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Uncle Tom's Cabin, By Harriet Beecher Stowe

1631 Words7 Pages

Critical Analysis: Uncle Tom’s Cabin Have you ever wondered how cruel African slaves were treated back in the nineteenth century? Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of those anti-slavery novels that played an important role for speaking on behalf of all African American slaves. Although Stowe was Caucasian, she was one of many advocates that was religious and believed everyone was created equally. The overall theme of the book was on slavery and how inhumane people can mistreat one another just by the color of their skin. Treating human beings as nothing more than property has caused a lot of controversies throughout the 1800’s and that portrayed in Uncle Tom’s Cabin has made it one of the top sellers. This novel has …show more content…

Haley did not think Tom was adequate enough to pay for the Shelby family’s debt. Overhearing the deal that was made for them to be sold, Eliza quickly warned Tom and his family. Eliza knew what would happen to his son if they were to be separated so she decided to runaway. George did not stay with Eliza because another man down the road owned him. He had already left for Canada because he could not stand the suffering anymore. Hoping to reunite with her husband again, Eliza did whatever it took to get her son up north. Tom stayed back and agreed to go with Mr. Haley only because if he were to runaway more slaves including his family would have to be sold. This is where the story splits up into two different perspectives, Eliza’s journey to the north and Tom’s journey to where ever Mr. Haley takes him. Tom Loker, a slave hunter, was hired by Mr. Haley to find Eliza and George. While Loker was pursuing them, Mr. Haley had other plans to sell Tom at a slave auction. On the way to being sold to another slave owner, Tom meets an innocent girl by the name of Eva, on a boat, who was always filled with spirit and joy. She was the daughter of a wealthy white man, Augustine St. Clare, who happens to buy Tom after he rescued his daughter when she went over board off the boat. She jumped off on purpose without anyone knowing so that her father would buy Tom, because she knew he would be the only person to rescue her. Tom and Eva shared a common interest, …show more content…

It made me furious at those that treated slaves as nothing more than dirt and sad that there was no hope for humanity at the time. To treat human beings as property and not as a human being disappoints me. This has to be one of the best novels that I have ever read solely on the fact of how visual the portrayal of the life of slaves were. I could imagine every scene that was being described in the book, from the whippings that were embedded on the back of the slaves to the joy of hearing what Eva had to say, it felt like I was with them. For example in the novel it was quoted, “Mas’r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I’d give ye my heart’s blood; and, if taking every drop of blood in this poor old body would save your precious soul, I’d give ‘em freely, as the Lord gave his for me.” (Ch. 40, pg. 410) If there were one thing that I could include to the novel since it seemed like it was left out, would have to be the perspective of all those prejudice characters such as Simon Legree and Marie. Just so that we, as the reader, know why they have so much hate for African slaves. Since Stowe did not include there perspective in the novel, the reader does not know if Simon Legree, as an example, saw an African slave murder his family as a child or if Marie was raped by a slave when she were young. Stories like that would cause the reader to slightly sympathize with them as well rather then just

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