Uncle Tom's Cabin Sparknotes

Uncle Tom’s Cabin opens up at a small farm in Kentucky owned by debt ridden Arthur Shelby. As our story begins, Mr. Shelby is selling Uncle Tom, the most honest and kindhearted slave on the farm with a wife and three kids, and Harry Harris, Eliza and George Harris’s only child, to the slave trader Dan Haley. Although Mr. and Mrs. Shelby have always had a very loving relationship with all of their slaves, Mr. Shelby believed that it was more important to earn his way out of debt and only sell two slaves than to have his farm and all of his slaves taken away. When Eliza, Mrs. Shelby’s maid, overheard Mr. Shelby explaining to Mrs. Shelby the negotiation that he had to make to sell Eliza’s only child Harry, she made the decision to flee to

Cassy wanted a way out, so Tom encouraged her to escape and take Emmeline with her. Legree knew of the close relationship Tom had with Cassy, so when they escaped Legree tried to force Tom to tell him where the two girls had gone. Tom stayed loyal and refused to tell Legree of their whereabouts. Legree and the overseers beat Tom until he was near death. George Shelby arrived on the plantation to buy Tom back, but he was too late. George could only watch Tom die his gruesome death. On their boat ride to freedom, Cassy and Emmeline meet a George and a woman named Madame de Thoux. George told George and Eliza Harris’s story when Madame de Thoux realizes that George Harris is her brother and Cassy realizes that Eliza is her daughter. The three girls travel to Canada where their family is reunited at last. The newly reunited family moved to France and Liberia where they retained their freedom. Back in Kentucky, George Shelby set all of the slaves free in remembrance of Tom. He told them of Tom’s dreadful death and how he remained a pious Christian until the end. He urged the slaves to remember who Tom was and think of the honest and Christian life he led every time they passed Uncle Tom’s