Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written between 1851-1852 and published in 1852.

The action starts in the time of Harriet Beecher Stowe as it is placed on a Kentucky plantation of 1840. It begins with a discussion between Haley a slave trader that presses Shelby to sell a slave by the name of Uncle Tom. Also, we get introduced to Harry (a fair-skinned child) of Eliza, who was the maid of Mrs Shelby. Eliza is also married to George Harris, a fair-skinned slave from a different plantation.

George shows great ideas and ingenuity which gets the attention of his master who tries to belittle him because of it. When Eliza finds out about Shelby’s plans to sell Uncle Tom and Harry, she takes Harry and flees towards Ohio. She plans to meet George and finally flee to Canada, where they would have the chance to be free people. On their trail is now Haley, furious about the escape.

In Winter they reach Ohio and are taken into the care of a Quaker family who already took care of George. After which they depart further towards their destination, except for Uncle Tom who sees it, as his duty to remain loyal to his slave status.

While Shelby junior sees Uncle Tom before the sale and makes a promise to bring him back to his family, Tom is sold by Haley now to a rich person from New Orleans, by the name of Augustine St. Clare. There Uncle Tom meets the new owner’s daughter, Evangeline, a religious child very caring and with a good soul. Evangeline and Uncle Tom befriend each other even more after he saves Eva (Evangeline) from a life-threatening accident, and St. Clare finishes the transaction of buying Tom.

In the meanwhile, George, Eliza, and Harry are taken care of by the Quakers, and while heading towards Canada, two slave catchers are still near on their trail, and almost catch them. One of the slave catcher Tom Loker gets shot in the gunshot exchange, and George takes him to a Quaker home to receive medical treatment.

Uncle Tom gets fonder of Evangeline and they read together with the Bible, but disaster follows the St. Clare home as Eva’s daughter declines continuously. Another young slave is brought to the home, Topsy, while Eva makes St Clare promise to become a better man, and a practising Christian. Soon after, Evangeline dies and St Clare starts to fulfil all the promises he made, but he dies as well, in a café fight. St Clare wife however does not carry on these promises, and instead of freeing Uncle Tom, she sells him to a different plantation, to a cruel owner, by the name of Simon Legree.

Simon Legree often whips the slaves and asks Tom to whip a fellow slave as well. It is at this point that Tom declines, as he would accept most of his owner instructions, except to beat a fellow human. This angers Simon, and with another three: Sambo and Quimbo beat Tom with extreme savagery hoping to take all the goodness out of him and destroy his soul.

While some of the other slave women flee, Uncle Tom is once more on the receiving end of Legree’s anger, this time the beating is so hard, that he kills Tom. Just before dying Tom meets Shelby jr and asks him to promise he will become a good Christian.

At the same time the former slave catcher, Loker, moved by the Quakers kind heart, repents for his way and changes his life.

After Uncle Tom’s death, George meets Madame de Thoux, who is revealed to be George Harris’s sister. After which George returns to the Shelby plantation where he keeps his promise and frees all the slaves.

Besides the obvious theme of slavery and the dangers and inhumane activities that slavery and discrimination would bring, there are some other symbols and themes presented in the novel. Such examples are Christianity, the Bible and Uncle Tom’s cabin as a place of spiritual sanctuary, a place where people can find goodness and live according to Christian principles.

The constant reference of the New Testament is because the author tries to establish a parallel, through the novel, of morality, kindness and abolition of slavery, virtues of Christianity, and as such establishing that slavery and the Christian United States are not compatible together.

Also, an important theme is freedom, and what it is meant by freedom. Harriet Beecher Stowe goes beyond just the freedom of being freed from slavery, but the freedom of the slaves to be able to build their own lives and have economic freedom like Madame de Thoux is now a wealthy woman. The story is filled with powerful and virtuous women so the freedom might refer to the freedom of women, and the positive impact would they be able to have on the people around them.

Read more about: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Subjective opinion:

We are now after the year 2020, and the principles of the story of Uncle Tom’s cabin are still very real. While yes there have been several steps made to abolish slavery, promote an equal in rights society, and more recently abolish discrimination based on race, there are still several steps to be done.

In the last two years, after May 2020 and the traffic killing of George Floyd the steps towards ending discrimination had taken a boost, and more steps have been done, there are still steps to be taken. But I do feel positive that the mentality is changing, that the newer mentality is that racial discrimination should not exist, it does need to reach the point when the expression should move from the dictionary to the history books, and I am confident that point can be reached.

However, in order to do so, I think a good knowledge of history is important, and that is one of the reasons why I do not completely agree with the destruction of the statue of Edward Colston. While yes, he was a slave trader and a philanthropist, he was so in a completely different time, with a different mentality, and he is part of our history. In order not to allow history we do need to know and understand history first. So, I do not think violence or vandalism is the way to show we want a peaceful non-discriminating society.

I think that Harriet Beecher Stowe gives us a very important lesson, in which she does show the way to create a better society is through kindness, caring, forgiveness, like the slave catcher Loker, is forgiven regardless of his wrongdoing, and he changes his path into a good one. Uncle Tom’s and his little friend Evangeline I think are the best lessons here. Their kindness, their Christian goodness and gentleness are key essential.

Just an opinion. Just a thought. Just Steven J. Scott.