Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a historical fiction is inspired by the life of Josiah Henson. It is a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe and was first published in 1852. Uncle Tom's Cabin is wholly about slavery, how slaves were treated and how they lived. Christianity, the incompatibility with slavery and Christian beliefs, and the outright evilness of slavery are recurring themes.
Through Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe provides a prime example of the golden rule in storytelling, and that is "show, don't tell." From this book you will see how terrified someone can be; how strong, brave and courageous someone can be, and how utterly distraught and broken down someone can be. It's almost as if you can feel the their own fears, hate and disgust. Even though this book involves the terrible practice of slavery, you will still meet some ethically moral slave owners who did not beat or harm their slaves. This, though, was a rarity. Several such examples were that of Mr. Shelby, the man who owned our protagonist, Uncle Tom, …show more content…
and a Mr. St. Clare, whom bought Tom after Mr. Shelby had to sell him out of necessity. Neither Shelby nor St. Clare were declared Christians themselves, but they both had major influencers of Christ through the women in their lives; for Mr. Shelby it was his wife Emily, and for St. Clare it was his daughter Evangeline, nicknamed Eva. But, unfortunately, slavery still makes a villain out of the most Christian-like man you might ever meet.
Christianity is a major theme throughout the book and it is what kept Tom from despair in his most dire of situations. When Tom was bought by Simon Legree, Legree swore he'd break him, and he almost did, but Tom's faith was renewed and became stronger than ever. Throughout his whole time as a slave, Tom could be considered the "perfect" slave. He never stood out of line, always ready and willing to obey his master, except when it contradicted his beliefs, such as when Legree told him to whip another slave. Tom didn't do it, even though it meant a horrible flogging for himself. Tom was a Christian in faith, words and actions.
Even though Tom had many chances to run away he never did, for he was a good honest man who was bound by his beliefs. Even when Cassy, a fellow slave under the charge of Legree urged him to join her in running away, he did not, but he did encourage her to do so for he said "time was when I would; but the Lord's given me a work among these yer poor souls, and I'll stay with 'em and bear my cross with 'em till the end. It's different with you; it's a snare to you,--it's more 'n you can stand,--and you'd better go, if you can." (345) And she did; she devised an ingenious plan, playing on Legree's weakness, for you see, Legree was a very superstitious man (this is another major theme, for Legree is a major character), He was haunted by the fact that his loving, Christian Mother --whom he distanced himself from as he grew older—on her deathbed, still said she constantly prayed for him, and loved and forgave him for the way he acted and distanced himself from her. Legree was, as said, distanced from his Mother and was not present when she died, therefore, this was all said in a letter which also contained a curl of her hair. This struck a cord in Legree and for some reason made him angry, so he decided to burn the letter and the curl of hair.
Now, back-tracking a little, Miss Eva, St.Clare's daughter, was a young Christian girl whom some would consider even calling her an "angel sent from heaven." Miss Eva had loved all her Father's slaves dearly, but, lamentably, she was struck ill and was not to recover; before death was to have her, she had her Father call all the slaves into her room, and she cut off curls of her hair, giving a curl each to a slave saying "...There isn't one of you that hasn't always been very kind to me; and I want to give you something that, when you look at, you shall always remember me.
I'm going to give all of you a curl of my hair; and, when you look at it, think that I loved you and am gone to heaven, and that I want to see you all there."(251) Now, Tom had got one of these curls and he treasured it dearly, Miss Eva, in fact, was the reason St. Clare bought Tom in the first place, for she liked Tom and wanted her Father to buy him for her; they became an almost inseparable
pair.
When Legree had Tom badly whipped for not following an order to instead whip another, Tom's things were confiscated by Legree's overseer and brought to him. Among Tom's few possessions was said curl of hair, and that curl of hair remarkably resembled the hair of Legree's dead Mother. Upon this discovery Legree flipped out thinking maybe his past had come back to haunt him. Legree was not a good man, and the thoughts of his dead Mother were not the only thing that haunted him. There was a garret in Legree's house, rumored to be the death place of previous slaves, and there's only so many horrible deeds a man can do before it haunts him for the rest of his life, and Legree, as stated, was a very horrible man.
Cassy, for her run-away plan, had played upon this superstitious fear, and staged her run-away by not actually running away, She and another young slave girl named Emmeline --who was recently bought by Legree-- had run away, were purposely seen, and then they doubled back to hide away in the garret. Cassy had stockpiled supplies in the garret so she and Emmeline could live there until the hunt for them had died down and the time was right to actually escape. This plan was a success, and Cassy and Emmeline made it out alive and well.
