Book Title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Pages: 323
Date: 2/12/25
I chose this book because we learned about it in school as an American classic that had a profound impact on slavery, the abolition movement and ultimately, the Civil War. Stowe used this fascinating story to display all the horrors of slavery, but also took every opportunity to show the love of God that shines through even in dark times. The destructive power of even the worst institution in America’s history is overcome by the love of Jesus Christ for people of all color.
Listed below are the main characters of the book:
Uncle Tom – he was a well-liked slave on the Shelby farm in northern Kentucky. He was God-fearing, hard working and essentially managed all the affairs of the farm. Master Shelby was forced to sell Uncle Tom, Eliza Harris & her 5-year-old son Henry when he fell on hard economic times. He was sold to a trader who later sold Tom to August St. Clare in New Orleans. After St. Clare’s death, Tom was sold to Simon Legree.
Master Shelby/George Shelby – Master Shelby was forced to sell Uncle Tom and Eliza Harris due to farm debts that had to be repaid. After he died and the farm finances were organized better, his son George Shelby sought out Tom to buy him back and return him to the Shelby farm. Tom perished a few hours after George arrived at the plantation of Simon Legree.
Eliza Harris – She was sold along with her son Henry. Eliza heard about the sale as it was happening and ran away, escaping across the ice floes of the Ohio River. She was helped in Ohio & Indiana by Quakers who enabled her to cross Lake Erie by boat into Canada to be free.
George Harris – Eliza’s husband from another farm. George’s master became jealous of his intelligence and forced him to work even harder on the farm as opposed to a nearby factory. Due to this, the general lack of respect for him & his abilities and because Eliza ran away, George also escaped to Ohio. He was reunited with Eliza and they made it to Canada together. During the book, he talks about his older sister who was sold “down river,” something that is feared by all slaves.
August St. Clare – He was the first master to buy Uncle Tom from the slave trader that transported Tom from Kentucky to New Orleans down the Mississippi River. He was a benevolent master and intended to give Tom his freedom, but died before the paperwork was completed. Uncle Tom witnessed to him and made him a Christian believer before August’s untimely accidental death.
Eva St. Clare – the 12-year-old daughter of August St. Clare. She was practically a perfect child, loving of everyone and a strong Christian, even at a young age. She endeavored to turn everyone into a believing Christian, especially the slaves in her father’s household. She & Uncle Tom were particularly close (as humans and as fellow Christians) as he carried her around when she was sick and less mobile. She had a disease and died a couple months before August St. Clare died.
Simon Legree – He purchased Uncle Tom from St. Clare’s estate. He was a horribly evil man who starved, tortured and worked his slaves until death. Two female slaves, Cassie & Emmeline, escaped and Simon tortured Uncle Tom to death to get him to disclose where they were and how they escaped. He died a couple hours after George Shelby found him to buy him back.
Cassie – a female slave that Simon Legree kept in his house and used as a sex slave. She started planning her escape when her bought a new young slave, Emmeline, for the same purpose and to replace Cassie.
Emmeline – a sixteen year old slave that Simon Legree purchased as a sex slave. She escaped with Cassie, which led to Simon Legree torturing Uncle Tom to death.
Madame de Thoux – a quadroom woman (1/4 black) light in perplexion that was traveling on the same ship north as Cassie, Emmeline & George Shelby. We eventually learn that Madame de Thoux is free and wealthy after her husband’s death and she turns out to be George Harris’s older sister. We simultaneously learn that Eliza Harris is Cassie’s daughter who was torn from her grasp at a young age when they were sold to different masters at the slave auction. As a daugher of a white father and light-skinned mother, Eiza cold also pass for a white woman.
I learned a great deal about the slave trade in the US, the different attitudes towards slaves within the various Southern states and the effect Christianity had on slaves and the abolition movement. It was also interesting the effect that literacy had on the propensity for a slave to attempt to escape and successfully make it. By knowing how to read, they were also more inclined to read the Bible and be a religious leader to other slaves. Uncle Tom could read a little and was a strong Christian, witnessing to other slaves. The Quakers were supporters of abolition and were instrumental in helping the Harris’s and others to escape to Canada. The slaves in Kentucky and the coastal areas of Delaware, Maryland and northern Virginia tended to be more lenient with their slaves than the strong cotton producing states of the Deep South who needed large amounts of constant labor to make it economical to grow cotton.
I learned the following lessons that will increase my prospects for success after prison. This book has some uncanny similarities to my life.
1) As a slave, Tom had little control over his life. Similarly, I have little contol over my life for the next two years. Even though I have “camp points,” I have not yet been sent to a minimum security camp which offers me more freedom and is lower cost to administer than the current prison I am in. I do not know when I will go, to which camp I will go (even if I request one close to home) and once I am there, I do not know the exact date of my release to a halfway house. I can go to the library to check out books (when the library is open) or to the rec room to work out, but this is still controlled by the prison guards. I must eat what is provided to me in the chow hall, although I do have the ability to purchase food from the commissary on my day when I can go (when it is open, which appears to be about half the time). I can sign up for and take FSA programming classes that supposedly help me get out early, but it appears to be a subjective endeavor.
2) Once Tom was sold, he was unable to provide for his family. In fact, his family started to “assist” him by working on other farms and pooling their money, which the Shelby family allowed, in order to purchase Tom and return him to Kentucky. Likewise, I am unable to provide for my family and must seek charity from them to buy commissary items and get books to read in order to keep my mind free.
3) Tom had a strong belief in God that carried him through the dark times. Yesterday was a very dark time for me personally. Only by praying with 100% sincerity was I able to calm down and make it through the day.
Vocabulary words:
chop-fallen – having the lower jaw hang loosely; cast down in spirit; depressed
ebullition – sudden violent outburst or display; the act of boiling/bubbling up
indubitable – too evident to be doubted
imperturbable – extreme calm, impassivity and steadiness; serene
suavities – soothness through superficially grace & sophistication
olla podrida – a rich highly seasoned stew of meat and vegetables; slowly simmered
cavil – to raise trivial and frivolous objection
despotic – ruling with absolute power and authority
Quixotism – foolishly impractical in the pursuit of ideals, marked by rash, lofty ideas
assiduously – carefully unremitting attention or persistent application
picayune – money; a Spanish half piece
canaille – rubble, rifraff
calaboose – local jail
