Uncle Tom’s Cabin By: Harriet Beecher Stowe

1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin By: Harriet Beecher Stowe By: Nicole JJ Kennard “So you’re the little lady who started this big war…”

2. Setting

3. Setting • The novel begins on the Shelby Plantation in Kentucky during the mid-1800s, prior to the Civil War • At this time, there was much tension between the North and South because of the different beliefs about slave states versus free states • The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had just been passed, which prohibited Americans from aiding fugitive slaves in any way as they strove to find freedom

4. The setting eventually shifts South as Uncle Tom is sold down the river to New Orleans • On the other hand, Eliza’s journey takes the readers North, from Kentucky to Canada, and then across the ocean to Liberia, in Africa • The different settings in this novel help one realize the beliefs of each group of people (pro-slavery vs. abolitionists) at this time

5. Plot Overview

6. Plot Overview • This novel tells the Story of Uncle Tom, who is a slave of the Shelby family in Kentucky • Kentucky slaves were often treated better than those in the Deep South because plantations were generally smaller and more collected (this will be demonstrated as Tom is sold “down the river” throughout the novel).

7. Because Mr. Shelby is in debt, he must sell Uncle Tom. • Uncle Tom is sold to a nice family with an angel-like girl who he befriends, Eva, who soon dies because her real home is in Heaven • Her father, St. Clare, soon dies shortly thereafter, and Uncle Tom is sold down South (called being sold down the river) to one of the worst cotton plantation owners in the country • On this plantation, Uncle Tom assumes a Jesus-like role as he accepts Simon Legree’s (the plantation owner’s) abuses and beatings rather than giving in. Uncle Tom holds fast to his faith in God and his hope for a better eternity than the sorry shamble of life he was given here on Earth

8. This novel also tells another slave’s story as well. • Mr. Shelby also had to sell a young slave boy, Harry. • However, before it was time to sell him his mom, Eliza, steals him away. • A major climax scene in this novel is when Eliza overcomes physical restraints and impossibilities through her motherly love and strength by hopping across the icy Ohio River with her child, Harry; she eventually makes it across the river to freedom • They later escape and meet up with his Dad and her husband, George Harris.

9. They go through a series of Underground Railroad communities, mostly Quaker homes, who help them escape to Canada, even though the Fugitive slave law was just passed. • They finally reach Canada and find George Harris’s sister that he hadn’t seen since he was extremely young. • They then all move to Liberia to establish an African American community and relish in African American culture back at their native land.

10. Stowe included many other shorter slaves’ stories as well • Key themes included in these side-stories were the separation of families in slavery, as they were hardly ever sold together • Slave owners regarded slaves as merely property, and Stowe was sure to assert that African Americans were actual people too

11. Because of the harsh stories Stowe exposed, and because of her message to encourage the North to take a stance against the South to stop these cruelties, this novel was a major catalyst to the Civil War and would elevate the war to a moral cause

12. Characters

13. Uncle Tom - An honorable and religious slave, and the protagonist. Even under the most awful conditions, Uncle Tom always prays to God and finds a way to hold fast to his faith. Tom withstands cruel treatment by his last plantation owner, Simon Legree, and dies the death of a Christian martyr. • Aunt Chloe - Uncle Tom’s wife and the Shelbys’ cook. She works with a confectioner to try to raise money to bring Tom home again, only to find that he’s dead when she finally obtains the money. • Arthur Shelby - The owner of Uncle Tom in Kentucky, Shelby sells Tom to the cruel • Mr. Haley to pay off his debts. Even though he’s a basically good-hearted man, Shelby still condones slavery. He shows that even good people are made into cruel ones through the practice of slavery, and that even though they are basically good-hearted, they are still in the wrong for subjugated the black race to this treatment.

14. Emily Shelby - Mr. Shelby’s wife; a virtuous, Christian woman who does not believe in slavery. She uses her influence with her husband to try to help the Shelbys’ slaves and is happy when her favorite slave and personal friend, Eliza Harris, escapes with her son. • George Shelby - the Shelbys’ good-hearted son. He loves Tom and promises to rescue him from the slavery and cruelty his father sells him into. However, when he finally goes to retrieve Tom from Simon Legree’s plantation, he is dying. George becomes the owner of his father’s plantation and, after seeing Tom die from the suffering Legree put him through, he decides to free all the slaves on his father’s plantation. • George Harris - Eliza’s husband and an intelligent and talented mulatto, George loves his family deeply and fights for his freedom. He confronts the slave hunters and does not hesitate to shoot them when they threaten his family’s safety.