Now, pertaining to the hunt; hunts could be considered major events, for when a slave ran away, particularly a very valuable one, the plantation owner to which the slave belonged would invite other plantation owners and their underlings to join the hunt. A hunt for a run-away slave could customarily involve up to four or more other plantations. That is quite a big deal. Another major event, though this is more on the slaves side, could be successfully running away and/or actually reuniting with a long lost family member, I say "and/or" because our very own Cassy, had successfully escaped and was also reunited with one of her long lost children. Because of the way slavery was, it is a miracle that something like reuniting with long lost loved one even happened.
Now, concerning our subplot characters in relation to Cassy. At the beginning of the story Uncle Tom was not the only slave Mr. Shelby had to part with. He also had to sell a young boy named Harry. Harry's Mother, Eliza, had overheard the conversation on this topic and decided she had to run away with her little boy. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby were always good to all their slaves, including Eliza, she was even married to another slave named George Harris who was from another plantation. But her motherly instincts kicked in and she absolutely couldn't bear being separated from her young child. If a major event is defined by something that happened often, I would definitely say that a slave being sold away from their family was indeed a major event, an event that breaks hearts. Eliza refused this situation, and so she ran away with little Harry; she even crossed a jagged, iced over river in her desperation. Eliza was eventually taken in by a Quaker settlement, and it also turned out that her husband George was also on the run and would soon join her at her current location with the Quakers. Ultimately the Quakers help George, Eliza, and their son escape all the way to Canada (for there was no slavery in Canada) successfully.
Again consider our character Cassy, who has several papers dedicated to her lamenting all her woes to Tom when he was brutally whipped and she was taking care of him after the fact. Cassy mentions how she lost several children to the abomination that is slavery, and that one child so happened to be named Eliza. After Cassy and Emmeline had successfully escaped and were on a boat headed for Cincinnati, Cassy overheard George (not George Harris but "young Mas'r George" so called by Tom. This George was Mr. Shelby's son. Young George and Tom were also very close) talking to a Madame de Thoux, and the name George Harris came up, and along with that, the name Eliza, The more the pair talked about the two and as George described Eliza, Cassy suddenly yelled out "O, my God!" It turns out, on the bill of sale for Eliza; she was bought by a Mr. Simmons, whom apparently owned Cassy for a moment in time and had sold her children away. It also turned out the Madame de Thoux was George Harris's sister! So, in these turn of events Madame de Thoux and Eliza along with Emmeline joined up, departed from Young George, and were eventually successful in reuniting with their long lost loved ones.
Now ain't that a piece of pie? Considering how these stories relate to each other is quite something. First, Eliza and Tom were living on the same plantation; then they go their separate ways, meet different people, and then it all connects again at the end. Stowe's story is based on various true events, so you could say that Cassy and Eliza were, in a sense, real people and that their story really happened; and stories like reuniting, surely, did not happen enough. The way people relate to each other in the story, is through their humanity, sympathizing with each other, realizing in the end, we are all truly the same. But some people cannot accept that, and sometimes the only thing one can do is pray, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." which Tom actually does at one point in the story. People relate to each other back then just as they might today, of course excluding the exact level of hatred; but, people back then, just as in the present, can identify what is really wrong and what is not, and people will deny things whole heartedly if it's something unfamiliar to them and it's just easier to turn a blind eye, even more so if it's against their beliefs.
One character, which I failed to mention earlier, is Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia is St. Clare's cousin, and she could be considered the epitome of the North. For she personifies just that; She was vehemently against slavery due to her beliefs, yet she was racially prejudiced against blacks, and couldn't even stand them touching her. She would rather send Missionaries and have them deal with telling the slaves about God. But Miss Ophelia's prejudice could merely be just because she lacked the experience of actually, physically being around blacks, and the unfamiliar situation made her uncomfortable. Miss Ophelia, though, does develop over the storyline, and when St. Clare buys her a gift called Topsy, Miss Ophelia is persuaded that it's her duty to teach this young girl in the good and righteous ways, and to raise her properly. At first Miss Ophelia only does it because she believes it's her duty, but as time progresses she no longer does it out of duty, but out of love. And Stowe hints, that to truly do any good as an abolitionist, you must do things out of love, not just duty.
