This book paints a picture of the life of an African American slave that northern Americans had never seen before.
            The author is sharing her abolitionist views.  She exposes the poor conditions that slaves have to live under at the time that she wrote.  With this, she is trying to sway her readers to think the same.  By telling stories of a slave who is trying to become free via the Underground Railroad, the author is implicitly saying that southerners are treating their slaves in a way that is cruel and that there needs to be an end to slavery.

Classics Response

The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank

          This book is a classic because it is a true story written by a girl detailing her life within an unfathomable chapter of our world's history.  It continues to be used in the classroom because it is a first person record of true events that enlightens students of the devastation caused by Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.  Anne Frank and her family did their best to live a normal life in an abnormal setting, having come to the realization that their story would more than likely not have a positive ending.  Without the diary left behind by Anne Frank, we would not be able to take a glimpse into the unimaginable life that many people were forced to live in WWII.

          Anne Frank's diary brought about a new source of literature.  The idea of actually reading about someone's real struggles was relatively new and especially the brutal way Frank wrote it.  Even though her diary was censored by her father and lonesome survivor Otto, Anne Frank dared to go into further detail unlike many before her.  While she shared her family's few positive moments together while in hiding, she certainly didn't hold back when sharing the other side of the spectrum.

          When Frank's father, Otto, became interested in publishing his daughter's diary, the world was not a fan.  As stated by flavorwire.com, sixteen publishers rejected the idea before Otto's dream became a reality; however, nowadays, after our culture has changed to a more graphic and mature nature, the book is read in many classrooms nationwide and over 30 million copies have been sold.

           Anne Frank's diary captured the atrocities of the Holocaust during WWII and the impact that it had on those that Adolf Hitler might have referred to as "imperfect."  This book represents a typical German Jewish family in the 1940s that was struggling to survive and provide during wartime, but had the added threat of being taken away and separated from one another without knowing their ultimate fates.

            Anne Frank used her diary to show future readers that even though she would be a victim of such a mass tragedy, she lived for 15 years, and she wanted her life to count for something.  She decided that instead of sitting around and feeling pity for herself and the situation she was in, she would turn her misfortune into something that would enlighten people for decades.  Every day that she wrote was another day that she lived, and although she didn't survive to see her diary published, her voice is still being heard some 70 years later.