Depiction of Slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was Stowe’s way of putting her feelings towards slavery into words. The book opens with slave owner Mr. Arthur Shelby and slave trader Mr. Haley negotiating a deal to settle Shelby’s debt with Mr. Haley. Mr. Shelby, one of the kinder and more humane slaveowners, hates to get rid of any of his “hands,” or slaves, but since Haley has the upper hand on him, he eventually agrees to sell Uncle Tom, an extremely loyal slave with strong Christian beliefs, and Harry, the young son of George and Eliza Harris.

However, when Eliza over hears that Mr. Shelby sold her son and that the slave trader will be back to pick him up tomorrow, she takes off with her son before Mr. Haley has the chance of taking him, hoping to reach Canada and one day meet up with her husband. On the other hand, Tom is sent down river on a boat where he meets the St. Clare family, residents of New Orleans. While on the boat, Mr. Augustine St. Clare buys Tom from Mr. Haley, after Tom saved Mr. St. Clare’s daughter, Evangeline (Eva) St. Clare, when she lost her balance and fell overboard. Common belief was that all the slave owners down river were extremely strict and harsh to their slaves, however contrary to belief, to Tom’s advantage, the St. Clare’s were like the Shelby’s in the sense that they were kind and treated their slaves well. After a couple years of living with the St. Clare’s, Eva unfortunately grows sick. After dreadful long days of her suffering and her dad praying to God to cut her suffering short, Eva dies and is heavily mourned.

As the weeks went by, life started to get back on track for the St. Clare’s and Mr. St. Clare had been working to fulfill his promise of freedom to Tom, however as time passed, he would get more and more attached seeing as to Tom was the closest thing that reminded him of Eva. Soon thereafter, Mr. St. Clare died suddenly and unfortunately, when he attempted to separate two slightly intoxicated gentlemen who started to fight, resulting in him getting stabbed with a bowie knife he was attempting to seize from one of the men and Tom’s paperwork to be freed staying incomplete. Consequently, Mrs. St. Clare had decided to sell everything, including all the slaves. Tom, along with numerous other slaves, had been sold at an auction, and with Tom’s luck, he was sold to Mr. Simon Legree, a very cruel and brutal slave owner.

Although George Shelby does come back with money hoping to buy Tom, it was too late because Legree had beaten Tom to death since Tom refused to tell Legree where two of his slaves, Cassy and Emmeline, escaped to. Meanwhile, after help from several people such as the Quakers and eventually Tom Loker, a man who Haley originally had hired to hunt down Eliza, George, Harry, and Eliza had finally found freedom in Canada. On top of that, Cassy and Emmeline, with the help of George Harris’s sister, saw freedom when they met up with the Harris’s in Canada. Cassy also realizes that Eliza is her long lost daughter and the happy, reunited family lives in peace, knowing they were free.

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