The mood of Uncle Tom's Cabin is melodramatic, tragic, and intense, which reflects its serious subject matter. Because Beecher Stowe was writing explicitly in order to persuade, the language of the novel is sentimental, meaning that it emphasizes emotions in order to get a response from the reader. Beecher Stowe wrote with fellow religious women in mind, purposefully appealing to their feelings of guilt and concern over the treatment of slaves. As a result, the novel's mood is melodramatic, tragic, and intense.
Sentimental novels like Uncle Tom's Cabin typically depicted human nature and emotions in extreme terms, and characters were often portrayed as heroes or heroines. Indeed, the plot of Uncle Tom's Cabin centers around highly dramatic and emotional events. In the very beginning of the novel, Beecher Stowe uses the sale of Harry, Eliza's son, to make an emotional argument for slavery's injustice; Eliza is portrayed as a courageous mother who has been brutally separated from her loved ones, a cruelty the novel's mostly female readers were likely to sympathize with. On the whole, the story's melodramatic mood is a crucial part of Beecher-Stowe's persuasive strategy.
