The Role Of Jesus In Uncle Tom's Cabin

In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Evangeline St Clare and Uncle Tom are two characters that are portrayed as Christ figures. They are both depicted as these Christ figures, however, they differ in their physical descriptions and deaths, but are similar when it comes to their character’s actions as spiritual guides. Eva is described in the novel as having “long golden-brown hair that floated like a cloud around it” (Stowe 151) creating the image of her having a halo around her head. She is also described as “always dressed in white” (152) and looking like “something almost divine” (152) characterizing her as almost angelic and equating her description with Jesus’. Eva’s actions depict her as a Christ figure because she
is loving to everyone including the oppressed slaves and offers spiritual guidance to them. Eva tells Topsy that she loves her and in this moment of affection a “ray of heavenly love, had penetrated the darkness of [Topsy’s] heathen soul” (Stowe 290). From this point on Topsy is saved and begins changing because of Eva’s kindness and love. Eva’s innocent and goodness reflects Christian values, so using her character as a Christ figure appeals to the Christian audience that slavery goes against Christianity and if you’re a good Christian, you should be against slavery. Eva’s death, although bloodless, was a sacrifice for the salvation of others because of the aftermath and effects it had on others around her. Miss Ophelia rejects her racial prejudice and tells Topsy “’I can love you’” (Stowe 306) and that she can “’help [Topsy] grow up a good Christian’” (Stowe 306). Even more so, Eva’s death awoke something in her father, St. Clare, that led him towards Christianity and finally his deathbed conversion. Eva’s death ultimately led to the saving of two souls. Uncle Tom is the other Christ figure in the novel.
His description is more of the plainer, humbler side of Jesus than the heavenly one Eva is described as. Tom is described as being “large, broad-chested” (Stowe 27) with an expression of “kindliness and benevolence” (Stowe 27). Furthermore, Tom, like Eva, offers spiritual guidance to the other slaves around him. He serves as a sort of “patriarch in religious matters” (Stowe 35) on Shelby’s plantation likening him to Jesus offering guidance to his disciples. Depicting Tom, a black slave, as a Christ figure serves to show the readers that slaves have souls and morals too; they’re not just heathens as others viewed them. This illustration of slaves also having souls and being Christians works to appeal to the white audience that slavery is an evil because it enslaves fellow Christians. Tom’s death contrasts with Eva because there is bloodshed as he is physically beaten and suffers at the hands of Legree. But like Eva’s, Tom’s self-sacrificing death leads to the freedom and salvation of others. Tom takes these beatings in order to keep Emmeline and Cassy safe and his death ultimately leads to their salvation from Legree. Also when master George finds Tom and watches the life fade out of him, he resolves at that moment “to drive out this curse of slavery” (Stowe 429), which leads to him freeing all the slaves on his plantation. The parallel between Tom’s sacrifice and Jesus’ evokes more of an emotion in a Christian audience because they understand the magnitude of that kind of
sacrifice. With a religious audience, Stowe uses these two characters as Christ figures to hit home harder and create a more emotionally charged novel that can impact the readers more and aid in the novel serving as an abolitionist piece of literature.