Introduction
Uncle Tom’s cabin is a novel by the American female novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe published in 1852. In this novel, Mrs. Stowe criticized the slavery and expressed the compassion for the black slaves. Therefore, the novel had a great effect on Africa Americans and slavery in the US, and it also influenced the Civil War’s breaking out to some degree so that the President Lincoln called the author “the little lady who started the big war”. Mrs. Stowe, born in the State of Connecticut, was a teacher at Hartford Female Academy and she was also a pious Christian. As a Christian, she regarded slavery inhumane.
A summary of the book
The story took place in the 1850s. Uncle Tom, an honest slave on the Shelby plantation, is respected by his owners and all the slaves on this plantation. However, Tom has to be sold because Mr. Shelby, the owner of the plantation, is deeply in debt to a slaver called Haley. Along with Tom, a boy called Harry, the child of his wife's servant Eliza, is to be sold as well. Though Tom is sorrowful, he still vows that he won’t run away. Because he knows if he did so, his master would be caught in debt so deeply that he would have to sell all the slaves.
Just before Tom is taken away, Mrs. Shelby promises him that she will buy him back as soon as she can gather the funds. Eventually Tom was sold to a kindly master named Mr. St. Clare.
Eliza, however, cannot bear to part with her son and escapes the night before he is to be taken from her. She escapes successfully and reaches a Quaker village where she is reunited with her husband George, who has also escaped from his master’s plantation. They spend a night in the family and set off to Canada. Though there are slave hunters hunting them and George also has a firefight with these hunters, they arrived in Canada successfully at last.
Tom befriends his new master and especially his young daughter Eva, who shares Tom’s deep religious faith and devotion. Unfortunately, Eva becomes ill and is going to die. She accepts the news peacefully and tells her family and their servants that she is happy knowing that she is going to heaven, where such cruelty does not exist. St. Clare begins to confront the realization that he believes slavery is evil, and he promises Tom that he will give him freedom in the event of St. Clare’s death.
Shortly after Eva dies, her father dies tragically in an accident, and Tom's fate is left entirely in the hands of Mrs. St. Clare. She decides to move back to her parents' estate and to sell all the slaves. Though she is asked to fulfill St. Clare's promise to give Tom his freedom, she refuses and Tom ends up in the hands of Simon Legree, an evil plantation owner. He forces his slaves to work hard and replaces them when they inevitably die just a few years later.
On Legree's plantation, Tom meets two slaves: Emmeline and Cassy. Emmeline is a young mulatto woman sold to Legree at the same time as Tom, and she attempts to befriend the Cassy, who has suffered at the hands of Legree for several years. Legree soon comes to hate Tom after Tom refuses to beat and discipline the other slaves. Legree planned to turn Tom into an overseer, and when he realizes that Tom will not take it, he becomes angry and takes out his wrath on Tom. Tom becomes discouraged until he dreams of the heaven one night. So he decides it is his mission to suffer for the other slaves and he tries his best to help other slaves, which annoys Legree. And when Emmeline and Cassy escape, he demands that Tom tell him everything he knows. Tom admits that he knew their plans to escape and their whereabouts, but he refuses to disclose where they are. Legree beats Tom so severely that after a few days, he dies.
Cassy and Emmeline eventually escape, and they happen to meet George Shelby, who is rooming next to a woman named Madame de Thoux. Through conversation, it is discovered that Eliza Harris is Cassy's daughter, and George Harris is Madame de Thoux's brother. Cassy and Madame de Thoux journey together to Canada, where they are reunited with their family. Madame de Thoux reveals that her husband has left her a large inheritance, and they all move to France together. The family then moves to Africa, and Cassy's long-lost son, who has been found, joins them finally and George Shelby gives all the servants on the Shelby farm their freedom, and tells them to be Christians and to think of Tom.
Comments on the Book
From this novel, I learned more about the American social situation before the Civil war, different opinions about the slavery, and people with different kinds of qualities.
About the American social situation, I learned the plantation economy in southern part of the US in the 1950s, the slave’s living condition. About the different opinions about the slavery, I learned that some plantation owners who are pious Christian think trading slaves is wicked and doesn’t accord to the dogma, but they don’t oppose owning slaves and that others like slavers, conservative plantation owners regard slave as a kind of property or a tool to make money. About the people with different kinds of qualities, I learned the honesty of Uncle Tom, the braveness and brightness of George, the kindness of Eva, the cruelty of Legree. However, though the novel makes me learn a lot, what impress me most are different people’s pursuits of freedom and among these people pursuing freedom, the most typical people are Uncle Tom and George. The two persons and their completely different fates can reflect two opposite choices when people pursue freedom.
In the novel Uncle Tom’s cabin, both Uncle Tom and George are keen on freedom. But when the two men faces the fact that they will be sold, Tom chooses to accept it and George chooses to escape. The two different ways imply two different choices to pursue freedom in essence and it’s the different choices that lead to the different results: Tom dies and George survives. From the results, we can learn clearly which choice is better and now I just want to analyze why they make different choices.
The first reason, I think, is the different characters. Uncle Tom, as we know, is honest, kind, hard-working, tolerant and pious. He is loyal to his master and he believes if only he is honest and loyal to his master, he can get freedom from his master someday. But at last he fails and dies. George, a smart, ambitious and young man, doesn’t believe that plantation owners can give him freedom. He knows he must acquire freedom by himself. George is brave, confident and he has a spirit of adventure and revolution. Therefore, he gets freedom finally.
The second reason, in my opinion, is the different experiences. Uncle Tom has a kind master: Mr. Shelby. On the Shelby plantation, he is well treated. He is loyal to his master and his master believes in him and promises that he will give Tom freedom. As a result, Tom believes it’s his honesty that helps him get freedom and he never intends to escape. However, George, the young man, has a bad master. He works hard but his master treats him badly and he is often abused by his master. As a result, he doesn’t believe his master can give him freedom. So when he gets a chance to escape, he takes it without any hesitation.
The third reason, as far as I am concerned, is the reorganization towards slave owner. Uncle Tom is a pious Christian and believes if only he does well, he will get a reward: freedom and he just needs to be patient because he has sin. So he pins his hope on slave owner who treat slaves as property, not human. George has suffered a lot from what the slave owner does. He doesn’t count on his master to give him freedom. He thinks however slave owners treat slaves, slaves are just a kind of property and slaves can’t get true freedom. So he decides to pursue freedom by himself.
The three reasons above, I think, can explain why Uncle Tom and George can make different choices and have different results. And after analyzing the reasons of the two men’s different choices, my opinion about pursuit of freedom is to fight for, not to wait for and that we should pin our hope to ourselves, not others.
“Life is dear, love is dearer. Both can be given up for freedom.”On the way of pursuing freedom, waiting just means perdition. Fighting can bring a new lease of life. Both Chinese Revolution and American Revolution can prove that it’s right to fight for freedom.
On the way of pursuing freedom, I prefer to be George rather than Uncle Tom.
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