15. Eliza Harris - Mrs. Shelby’s maid, George’s wife, and Harry’s mother; an intelligent, beautiful, and brave slave. After Mr. Shelby tries to sell her son, Harry, Eliza escapes with him and, with the force of her motherly love and intuition, makes a remarkable escape, even jumping across the icy Ohio River to safety. • Harry Harris - Eliza and George’s son, a young boy who Eliza stops at nothing to protect and bring to safety • Augustine St. Clare - Tom’s master in New Orleans and Eva’s father, St. Clare is a flighty and romantic man, dedicated to pleasure. St. Clare does not believe in God, and he carouses and drinks every night. Although he dotes on his daughter and treats his slaves with compassion, St. Clare shares the hypocrisy of Mr. Shelby in that he sees the evil of slavery but nonetheless tolerates and practices it.

16. Eva - St. Clare and Marie’s angelic daughter. Eva (Evangeline) is presented as an absolutely perfect child—a completely moral being and an unshakable Christian. She refutes slavery and sees no difference between blacks and whites. She influences Uncle Tom to hold fast to his faith and to his hope for Heaven no matter what hardships he may face on Earth, and no matter how unfair his life of slavery may seem; a Christ figure. • Miss Ophelia - St. Clare’s cousin from the North (Vermont) who comes to help him manage the household; she opposes slavery conceptually, but she does not like to spend time near African Americans and finds them rather distasteful. However, through her cousin St.Clare’s encouragement, she makes actual use of her theories regarding slavery and education and works to make a respectable young lady out of the wild slave, Topsy. After Eva’s death, and through her befriending and teaching of Topsy, Ophelia realizes her wrong views of African Americans and learns to see slaves as human beings. Many Northerners at this time did not believe in the concept of slavery but did not like African Americans individually. Stowe wanted these Northerners to realize their faults in this and work to accept slaves as real people, just like Ophelia.

17. Marie - St. Clare’s wife, a self-centered woman who believes in slavery and treating slaves as harshly as they needed to to get some “sense” into them; the opposite of the ideal, moral woman this novel advocates • Mr. Haley - The slave trader who buys Uncle Tom and Harry from Mr. Shelby. Pretends to be an honorable man who treats slaves well, but really treats them harshly; uses slave catchers to try and capture Eliza, but she eventually makes it to Canada • Topsy - A wild and uncivilized slave girl whom Miss Ophelia tries to reform, Topsy gradually learns to love and respect others by following the example of Eva, especially after she dies. Topsy is an example of how slaves are born into a repressed state where they become “wild,” “savage,” and “unintelligent.” Slaves only seem this way because their minds are repressed into this state from the moment they are born, but, like Topsy, they can be just as civilized and intelligent as any white.

18. Simon Legree- Tom’s ruthlessly evil master on the Louisiana plantation. A vicious, barbaric, evil, and violent man, he knows of only one way to work slaves- through violent, whipping, beating tactics, and by working them until death. He refuses to allow Bibles on his plantation and is known for burning one slave alive. • Cassy - Legree’s (slave) mistress and Eliza’s mother, Cassy proves a proud and intelligent woman and come up with a clever way to escape Legree’s plantation with another slave girl, Emmeline, by creating a complex “ghost-in-the-house” plot and just hiding out where that “ghost” supposedly resided until everyone was gone and it was safe to escape unnoticed • Quakers- Many Quaker families were also important in this novel, sharing their pious and always-giving ways to help Eliza, Harry, and George escape to Canada at their own risk of getting arrested

20. The Evil of Slavery • This theme targets mothers because it Stowe focuses on the separation of families, and Stowe then calls on families (mothers especially) to put themselves in slaves’ shoes and imagine being separated from their family with one exchange of cash, never to see their children again again • Exposes the violence of cruel slaveowners, as well as making sure “kind” slaveowners are still put in the wrong, because they are still preserving this oppressive system • Shows how slaves are treated as property and not as real human beings, and how their human properties are repressed as this system drives them into being treated as, and held up to the standard of, only animals

21. How Christianity and Slavery Don’t Match Up • Many slaveowners try to use the Bible to back up the system of slavery, but Stowe shows how these people just manipulate the Bible to get it to say what they want to hear • By showing the kindness of Christ figures like Uncle Tom and Eva, and also by showing the Quakers’ kindness, Stowe shows that the oppressive slavery system is the exact opposite of Christ’s undying love for all people, making African Americans equal in God’s eyes, which she hopes will encourage people to adopt this view of black and white equality.

22. The Strong and Moral Woman • Many of Stowe’s most influential and pious characters are women (Mrs. Shelby, Eva, Miss Ophelia). • She uses these strong women characters to advocate women’s moral role in this issue, saying that fighting slavery was a woman’s moral responsibility. • Because women are often seen as the most caring and compassionate creatures, Stowe asserts that it is their job to spread their morally elevated views to their families, as well as to the nation as a whole. These issues should be addressed and a call to action should be made by women. • Also shows the strength and independent thoughts of women, and their influences in their family and on their husband.

23. Pushing For Change • After exposing the horrors of slavery, Stowe urges for change, for Northerners not to simply say they don’t believe in slavery; they must do something to end it • One can soon see the result of Stowe’s eager shove for action—the Civil War