Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a remarkable book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 to against slavery. It steadily shows the evil and cruelty of the slavery from the frustrations of life of the main character, Uncle Tom. Tom is owned by 3 different masters totally. They are Arthur Shelby, Augustine St. Clare, and Simon Legree. Consequently, Tom’s pitiful life is caused by them.

Although all three masters have dramatic different personalities, they do have similarities. At least, their jobs are all masters of slaves. As a result, they have to work for money to maintain their lives; try their best to manage their slaves in order to preventing happens of rebellion; and do something ruthless when it is necessary. For Mr. Shelby, he sells Tom for paying back debt; for St. Clare, he does not treat Tom in a gentle way although he knows what is true; for Legree, he never stops
being brutal.

Anyway, the differences among three masters are much more than similarities. Firstly, Shelby and St. Clare come from Southern America. In contrast, Legree is from the North. Different living environments bring them opposite behaving standards. It is acceptable to consider Mr. Shelby as a gentleman as his wife, Emily Shelby, says, “You know your master…never means to sell any of his servants as long as they behave well” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe page11). It is also not hard for readers to forgive the poor aspects of St. Clare after he finally gets the idea to free Tom. Conspicuously, Legree is a man with a heart stone that he requires slaves too much work; that he punishes them without batting an eyelid; and that he is the man orders to kill Uncle Tom. The evil mind of him is removable. Nothing can touch him or help him to go straight. Even when Tom responses Legree’s threaten -“I’ll conquer ye, or kill ye!” - with terminable kindness - “Mas’r, if you

was sick…yours won’t never end!” -, the only influence of this amicable action is it shocks Legree for a moment - “the spirit of evil came back…smote his victim to the ground.” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe page382-383).
In addition, the people around these three masters have distinctive styles. Except Uncle Tom, the person who has the closest relationship with Mr. Shelby is his wife, Emily Shelby. She is a naïve woman who can only notice the most superficial part of objects or things. Mrs. Shelby does not realize how high the pressure under the Mr. Shelby is when he has no choice but to trade Tom for repaying debt. She is more like a companion with simple function. Eva, short for Evangeline Sinclair, who is the daughter of the St. Clare, is the most significant figure of St. Clare’s. She is truly kind and has a unique level of charisma which is beyond her age. St. Clare’s life is improved by his daughter gently. In another word, the existence of Eva does help St. Clare a lot. Unfortunately, Legree is too stubborn to be changed by anything whatever in an emotional way or in a rational
way.

Logically, Shelby; St. Clare; and Legree show up in a delicate order of religion. Shelby’s family is devout Christian. They pray, treat people friendly, and behave ethically. St. Clare is too lazy to do something “right” at first, but with his daughter and Tom’s effect, he is deeply convinced in Christianity. Unsurprisingly, Legree is never interested in being a Christian. What’s worse, he let his subordinates to kill Uncle Tom. This steady progression provides the basic idea of Christian such as love, tolerance, and freedom step by step. Until the last second of Tom’s life, he believes that he is able to go to the heaven and get the help of the God.

Reference

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ware: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1995. 5 March 2017.