英美短篇小说推荐阅读

1. 英国的短篇小说，有哪些值得推荐

个人推荐下英国著名小说家狄更斯的《信号员》吧，也是英国十大名著之一吧。这个小说读完特别让人深思，主要是讲小镇一个信号员总能预测灾难的东西成为现实。他成了唯一一个灾难的预测者。知道最后一次预测他也成为牺牲者。也表现了作者对底层人民悲惨命运不能改变的悲悯。看完之后我觉得引用波波的话吧：人生中%99的时间可能都是不幸的但是我们要善于发现其中%1的万幸，好好珍惜现在的每一天吧。

2. 有哪些好看的英美文学小说

青少年文学，其实就是中二少年、无知少女们看的言情小说啊，Harry Potter（英美初中生普及读物）、暮光之城系列（当年在英美高中生群体里面很流行）。但是个人而言，是不喜欢看一些英美文学小说的，一方面是因为自己没有兴趣，另一方面是因为他们都比较难懂，所以还是比较喜欢看言情小说的。

3. 有什么英语短篇小说推荐

1. “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor

Few short stories have stuck with us as much as this one, which is probably O'Connor's most famous work — and with good reason. The Misfit is one of the most alarming serial killers we've ever met, all the more so for his politeness, and the story’s moral is so striking and terrifying that — whether you subscribe to the religious undertones or not — a reader is likely to finish and begin to reexamine their entire existence. Or at least we did, the first time we read it.
《好人难寻》这篇小说是奥康纳最为著名的作品，很少有其他短篇小说能像这篇一样给我们带来震撼。无论你是否能明了宗教般的潜在含义，看完这篇小说读者都会开始或是结束对存在的检视。

2. “The School,” Donald Barthelme

This story is very short, but pretty much perfect in every way. Though Barthelme is known for his playful, post modern style, we admire him for his ability to shape a world so clearly from so few words, chosen expertly. Barthelme never over explains, never uses one syllable too many, but effortlessly leads the reader right where he wants her to be. It's funny, it's absurdist, it's sad, it's enormous even in its smallness. It may be this writer’s favorite story of all time. You should read it.
这篇小说很短，但是堪称完美。巴塞尔姆的优秀就在于他能用精选的极少几个文字就为我们叙述了一个世界。他很少过多地解释，就把读者带到了他想要你去地方。

3. “In The Penal Colony,” Franz Kafka

Kafka called this one his“dirty story,”and thought it imperfect, but it's one of our favorites of his (though we also recommend “The Hunger Artist”and“A Country Doctor”). It's so obviously a story about writing, in some ultimate way — a machine punishes its victims by writing on them over and over until their bodies give out — but its as if, while the body is the source of every problem in the tale, every weakness, it is also the only place where true knowledge can be translated.
卡夫卡称自己的这篇小说是一个“很脏的故事”，认为并不完美，但是这个短篇确实我们的最爱之一。在小说中，我们可以体会到，身体是一切问题和弱点的根源，但身体也是唯一能转化真知的地方。

4. “Signs and Symbols,”Vladimir Nabokov

Another short one, we revere this story for its ability to turn every tiny detail into a portentous disaster, not to mention the fact that it's penned in Nabokov's effortlessly gorgeous, silvery prose. An old Jewish couple goes to visit their son in the mental hospital, only to be turned away because he has attempted to kill himself. And that's it, really. They go home and look though a photo album, eat some jam. The phonerings. But the whole thing is, perhaps, both a comment on the nature of insanity and the nature of the short story itself, with all its rules and strangeness and banality. And all its symbols, of course.
我们喜欢这篇小说的原因就在于，这个故事有能力把每个细微的细节瞬间变为一场灾难，而Nabokov在写这篇小说用的是轻松华丽水银泻地般的散文风格。

5. “Gooseberries,” Anton Chekhov

Chekhov's stories are indisputably among the greats, and this one, written rather late, is one of our favorites. Chekhov probes at both the frailty and the worth of humanity, not to mention the natureof life, both for the fortunate and the unfortunate. But like most of Chekhov's stories, there's no clear moral, there's no obvious takeaway. Some men sit around and discuss their thoughts, and we listen, mulling over the subtleties for ourselves.
契科夫的小说无疑是最伟大的作品之一，而这篇是我们的最爱。这篇小说像他的其他小说一样，没有清晰的道德标准，我们只是静静地看着几个人围坐着，讨论他们的思想。

6. “Sea Oak,” George Saunders

“Sea Oak” is Saunders's favorite of his own stories, we've heard, so because we find it so hard to choose among them, we've included it here on his own recommendation. Absurdist and satirical, and including at least one zombie shouting at her housemates to get laid, it's a weird one. But it's also concerned with placelessness, with family, with poverty, and like all of Saunders's stories, has a good, thumping heart under all that darkness and fun-poking.

