Voice. We all have one, but it is what we can do with ours is what matters. Our voice has the power to change minds and influence decisions. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe used her voice to attack slavery, altering the minds of the American people. In 2016, Beyonce used her voice to energize the Black Power Movement. Subsequently in 2017, poet Laura Kasischke suggests the power of a voice in society to empower people. These three powerful women use their voice to illustrate different messages in exhilarating ways.
Everyone can impact society, however women are better because they make their voices relatable to connect and influence the minds of people. Stowe’s female characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin have revolutionary ideas about slavery. Every female character in the novel speaks their mind and expresses their opinion unlike the men. The women are unafraid because they can influence their conformist husbands about the immoralities of slavery. All of the men follow societal standards, pretending slavery is just.
For example, in describing Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, Stowe shows how powerful Mrs. Shelby is even though she is a woman. Mrs. Shelby was a woman of high class, both intellectually and morally. To that natural magnanimity and generosity of mind which one often marks as characteristic of the women of Kentucky, she added high moral and religious sensibility and principle, carried out with great energy and ability into practical results. Her husband, who made no professions to any particular religious character, nevertheless reverenced and respected the consistency of hers, and stood, perhaps, a little in awe of her opinion” (SOURCE A). Stowe allows Mrs. Shelby to be educated in order to show her opinions on slavery.
On the contrary, Mrs. Shelby rarely expresses her opinions and speaks her mind, but when she does Mr. Shelby agrees with her. Mr. Shelby is mesmerized by her opinion because he can’t speak against slavery. If he speaks against it, he loses authority among the other slave owners and his own slaves. Also, Stowe describes Mrs. Shelby as maternal and religious. These characteristics allow for Mrs. Shelby’s voice to be relatable. Mrs. Shelby is impactful to the novel because of her personality and views on slavery. Beyonce’s hit song “Formation” with its powerful message and hidden meanings has impacted society.
Beyonce shows society the importance of Black Power because it added fire to the Black Lives Matter Movement, to empower African Americans. Beyonce uses her voice to engage black women, hence the lyrics “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros” (SOURCE D). Meaning all African American women, as well as their daughters, should be confident with their natural hair. Beyonce illustrates the effects of societal standards on women. Many African American women straighten their hair in the hope that they will become successful because society views women with straight hair successful.
Furthermore, she wants to teach women the importance of individuality. She wants to teach young women to advocate for their rights, and advocate for themselves. Beyonce wants black women to strive for their goals. With the controversial lyric, “You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making, cause I slay / I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making,” Beyonce tells women to achieve their dreams (SOURCE D). She references Bill Gates because he embodies hard work and innovation in the computer technologies industry. Beyonce wants to inspire her fans to work hard and become innovators of the future.
Above all, radical ideas presented in her Super Bowl performance make her voice powerful. The performance was radical because of the homage it payed to Black movements. No performer had displayed Black Power to a nation as much as Beyonce did. Her all-black dancers payed tribute to the Black Panthers by wearing black berets, and at one point, the dancers formed a “X” paying homage to Malcolm X. Also, Beyonce wore a gold “X” across her chest to tribute Malcolm X. The amount of Black Power expressed in her performance made her voice powerful, and impactful to the African American community and society as a whole.
Beyonce uses her voice to change society as well as to change the Black Power Movement. Laura Kasischke is not a well-known poet, but her voice is impactful to society. The poem “The Time Machine” showcases her ability to implement a message about women in society. “The Time Machine” is a daughter’s reflection on her professional career and life based on the lessons she has learned from her dead mother. The daughter tells her mother, “I am / the girl who gained the expertise you / knew some day some man would need” (SOURCE C).
The narrator realizes that her mother was right about her future career choices, and she would effect someone in some way. For instance, the poem mentions the years 1937 and 1973, but it was written in 2017. In 1937, birth control was no longer considered obscene, and in 1973, Roe v. Wade allowed abortions to be legal. Women had to fight for their rights then, and today women must fight to keep those same rights. Kasischke reveals that she will fight to keep her rights no matter who questions them. Also, the part about the daughter helping the man, or her boss, is significant.
Specifically in the 60’s when women joined the workforce, they became secretaries. The daughter became “the secretary [her mother] wanted [her] to be,” (SOURCE C). The daughter regrets her decision to become a secretary because she realizes she had the potential to pursue a different career that she wanted. Kasischke’s voice and ideas are important because she wants women to advocate for their rights and choose their own destiny. Although men have the ability to influence society, women are better at it because of their maternal voice. The maternal voice allows women to connect to society.
In the article Heroines in Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Elizabeth Ammons, Ammons proposes that women as well as some of the male slaves have the maternal voice. Uncle Tom has the most noticeable maternal voice among the men in the novel. As a result, “that deliberate feminization of Tom, and the way Stowe links him to a constellation of mothers, [both] black and white,” allows Tom to obtain the maternal voice (SOURCE B). The connections of characters is significant because they all have similar qualities. Stowe purposely gives Tom “a voice as tender of a woman’s” to connect him to the women (SOURCE A).
The womanly voice makes Tom appear innocent and harmless. Similarly. Ammons states that characteristics including “empathy, compassion, comfort, practical assistance, [and] psychological support” are shared by Tom and the women (SOURCE B). The characteristics above prove that Tom and the mothers share the same maternalistic voice because they all react similarly in situations with children and the men. Tom embodies these traits, he is always willing to do whatever he can to support and save his children. The maternal voice of Tom and the women makes them more alike than different, and allows them to connect with society.
Howl. A call to fight for what you believe in. The powerful women, Stowe, Beyonce, and Kasischke, all used their voice to fight for their beliefs. Each woman was successful in proving that slavery, African American rights, and women’s rights are important subjects to society. They proved that certain societal aspects should be changed making their fight easier. Above all, these women let their voices be heard to impact society in a war no one could. Their loud howl, that made a poignant statement that will, someday, improve society.
