Uncle Tom's Cabin Essay

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Three Masters

Tom was portrayed as a tragic character in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. He had been the slave of three people with distinctive characteristics who were Mr. Shelby, Mr. St. Clare and Mr. Legree.

As the first master of Tom, Mr. Shelby was portrayed as a gentleman who was driven into a corner by the debt. According to the author’s words: “(Mr. Shelby’s) notes to a large amount had come into the hands of Haley (Stowe 10).”, Mr. Shelby would not sell the slaves if he did not have the debt. However, because of the stress from Haley, Mr. Shelby had to sell some of his slaves, including Tom, to the slave trader Haley. Even he decided to sell the slaves to Haley, he did not forget to tell Haley that he would rather not sell Tom (Stowe 7) because he thought that Tom was just like his own brother. By describing the action and words of Mr. Shelby, the author portrayed him as a kind but stressful gentleman which just like the contents in the novel, “Mr. Shelby was a kind man, good-natured and kindly (Stowe 10).” However, Mr. Shelby was not an abolitionist

Mr. Shelby, as the swinger on the slavery, caused the tragic ending of Tom indirectly. He represented the most people who had no idea on the slavery problems before the war. Mr. St. Clare, portrayed as the protector of the slaves, failed to help Tom out of the dilemma, implied the complicate situation before the Civil War: few people would like to support the abolitionism. The last master, Mr. Legree, was used to arouse the last good sense of the slave owners. The author used all three characters to portray the complex situation before the Civil War. The author successfully placed the order of the masters to emphasize the tragic ending of Tom and the evil of the slavery. The readers would like to do self-examination about the legality of the slavery after reading the storyline of Uncle Tom’s