这部小说是桑德斯最为喜爱的一步短篇，这也是我们听说的。因为我们很难做出选择，因此就把他自己的推介放在了这里。这部小说充满了荒诞和讽刺，但是也关心家庭和贫穷等问题。像他的其他小说一样，在黑暗和取笑中，也暗含着美好和快乐。

7. “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” Ursula K. LeGuin

LeGuin's parabolic tale, which won the Hugo Award for best short story in 1974, is a weird, spacious story about a city that seems to be a utopia — except for its one flaw, the single child that must always be kept in darkness and wretched misery so that the others may all live happily. Most of the citizens eventually accept this, but some do not, and silently leave the city, vanishing into the world around. Strange but pointed, Le Guin is a master of her genre.
勒古这部寓言般的短篇小说获得过1974年的“雨果奖”，是关于一个类似乌托邦的城市的荒诞又宏大的故事。

8. “The Veldt,” Ray Bradbury

This tale, from one of the greatest science fiction writers in history, is deliciously wicked. Though it was written in 1950, this kind of story — of children driven mad by want, of technology turning on its masters — will never get old. Until technology actually turns on us, that is. Then we probably won't want to hear about it.
布莱伯利作为历史上最富盛名的科幻小说家，这篇小说也是通过精心编写的。

9. “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” Alice Munro

The undisputed queen of the short story, Alice Munro’s work is stark and often heartbreakingly raw, and this story of memory loss and the aching tenderness of human interaction is no different. Fun fact: this story was adapted into the film “Away from Her”, starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent.

门罗是毫无争议的短篇小说女王，她的作品有一种朴实风格，常常带着心跳般的粗犷，这篇关于丧失记忆以及人类互动中的痛苦和柔弱的小说也不例外。

10. “The Nose,” Nikolai Gogol

Gogol might be the oldest writer on this list, but he’s also one of the weirdest — in a good way. Nabokov once wrote, “In Gogol…the absurd central character belongs to the absurd world around him but, pathetically and tragically, attempts to struggle out of it into the world of humans — and dies in despair.” What else can an absurd noseless man do, after all?
果戈里应该是这个书单上最久远的作家了，但是他也是最荒诞的小说家之一。纳博科夫曾近这样写道：“在果戈里的作品中，荒诞的人物属于他周围荒诞的世界，但是却可怜兮兮且悲惨地要逃离他的世界，最终死于绝望”。

4. 美国著名的短篇小说，求推荐

欧亨利，美国现代短篇小说之父 有《警察与赞美诗》、《麦琪的礼物》、《最后一片藤叶》、《白鸽》等作品，他的作品都值得一看。
马克·吐温《竞选州长》、《百万英镑》
杰克·伦敦《热爱生命》
华盛顿·欧文《睡谷的传说》《瑞普·凡·温克尔》、《鬼新郎》，他的短篇都带有奇幻色彩。

