“Is this the young lady who started the great war?” said Abraham Lincoln during his first meeting with Harriet Beecher Stowe. The reaction of one of America's most celebrated presidents is a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe is an effective author, demonstrated by her direct address to the reader and her use of allegorical stories to make a clear and convincing argument and demonstrate the unjust actions that slaves were subjected to. Lincoln's reaction was partly due to the fact that Stowe destroyed the semblance of reality by addressing the reader directly, also known as breaking verisimilitude. The first reason this makes Stow an effective author is because she is able to force her audience to put themselves in the characters' shoes. There are several moments in the story where Stowe does this. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One of the many moments Stowe breaks verisimilitude is when she questions readers' maternal instincts. As Eliza races desperately to protect Harry, her son, from the claws of evil slave traders, Stowe asks readers how far they would go if he were one of their children: "If he were your Harry, your mother, or your Willie , which would be taken from you by a brutal trader, tomorrow morning... how fast could you walk How many miles could you walk in those few short hours, with your loved one on your breast, the little sleepy head on your shoulder, the little and soft arms that cling confidently to your neck? (Stowe 80). Here, Stowe blatantly breaks verisimilitude, he addresses the mothers and those who have maternal instincts. By inserting a quote like this into Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe offers readers no choice but to put themselves in Eliza's shoes and feel with her, despite their racial differences. As readers understand the unjust treatment of slaves, they will in turn understand what needs to be done to right the wrongs. In the final concluding remarks of Stowe's novel, she forces readers to question their morals by again disturbing verisimilitude. He asks his readers a series of questions about what they really know and believe is morally right. “Is not every American Christian towards the African race an effort to redress the wrongs which the American nation has inflicted upon them?” (Stowe 507) In Stowe's last chapter, he addresses his audience directly, calling them to action. After providing information about the lives of slaves, Stowe forces people to question themselves and question whether or not they truly believe their actions were right and just. Many members of his audience would have answered no to those questions. Perhaps it was Stowe's violations of verisimilitude that caused her to elicit the reaction she did from Abraham Lincoln when they first met. “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war” (Abraham Lincoln). While there is speculation as to whether or not Lincoln himself said this exact thing, it is a quote that audiences have accepted and demonstrates the great impact that Uncle Tom's Cabin had on American society. The Civil War had an irreversible impact on American culture. If a book can lead to such a war, can it be argued that the author of that book was not effective? Breaking.