Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin is arguably the most powerful novel ever written. It changed course of U.S. history. In "Articulating Uncle Tom's Cabin," Jim O'Loughlin argues that Uncle Tom's Cabin was so popular and influential as Stowe reflected "existing tropes and public concerns in compelling narrative form. Furthermore, Stowe made powerful images which took on life of their own, evolving into racist stereotypes.

Sum-up O'Loughlin's argument in two to three pages (excluding title and reference pages). In what methods did Stowe reflect her culture, and in what means did she affect it? In what ways did Uncle Tom's Cabin positively affect American culture, and in what means did it negatively affect American culture? Make sure to write specific passages from texts to support interpretation.