5. 推荐一些英文短篇小说

相信你会喜欢这篇短小的小说的。

Appointment With Love －－By Sulamith Ish-Kishor

Six minutes to six, said the great round clock over the information booth in Grand Central Station. The tall young Army lieutenant who had just come from the direction of the tracks lifted his sunburned face, and his eyes narrowed to note the exact time. His heart was pounding with a beat that shocked him because he could not control it. In six minutes, he would see the woman who had filled such a special place in his life for the past 13 months, the woman he had never seen, yet whose written words had been with him and sustained him unfailingly.
He placed himself as close as he could to the information booth, just beyond the ring of people besieging the clerks...
Lieutenant Blandford remembered one night in particular, the worst of the fighting, when his plane had been caught in the midst of a pack of Zeros. He had seen the grinning face of one of the enemy pilots.
In one of his letters, he had confessed to her that he often felt fear, and only a few days before this battle, he had received her answer: "Of course you fear...all brave men do. Didn't King David know fear? That's why he wrote the 23rd Psalm. Next time you doubt yourself, I want you to hear my voice reciting to you: 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me.'" And he had remembered; he had heard her imagined voice, and it had renewed his strength and skill.
Now he was going to hear her real voice. Four minutes to six. His face grew sharp.
Under the immense, starred roof, people were walking fast, like threads of color being woven into a gray web. A girl passed close to him, and Lieutenant Blandford started. She was wearing a red flower in her suit lapel, but it was a crimson sweet pea, not the little red rose they had agreed upon. Besides, this girl was too young, about 18, whereas Hollis Meynell had frankly told him she was 30. "Well, what of it?" he had answered. "I'm 32." He was 29.
His mind went back to that book - the book the Lord Himself must have put into his hands out of the hundreds of Army library books sent to the Florida training camp. Of Human Bondage, it was; and throughout the book were notes in a woman's writing. He had always hated that writing-in habit, but these remarks were different. He had never believed that a woman could see into a man's heart so tenderly, so understandingly. Her name was on the bookplate: Hollis Meynell. He had got hold of a New York City telephone book and found her address. He had written, she had answered. Next day he had been shipped out, but they had gone on writing.
For 13 months, she had faithfully replied, and more than replied. When his letters did not arrive she wrote anyway, and now he believed he loved her, and she loved him.
But she had refused all his pleas to send him her photograph. That seemed rather bad, of course. But she had explained: "If your feeling for me has any reality, any honest basis, what I look like won't matter. Suppose I'm beautiful. I'd always be haunted by the feeling that you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would disgust me. Suppose I'm plain (and you must admit that this is more likely). Then I'd always fear that you were going on writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else. No, don't ask for my picture. When you come to New York, you shall see me and then you shall make your decision. Remember, both of us are free to stop or to go on after that - whichever we choose..."
One minute to six - Lieutenant Blandford's heart leaped higher than his plane had ever done.
A young woman was coming toward him. Her figure was long and slim; her blond hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears. Her eyes were blue as flowers, her lips and chin had a gentle firmness. In her pale green suit, she was like springtime come alive.
He started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was wearing no rose, and as he moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips.
"Going my way, soldier?" she murmured.
Uncontrollably, he made one step closer to her. Then he saw Hollis Meynell.
She was standing almost directly behind the girl, a woman well past 40, her graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump; her thick-ankled feet were thrust into low-heeled shoes. But she wore a red rose in the rumpled lapel of her brown coat.
The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away.
Blandford felt as though he were being split in two, so keen was his desire to follow the girl, yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld his own; and there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible; he could see that now. Her gray eyes had a warm, kindly twinkle.
Lieutenant Blandford did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the small worn, blue leather of Of Human Bondage, which was to identify him to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even rarer than love - a friendship for which he had been and must ever be grateful.
He squared his broad shoulders, saluted and held the book out toward the woman, although even while he spoke he felt shocked by the bitterness of his disappointment.
"I'm Lieutenant John Blandford, and you - you are Miss Meynell. I'm so glad you could meet me. May...may I take you to dinner?"
The woman's face broadened in a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is all about, son," she answered. "That young lady in the green suit - the one who just went by - begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you that she's waiting for you in that big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of a test. I've got two boys with Uncle Sam myself, so I didn't mind to oblige you."

6. 请推荐几部比较优秀的外国文学作品

读书，是陪伴我们一生的修行。修的是心，修的是性，修的也是命。

以下是我结合自身的阅读经历以及豆瓣排行精选的五本经典外国文学。

愿这份书单，能够帮助你修身养性，精进自我。

一、《飘》

《月亮和六便士》是英国小说家威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆创作的长篇小说。

“大多数人所成为的，并非是他们想成为的人，而是不得不成为的人。”“责任”是最大的文明，也是最大的虚伪。

在满地都是六便士的街上，他却抬头看见了月亮。

月亮是理想，是艺术，而六便士则代表了现实与凡俗。

通往理想的路从来都不好走，可这并不代表现实无法改变。

总有一些人，一路披荆斩棘，穿越重重阻碍，直至亲手摘下了心中的月亮。

结语：古希腊哲学家苏格拉底曾说过：“未经审视的人生不值得一过。”而阅读恰恰能帮助你更好地审视你的人生。这大概就是阅读的魅力吧。希望我们都能爱上阅读，向内认知，向外行走。