Stowe's views on slavery are conveyed through the narrator of this story. Stowe is against slavery and thinks it a horrible thing. I think what Stowe is trying to make people realize is that slavery is quite the evil thing, it tears people apart, and it is completely incompatible with Christian beliefs.
Through Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe provides a prime example of the golden rule in storytelling, and that is "show, don't tell." From this book you will see how terrified someone can be; how strong, brave and courageous someone can be, and how utterly distraught and broken down someone can be. It's almost as if you can feel the their own fears, hate and disgust. Even though this book involves the terrible practice of slavery, you will still meet some ethically moral slave owners who did not beat or harm their slaves. This, though, was a rarity. Several such examples were that of Mr. Shelby, the man who owned our protagonist, Uncle Tom, …show more content…
and a Mr. St. Clare, whom bought Tom after Mr. Shelby had to sell him out of necessity. Neither Shelby nor St. Clare were declared Christians themselves, but they both had major influencers of Christ through the women in their lives; for Mr. Shelby it was his wife Emily, and for St. Clare it was his daughter Evangeline, nicknamed Eva. But, unfortunately, slavery still makes a villain out of the most Christian-like man you might ever meet.
Christianity is a major theme throughout the book and it is what kept Tom from despair in his most dire of situations. When Tom was bought by Simon Legree, Legree swore he'd break him, and he almost did, but Tom's faith was renewed and became stronger than ever. Throughout his whole time as a slave, Tom could be considered the "perfect" slave. He never stood out of line, always ready and willing to obey his master, except when it contradicted his beliefs, such as when Legree told him to whip another slave. Tom didn't do it, even though it meant a horrible flogging for himself. Tom was a Christian in faith, words and actions.
Even though Tom had many chances to run away he never did, for he was a good honest man who was bound by his beliefs. Even when Cassy, a fellow slave under the charge of Legree urged him to join her in running away, he did not, but he did encourage her to do so for he said "time was when I would; but the Lord's given me a work among these yer poor souls, and I'll stay with 'em and bear my cross with 'em till the end. It's different with you; it's a snare to you,--it's more 'n you can stand,--and you'd better go, if you can." (345) And she did; she devised an ingenious plan, playing on Legree's weakness, for you see, Legree was a very superstitious man (this is another major theme, for Legree is a major character), He was haunted by the fact that his loving, Christian Mother --whom he distanced himself from as he grew older—on her deathbed, still said she constantly prayed for him, and loved and forgave him for the way he acted and distanced himself from her. Legree was, as said, distanced from his Mother and was not present when she died, therefore, this was all said in a letter which also contained a curl of her hair. This struck a cord in Legree and for some reason made him angry, so he decided to burn the letter and the curl of hair.
Now, back-tracking a little, Miss Eva, St.Clare's daughter, was a young Christian girl whom some would consider even calling her an "angel sent from heaven." Miss Eva had loved all her Father's slaves dearly, but, lamentably, she was struck ill and was not to recover; before death was to have her, she had her Father call all the slaves into her room, and she cut off curls of her hair, giving a curl each to a slave saying "...There isn't one of you that hasn't always been very kind to me; and I want to give you something that, when you look at, you shall always remember me.
I'm going to give all of you a curl of my hair; and, when you look at it, think that I loved you and am gone to heaven, and that I want to see you all there."(251) Now, Tom had got one of these curls and he treasured it dearly, Miss Eva, in fact, was the reason St. Clare bought Tom in the first place, for she liked Tom and wanted her Father to buy him for her; they became an almost inseparable
pair.
When Legree had Tom badly whipped for not following an order to instead whip another, Tom's things were confiscated by Legree's overseer and brought to him. Among Tom's few possessions was said curl of hair, and that curl of hair remarkably resembled the hair of Legree's dead Mother. Upon this discovery Legree flipped out thinking maybe his past had come back to haunt him. Legree was not a good man, and the thoughts of his dead Mother were not the only thing that haunted him. There was a garret in Legree's house, rumored to be the death place of previous slaves, and there's only so many horrible deeds a man can do before it haunts him for the rest of his life, and Legree, as stated, was a very horrible man.
Cassy, for her run-away plan, had played upon this superstitious fear, and staged her run-away by not actually running away, She and another young slave girl named Emmeline --who was recently bought by Legree-- had run away, were purposely seen, and then they doubled back to hide away in the garret. Cassy had stockpiled supplies in the garret so she and Emmeline could live there until the hunt for them had died down and the time was right to actually escape. This plan was a success, and Cassy and Emmeline made it out alive and well.
