Uncle Tom's Cabin, By Harriet Beecher Stowe

Throughout the novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the role of faith is repeatedly portrayed in many of the main characters lives. It is often the crucial turning point for the characters’ lives, beliefs and morale during the course of the plot. “His spirit is, neither degrading stripes, nor blood, nor insults, can make the Christian’s last struggle less than glorious” (Stowe pg. 1182). This line struck a cord with me as it ties together the two fundamental themes of this novel: the obvious struggle of slaves to earn their freedom and the even more difficult task of remaining a morally and ethically devout Christian when nothing in the world gives you reason too. Christianity serves as a beacon of light and redemption for the characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and it reflects on the struggle of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s generation for freedom to all men regardless of skin color.
Uncle Tom, the main character in the novel, is portrayed as the slave, friend, father, husband, disciple and perhaps most importantly the martyr. Throughout the novel his
faith is tested in the most brutal and often cruel ways, but throughout this he over comes his obstacles and instills faith and love in many of the lives he touches. Master Legree was the final test for Uncle Tom, he nearly breaks under the constant abuse from his master and yet in his last moments he finds it in himself to forgive and in his sacrifice he shines a light on the lost soul of those around him. “I’d be willing to bar all I have, if it’ll only bring ye to Christ! O, Lord! Give me these two more souls, I pray!” (Stowe pg. 1186). He saved his abusers even in the final moment when no one was there to save him. In his death he becomes a figure of faith for both men and women, black and white exposing the clear incompatibility between slavery and Christianity.
Stowe goes to great extents to reveal the conflicting system of slavery and living a life of faith. This is revealed with the relationship between Eva and Uncle Tom. Despite their adverse upbringings they connect on both an emotional and moral level. As the unlikely friendship grows, they strengthen each other’s faith in God. They sing hymns together, pray and help other’s grow in their faith as well. Eva despite her upbringing her own race recognizes the evils that slavery stands for and promises to free the slaves once she gains ownership. She is an example of a person who looks beyond what lies on the surface and sees the true color of a person’s soul and does not judge them by their skin. Unfortunately, Eva falls ill and eventually passes but before she dies she summons her friends and family including the slaves of her household whom she holds dear to her,
“I want you to remember that there is a beautiful world, where Jesus is. I am going there, and you can go there. It is for you, as much as me. But if you want to go there, you must not live idle, careless, thoughtless lives. You must be Christians. You must remember that each one of you can become angels, and be angels forever…if you want to be Christian, Jesus will help you” (Stowe pg. 831).
Her words reinforce what Stowe is trying to explicate there cannot be a world in which Christianity and slavery can live harmoniously. They contradict each other. How can one live a life of faith while in the process not following the basic law of Christ, treat others the way you want to be treated.

Uncle Tom’s original owner, Arthur Shelby learns this lesson the hard way. While he is portrayed as an upstanding and faithful man he is not perfect and his will cripples due to his personal debt. When he is forced to sell Uncle Tom and another slave boy named Harry his wife becomes upset and appalled. Her reaction stemmed from the fact that she and her husband have always had a good relationship with their slaves and she had also promised Eliza, Harry’s mother, they would never separate the two of them. After Mrs. Shelby finds out about her husband’s most recent business transaction, she declares slavery a sin. “This is God’s curse on slavery! I was a fool to think I could make anything good out of such a deadly evil. It is a sin to hold a slave under laws like ours” (Stowe, pg. 97). Mrs. Shelby could not have been clearer. And while Mr. Shelby’s son did finally set his slaves free at the end of the novel it took Tom’s death to make him realize the horror behind slavery and there is no manner of justifying it.
The Quakers are another example of how religion matters more than the color of a person skin. The Quakers often helped runaway slaves cross into Canada. They would feed runaways, house them and accompany them to the next house. Even when a slave hunter, Tom, was shot and left for dead, they nursed him back to health. “Oh, I hope he wasn’t hurt…because after death comes the judgment”(Stowe, pg. 572). It is appalling that despite this mans unwavering effort to recapture Eliza, George and the others escaping to freedom they pity him. They pity those who have no faith regardless of the fact that they have freedom, to them the most important thing in the world is preparing a life worthy of eternal life. Seeing the compassion of the Quakers, when Tom is healed he changes his path and helps runaways instead of capturing runaway slaves.
The many deaths of those with strong faith that came from this novel had an ever-changing effect on the lives of the other characters.
Uncle Tom’s death greatly impacts his former slave owner’s son, George Shelby. Once Shelby discovers Tom has died he is overcome with grief and tells God he will, “What one man can to drive out the curse of slavery from my land” (Stowe pg. 696). When he returns back and begins to free his slaves he proclaims, “It was on [Uncle Tom’s] grave, my friends, that I resolved, before God, that I would never own another slave,” (Stowe pg. 727). Because Uncle Tom died away from his family, George Shelby also vowed that no one “should ever run the risk of being parted from home and friends, and dying on a lonely plantation, as he died” (Stowe pg. 727). The many changes of heart represent turning points for many characters and major thematic moments Stowe purposefully and artfully created to make her
point.
Harriet Beecher Stowe used her religious beliefs and morale to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a tool to reach others and help them to understand the truly important things in life. She stresses that when we die we will not be judged by the color of our skin, whether we are male or female, rich or poor it doesn’t matter. We will be judged on the way we lived our life, those whose lives we touched for the better on those whose lives we have damaged. The obvious conflict of living half a life; a life where you claim to be Christian and yet own slaves, a life where you accept slavery and yet claim to be Christian. You cannot have both. Uncle Tom’s Cabin portrays these ideals through the various characters and plot twists reinforcing the evident and detrimental incompatibility between slavery and Christianity.