7. 高中英语短篇小说求推荐

要是想读名著的话，牛津书虫系列比较适合英语学习，是名著的简化版本，容易理解，也能广泛涉猎。都是双语的。
以下是书目，可以挑些合适的来读：
第四级：1500生词量，适合初三学生
上册5本：
1、《巴斯克维尔猎犬》
2、《不平静的坟墓》
3、《三怪客泛舟记》
4、《三十九级台阶》
5、《小妇人》
下册6本：
1、《黑骏马》
2、《织工马南》
3、《双城记》
4、《格列佛游记》
5、《金银岛》
6、《化身博士》

第五级：2000生词量，适合高一学生，共4本。
1、《远大前程》
2、《大卫•科波菲尔》
3、《呼啸山庄》
4、《远离尘嚣》

第六级：2300生词量，适合高二、高三学生，共4本
1、《简•爱》
2、《雾都孤儿》
3、《傲慢与偏见》
4、《苔丝》

如果读原著小说，莫泊桑 欧亨利 契科夫 的都挺好，但是有生僻词。

8. 推荐几本外国的短篇小说集!

莫泊桑短篇小说集
契诃夫短篇小说集
茨威格短篇小说集
马克.吐温短篇小说集
窃贼(阿·康帕尼尔)
情书(岩井俊二)
永远占有(格雷厄姆·格林)
化石街(岛田庄司)
棋逢对手(西瑞尔·哈尔)
首领(卡拉维洛夫)
热爱生命(杰克·伦敦)
蚂蚁
(博里斯·维昂)
蠢猪
(马莱巴)
品酒
(罗·达尔)
打不碎的鸡蛋
(马莱巴)
劳驾，快点！(图戈依)
品酒
(罗·达尔)

9. 有哪些英国短篇小说适合英语专业的学生阅读

（《木马赢家》）讲述了一个家庭被金钱蒙蔽了双眼，亲情不再，人与人之间的关系被物质异化的故事。一向都是劳伦斯最擅长描绘的物质主义下人的异变的故事。劳伦斯的词句不难，但是每个词底下暗流涌动，生机勃勃，文风自成一派。作为初入门的劳伦斯研究者，我觉得开口评价这位英国文学大师，已经诚惶诚恐。劳伦斯的长篇小说如《查泰莱夫人的情人》，《儿子与情人》都脍炙人口，但是短篇小说也许在国内受众不多。这篇"TheRocking-HorseWinner"是不可多得的佳作，值得一读。

10. 谁能推荐几本经典的英美小说！！！

1 哈克贝利·弗恩历险记——马克·吐温

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

哈克贝利是一个聪明、善良、勇敢的白人少年。他为了追求自由的生活，逃亡到密西西比河上。在逃亡途中，他遇到了黑奴吉姆。吉姆是一个勤劳朴实、热情诚实、忠心耿耿的黑奴，他为了逃脱被主人再次卖掉的命运，从主人家中出逃。他们一起漂流在密西西比河上，过着自由自在的生活，两人成了好朋友。哈克贝利为了吉姆的自由，历尽千辛万苦，最后得知，吉姆的主人已在遗嘱里解放了他。小说中，哈克贝利和吉姆的性格鲜明突出，形象栩栩如生。全篇的现实主义描绘和浪漫主义抒情交相辉映，尖锐深刻的揭露、幽默辛辣的讽刺以及浪漫传奇的描写浑然一体，形成了马克·吐温独特的艺术风格。