Now, pertaining to the hunt; hunts could be considered major events, for when a slave ran away, particularly a very valuable one, the plantation owner to which the slave belonged would invite other plantation owners and their underlings to join the hunt. A hunt for a run-away slave could customarily involve up to four or more other plantations. That is quite a big deal. Another major event, though this is more on the slaves side, could be successfully running away and/or actually reuniting with a long lost family member, I say "and/or" because our very own Cassy, had successfully escaped and was also reunited with one of her long lost children. Because of the way slavery was, it is a miracle that something like reuniting with long lost loved one even happened.
Now, concerning our subplot characters in relation to Cassy. At the beginning of the story Uncle Tom was not the only slave Mr. Shelby had to part with. He also had to sell a young boy named Harry. Harry's Mother, Eliza, had overheard the conversation on this topic and decided she had to run away with her little boy. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby were always good to all their slaves, including Eliza, she was even married to another slave named George Harris who was from another plantation. But her motherly instincts kicked in and she absolutely couldn't bear being separated from her young child. If a major event is defined by something that happened often, I would definitely say that a slave being sold away from their family was indeed a major event, an event that breaks hearts. Eliza refused this situation, and so she ran away with little Harry; she even crossed a jagged, iced over river in her desperation. Eliza was eventually taken in by a Quaker settlement, and it also turned out that her husband George was also on the run and would soon join her at her current location with the Quakers. Ultimately the Quakers help George, Eliza, and their son escape all the way to Canada (for there was no slavery in Canada) successfully.
Again consider our character Cassy, who has several papers dedicated to her lamenting all her woes to Tom when he was brutally whipped and she was taking care of him after the fact. Cassy mentions how she lost several children to the abomination that is slavery, and that one child so happened to be named Eliza. After Cassy and Emmeline had successfully escaped and were on a boat headed for Cincinnati, Cassy overheard George (not George Harris but "young Mas'r George" so called by Tom. This George was Mr. Shelby's son. Young George and Tom were also very close) talking to a Madame de Thoux, and the name George Harris came up, and along with that, the name Eliza, The more the pair talked about the two and as George described Eliza, Cassy suddenly yelled out "O, my God!" It turns out, on the bill of sale for Eliza; she was bought by a Mr. Simmons, whom apparently owned Cassy for a moment in time and had sold her children away. It also turned out the Madame de Thoux was George Harris's sister! So, in these turn of events Madame de Thoux and Eliza along with Emmeline joined up, departed from Young George, and were eventually successful in reuniting with their long lost loved ones.
Now ain't that a piece of pie? Considering how these stories relate to each other is quite something. First, Eliza and Tom were living on the same plantation; then they go their separate ways, meet different people, and then it all connects again at the end. Stowe's story is based on various true events, so you could say that Cassy and Eliza were, in a sense, real people and that their story really happened; and stories like reuniting, surely, did not happen enough. The way people relate to each other in the story, is through their humanity, sympathizing with each other, realizing in the end, we are all truly the same. But some people cannot accept that, and sometimes the only thing one can do is pray, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." which Tom actually does at one point in the story. People relate to each other back then just as they might today, of course excluding the exact level of hatred; but, people back then, just as in the present, can identify what is really wrong and what is not, and people will deny things whole heartedly if it's something unfamiliar to them and it's just easier to turn a blind eye, even more so if it's against their beliefs.
One character, which I failed to mention earlier, is Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia is St. Clare's cousin, and she could be considered the epitome of the North. For she personifies just that; She was vehemently against slavery due to her beliefs, yet she was racially prejudiced against blacks, and couldn't even stand them touching her. She would rather send Missionaries and have them deal with telling the slaves about God. But Miss Ophelia's prejudice could merely be just because she lacked the experience of actually, physically being around blacks, and the unfamiliar situation made her uncomfortable. Miss Ophelia, though, does develop over the storyline, and when St. Clare buys her a gift called Topsy, Miss Ophelia is persuaded that it's her duty to teach this young girl in the good and righteous ways, and to raise her properly. At first Miss Ophelia only does it because she believes it's her duty, but as time progresses she no longer does it out of duty, but out of love. And Stowe hints, that to truly do any good as an abolitionist, you must do things out of love, not just duty.
Stowe's views on slavery are conveyed through the narrator of this story. Stowe is against slavery and thinks it a horrible thing. I think what Stowe is trying to make people realize is that slavery is quite the evil thing, it tears people apart, and it is completely incompatible with Christian beliefs.