Uncle Tom's Cabin

Title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Date of Publication: 1852

Genre: Fiction



Author Biographical Information
'Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Connecticut on June 14, 1811. In October 1832, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Harriet taught in a Western Female Institute. In 1834, she began writing for the Western Monthly Magazine a received a fifty-dollar prize for her tale “A New England Sketch”. January 6, 1836, she married Calvin Ellis Stowe and they had seven children. She wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1851 and it was published 1852. Harriet died July 1, 1896.' TaylorBack 17:45, 22 April 2012 (MDT)

Setting: Historical Information
'Slavery in Kentucky dates back to the European settlements up until the civil war. Even though Kentucky was considered an Upper South state rather than a Deep South state, enslaved African Americans took up a large percentage of the population. Early travelers to Kentucky in the 1750s and 1760s brought their slaves with them. As permanent settlers came in the 1770s, they began placing the slaves in station-based settlements.' TaylorBack 05:56, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Genre
'The characters aren’t real. This is an imaginary story, but it could’ve happened, therefore it is fiction.' TaylorBack 17:50, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Plot Summary
After getting himself deep into debt, slave and large farm owner, Arthur Shelby, must sell some of his slaves to a harsh slave trader, Mr. Haley. The questionable slaves are Uncle Tom, and Harry, the young son of Mrs. Shelby’s maid, Eliza. When Mrs. Shelby finds out, she’s very angry because she promised Eliza she would never sell her son. However, Eliza overhears the conversation about her son being sold and decides to take her son and flees to the North, hoping to find freedom with her husband, George, in Canada. She crosses over the half-frozen Ohio River, which is the boundary separating Kentucky from the North. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom is sold to Mr. Haley. While on the boat on the way to Mississippi, Tom befriends a young, white girl, Eva. When Eva falls into the water, Tom quickly dives in to save her. Eva’s father, St. Augustine ended up buying Tom from Mr. Haley and taking him to New Orleans. After two years of Tom living there, Eva grows very sick and ends up dying. St. Clare was going to set Tom free, however he was stabbed to death trying to resolve a brawl. St. Clare’s harsh wife, Marie, sells Tom to a vicious plantation owner, Simon. He is taken to rural Louisiana, where he later met a sex slave, Cassy, who is owned by Legree. Tom convinces Cassy to escape and when he refuses to tell Legree where she has gone, he receives a severe beating. When Tom is near his death, he forgives Legree and the overseers. George Shelby came ready to buy Tom to set him free, but it was too late. Tom was dead. Taking a boat to freedom, Cassy met George Harris’ sister and traveled with her to Canada, where Cassy realizes Eliza is her long-lost daughter. The newly reunited family moved to France. When George Shelby arrived back to the Kentucky plantation, he decided to set all the slaves free in honor of Uncle Tom. TaylorBack 17:49, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Characters

 * Uncle Tom - Always keeps his faith in God no matter what the situation.
 * Aunt Chloe - Uncle Tom’s wife and Shelby’s cook.
 * Arthur Shelby - Had to sell Uncle Tom in order to pay off his debt. He tolerates slavery, but treats his slaves kindly.
 * Emily Shelby - She doesn’t believe in slavery and tries to help Shelby’s slaves in any way she can.
 * George Shelby - He promised Tom that he would save him from the cruelty. When Tom dies, he resolves to free all the slaves on the family farm.
 * George Harris - Confronted the slave hunter, Tom Loker and didn’t hesitate to shoot him after he put the family in danger.
 * Eliza Harris - When she finds out her son is going to be sold to Mr. Haley, she escaped and crossed the Ohio River on patches of ice.
 * Augustine St. Clare - Treats his slaves with compassion and even though he sees the evil in slavery, he still practices it.
 * Eva - She doesn’t see any difference in superiority between blacks and whites and befriends Tom at a very young age.
 * Mr. Haley - Bought Uncle Tom from Mr. Shelby and is a violent slave owner. TaylorBack 16:43, 29 April 2012 (MDT)