2 纯真年代——华顿

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

伊迪丝·沃顿1921年获得普立策文学奖的小说，她也是普立策奖历史上首度获奖的女性作家。

小说的主要情节发生在19世纪70年代末80年代初的纽约上流社会。那是伊迪丝度过童年与青春的地方,她在那儿长大成人,进入社交界,订婚又解除婚约,最后嫁给波士顿的爱德华华顿,并度过了婚后的最初几年。时隔40年后,作为小说家的她回顾养育过她也束缚过她的那个社会,她的感情是复杂的,既有亲切的眷恋,又有清醒的针砭。作家把那个时代的纽约上流社会比作一个小小的金字塔,它又尖又滑,很难在上面取得立足之地。处在塔顶,真正有贵族血统的只有二三户人家:华盛顿广场的达戈内特祖上是正宗的郡中世家;范德卢顿先生是第一任荷兰总督的嫡孙,他家曾与法国和英国的几家贵族联姻;还有与德格拉斯伯爵联姻的拉宁一家。他们是上流社会的最高阶层,但显然已处于日薄西山的衰败阶段。上流社会的中坚力量是以明戈特家族、纽兰家族、奇弗斯家族为代表的名门望族,他们的祖辈都是来自英国或荷兰的富商,早年在殖民地发迹,成为有身份有地位的人物。比如纽兰·阿切尔的一位曾外祖父曾参与过独立宣言的签署,还有一位曾在华盛顿部下任将军。正如阿切尔太太所说的,“纽约从来就是个商业社会”,占支配地位的是这些殷实的富商。处于金字塔底部的是富有却不显贵的人们,他们多数是内战之后崛起的新富,凭借雄厚的财力,通过联姻而跻身上流社会。作者从亲身经历与熟悉的环境中提炼素材,塑造人物,将作品题材根置于深厚的现实土壤中。尤其通过博福特命运浮沉这一线索与主人公爱情悲剧的主线相互映衬,使一个看似寻常的爱情故事具备了深刻的社会现实意义。

3 白鲸——梅尔维尔

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

《白鲸》是美国十九世纪浪漫主义小说家梅尔维尔的代表作。在美国文学史和世界文学史上,《白鲸》都是一部经典的著作,一部伟大的小说,是研究美国文学的一部必读书。《白鲸》展示给我们的是船长亚哈为追杀白鲸带领佩阔德号及其般员为复仇而走向毁灭的过程。书中以象征主义及寓言体的写作方式向我们展示了一部十九世纪美国的真实画面。从人与自然的抗争中亚哈的悲剧，人与人的关系中所体现的悲剧两个角度可以揭示《白鲸》所表现的时代特征及所蕴涵的悲剧实质。

4 红字——纳撒尼尔·霍桑

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

19世纪美国浪漫主义作家霍桑的长篇小说。创作于1851年。小说以两百多年前的殖民地时代的美洲为题材，但揭露的却是19世纪资本主义发展时代美利坚合众国社会典法的残酷、宗教的欺骗和道德的虚伪。主人公海丝特被写成了崇高道德的化身。她不但感化了表里不一的丁梅斯代尔，同时也在感化着充满罪恶的社会。至于她的丈夫奇林渥斯，小说则把他写成了一个一心只想窥秘复仇的影子式的人物。他在小说中只起情节铺垫的作用。

小说惯用象征手法，人物、情节和语言都颇具主观想象色彩，在描写中又常把人的心理活动和直觉放在首位。因此，它不仅是浪漫主义小说的代表作，同时也被称作是美国心理分析小说的开创篇。

5 最后的莫希干人——库柏

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

《最后的莫希干人》是《皮裹腿故事集》中最出色的一部。故事发生在十八世纪五十年代末期，英法两国为争夺北美殖民地而进行的“七年战争”的第三年，地点是在赫德森河的源头和乔治湖一带。对于印第安人的被杀戮和印第安部落的消亡，作者的心情是十分沉重的，他深深怀着同情和愤慨。他写道：“莫希干人的领土，是被欧洲人侵占去的美洲大陆的第一块地盘，因而，莫希干人就第一个成了离乡背井的人。面临着文明的推进，也可以说，文明的入侵，所有印第安部落的人民，就像他们故土林木上的绿叶在刺骨的严寒侵凌下纷纷坠地一样，日益消亡，看来这已成为落到他们头上的不可避免的命运。有足够的历史事实可以证明，这幅惨像并非虚妄之作。”

作者把本书取名为《最后的莫希干人》，就有着令人心酸的悲哀音调。正直、勇敢的莫希干人恩卡斯和美丽善良的科拉之死，也不无更深的寓意：随着他们的死去，他们心灵上的那种美德和纯洁的感情也消亡了，留下的只是笼罩在美洲大地上的那些贪婪、残暴的恶意和邪念。

