Uncle Tom's Cabin Character Analysis

In the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Mr. Shelby’s slaves lived together in a cabin. Of these slaves living in the cabin is Shelby’s most reliable, Tom. He aids the slaves in keeping their values. Much of this novel takes place outside of Mr. Shelby’s plantation. Throughout this novel, the cabin travels with Tom. This cabin is a place of faith, hope, love, and forgiveness. Tom’s personality helps recreate the atmosphere originally found in the cabin in the new places to which he is transported. One can see how these valued principles travel with Tom in the events of him finding that he is to be sold, helping a woman with her cotton, and his convincing Cassy of God. The quality of who Tom is as a person creates the values of the slaves in the cabin. In Stowe’s novel, Tom is described as a man with “self-respecting and dignified, yet united with a confiding and humble simplicity” (Stowe 1852, 26). He serves as a role model to those living in the cabin. His master, Mr. Shelby, treats Tom and the other slaves very well. When Tom is sold off to other slave owners, he keeps this self-respect, humility, and faith. In
In chapter thirty-eight, Legree taunts Tom day in and day out about his faith. For months, Tom wrestles with himself over his faith. He would pray to God for his emancipation. As the days go on, he loses hope in the idea that God would grant his deliverance. He acts as though he has reached the end of his rope. However, one night as Tom is sitting in silence, “a vision rose before him of one crowned with thorns, buffeted and bleeding…the sharp thorns became rays of glory; and, in splendor inconceivable, he saw that same face bending compassionately towards him, and a voice said, "He that overcometh shall sit down with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne” (Stowe 1825,