Author's Style
'The author is a detailed person. She wants to make sure you can see it in your head as she wants you to perceive it. EX: “There needed only a glance from the child to her, to identify her as its mother. There was the same rich, full, dark eye, with its long lashes; the same ripples of silky black hair. The brown of her complexion gave way on the cheek to a perceptible flush, which deepened as she saw the gaze of the strange man fixed upon her in bold and undisguised admiration. Her dress was of the neatest possible fit, and set off to advantage her finely molded shape; -- a delicately formed hand and a trim foot and ankle were items of appearance that did not escape the quick eye of the trader, well used to run up at a glance of the points of a fine female article.” ' TaylorBack 17:47, 22 April 2012 (MDT)

Setting
The setting is in multiple places. It’s in Kentucky, Louisiana, Canada, and Africa throughout the book. TaylorBack 21:11, 29 April 2012 (MDT)

Themes
1. Slavery is evil - The entire book shows how terrible slavery was and how it shouldn’t be legal.

2. Religion and slavery don’t belong together - If you’re a Christian then you know how important equality is and you wouldn’t practice slavery even if you were kind to your slaves.

3. Race doesn’t matter - In the book, Eva sees everyone equal whether they are black or white. Everyone should have the same outlook. Everyone deserves freedom no matter what color you are. TaylorBack 18:04, 29 April 2012 (MDT)

Symbols
1. Eliza’s leap across the frozen Ohio river symbolizes how important freedom really is and how brave one must be to reach for freedom.

2. The location of the book is used to show the difference between freedom in the North and slavery in the South.

3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin makes the slaves think of their freedom because George Shelby eventually frees his slaves and tells them to think freedom when they think Uncle Tom’s Cabin. TaylorBack 17:59, 29 April 2012 (MDT)

Significance of the Opening/Closing Scenes
The first scene is where Mr. Haley and Mr. Shelby are talking about the debt that Mr. Shelby owes Mr. Haley. Mr. Haley gives Mr. Shelby the option of property loss, financial ruin, or selling his best slave. Mr. Shelby decides to give sell Tom, his best slave and convince Mr. Haley that Tom is so hard working and loyal that that’s all the slaves he needs to give to him. This is when Mr. Haley takes ownership of Tom. TaylorBack 21:10, 29 April 2012 (MDT)

In the closing scene, George ends up dying, but just before he gives a speech. He told everyone to think about Uncle Tom’s Cabin when they thought about their freedom. Also, he wanted them to be honest, faithful, Christians. TaylorBack 05:58, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Memorable Quotes
1. “O, George, we must have faith. Mistress says that when all things go wrong to us, we must believe that God is doing the very best.’ “That’s easy to say for people that are sitting on their sofas and riding in their carriages; but let ‘em be where I am, I guess it would come some harder. I wish I could be good; but my heart burns, and can’t be reconciled, anyhow. You couldn’t let in my place, you can’t now, if I tell you all I’ve got to say. You don’t know the whole yet.” Significance: George is a non-believer and thinks that God is only on the side of those who have it easy. Eliza, on the other hand, puts all her faith in God.

2. "I have been careful, and I have been patient, but it's growing worse and worse; flesh and blood can't bear it any longer; – every chance he can get to insult and torment me, he takes. I thought I could do my work well, and keep on quiet, and have some time to read and learn out of work hours; but the more he sees I can do, the more he loads on.” Significance: George’s owner is brutally mean to him even though he isn’t doing anything wrong. When George’s owner sees that he is making progress with anything, he places more work on him than is bearable.

3. “My master! And who made him my master? That’s what I think of – what right has he to me? I’m a man as much as he is. I’m a better man than he is. I know more about business than he does; I am a better manager that he is; I can ready better than he can; I can write a better hand, – and I’ve learned it in spite of him; and now what right has he to make a dray-horse of me? – to take me from things I can do, and do better than he can, and put me to work that any horse can do? He tries to do it; he says he’ll bring me down and humble me, and he puts me to just the hardest, meanest, and dirtiest work, on purpose!” Significance: George is better than his master. He’s smarter, stronger, and harder working. However, George can’t do anything without permission from his master. He is being tormented for being better at everything than his master. TaylorBack 16:18, 29 April 2012 (MDT)