6 小妇人——路易莎·奥尔科特

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

这部小说以家庭生活为描写对象，以家庭成员的感情纠葛为线索，描写了马奇一家的天伦之爱。马奇家的四姐妹中，无论是为了爱情甘于贫困的梅格，还是通过自己奋斗成为作家的乔，以及坦然面对死亡的贝思和以扶弱为己任的艾米，虽然她们的理想和命运都不尽相同，但是她们都具有自强自立的共同特点。描写了她们对家庭的眷恋；对爱的忠诚以及对亲情的渴望。马奇一家有四个姐妹，生活清贫、简单而又温馨。四组妹性格迥异；老大梅格漂亮端庄，有些爱慕虚荣；老二乔自由独立，渴望成为作家，老三贝丝善良羞涩，热爱音乐，老四埃米聪慧活泼，爱好艺术，希望成为一名上流社会的“淑女”。

所有时代的所有少女成长过程中所要面对的经历的，都可以在这本书中找到：初恋的甜蜜和烦恼，感情与理智的译，理想和现实的差距，贫穷与富有的矛盾。

7 野性的呼唤——杰克·伦敦

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

《野性的呼唤》是杰克·伦敦最负盛名的小说。故事主要叙述一只强壮勇猛的狼狗巴克从人类文明社会回到狼群原始生活的过程。巴克是一头体重140磅的十分强壮的狗。他本来在一个大法官家里过着优裕的生活，后来被法官的园丁偷走，辗转卖给邮局，又被送到阿拉斯加严寒地区去拉运送邮件的雪橇。巴克最初被卖给两个法裔加拿大人。这些被买来的狗不仅受到了冷酷的人类的虐待，而且在狗之间为了争夺狗群的领导权，也无时不在互相争斗、残杀。由于体力超群、机智勇敢，巴克最终打败斯比茨成为狗群的领队狗。他先后换过几个主人，最后被约翰·索顿收留。那是在巴克被残暴的主人哈尔打得遍体鳞伤、奄奄一息时，索顿救了他，并悉心为他疗伤。在索顿的精心护理下巴克恢复得很快，由此他们之间产生了真挚的感情。巴克对索顿非常忠诚，他两次不顾生命危险救了索顿的命，并在索顿和别人打赌时，拼命把一个载有一千磅盐的雪橇拉动，为索顿赢了一大笔钱。不幸的是，在淘金的过程中，索顿被印第安人杀死。狂怒之下，巴克咬死了几个印第安人，为主人报了仇。这时恩主已死，他觉得对这个人类社会已无所留恋。况且，一段时期以来，荒野中总回荡着一个神秘的呼唤声。这个声音吸引着他。最终，他回应着这个声音，进入森林，从此与狼为伍，过着原始动物的生活。但他不忘旧谊，仍然定期到主人的葬身之处去凭吊。

8 汤姆叔叔的小屋——哈里特·比彻·斯托

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

出生于康涅狄格州的斯托夫人，是哈特福德女子学院（Hartford Female Academy）的一名教师，同时，她也是一位积极的废奴主义者。全书围绕着一位久经苦难的黑奴汤姆叔叔的故事展开，并描述了他与他身边人——均为奴隶与奴隶主——的经历。这部感伤小说深刻地描绘出了奴隶制度残酷的本质；并认为基督徒的爱可以战胜由奴役人类同胞所带来的种种伤害。

《汤姆叔叔的小屋》这部小说是19世纪最畅销的小说（以及第二畅销的书，仅次于最畅销的书《圣经》）并被认为是刺激1850代废奴主义兴起的一大原因。在它发表的头一年里，在美国本土便销售出了三十万册。《汤姆叔叔的小屋》对美国社会的影响是如此巨大，以致在南北战争爆发的初期，当林肯接见斯托夫人时，曾说到：“你就是那位引发了一场大战的小妇人。”后来，这句话为众多作家竞相引用。

《汤姆叔叔的小屋》以及受其启发而写作出的各种剧本，还促进了大量黑人刻板印象的产生，不少的这些形象在当今都为人们所熟知。譬如慈爱善良的黑人保姆、黑小孩的原型、以及顺从、坚忍并忠心于白人主人的汤姆叔叔。最近几十年来，《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中的这些消极成分，已在一定程度上弱化了这本书作为“重要的反奴隶制工具”的历史作用。