21st March, 2007
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
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I used to watch ‘The King and I’ movie every day when I was little and Anna introduced ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ to the King’s wives. That’s when I first heard of the book. Well, now I have finally read it after so many years!
There are so many characters in this book but no worries, as I will write about them as best as I can. My favourite character would be Uncle Tom, of course. He is the slave of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. Uncle Tom has a wife, Aunt Chloe who’s a very good cook, and some kids. He and his family are also close to the Shelby’s son, George.
Mrs. Shelby has another girl slave too, Eliza. Eliza is married to George Harris and they have a son. George Harris is a hard worker and intelligent but unfortunately, his master does not approve of his ‘easy’ life. He takes George away from the factory where he used to work and made him work like a dog. This makes George very bitter and he plans to run away to Canada.
Meanwhile, Eliza overhears her master and mistress’ conversation about selling her son, Harry, and Uncle Tom away to a trader, Haley, because her master, Mr. Shelby is in debt with him. Eliza panics and takes her son to Uncle Tom’s cabin and told him the bad news. However, Tom refuses to leave with her and Eliza set off alone. Tom remains faithful to his master and eventually, got sold off to Haley.
After that, he found a home with the kind Mr. St. Clare. Mrs. St. Clare would be one of my most disliked characters in this book. She’s selfish, always complaining, and is jealous of her own daughter, Eva. Eva is a lively little girl who becomes Tom’s best friend.
This is a very sad book because a few good people had to go to heaven. I won’t tell who died. You will have to read it yourself to find out. I also felt sad and furious about the way African slaves were treated back then when slavery was common. The masters had the idea that they were God or something and were always degrading the poor slaves, who had no freedom, no rights, no anything. This book is somewhat similar to Roots by Alex Haley, which is about slavery in America too.
Anyway, I felt for Uncle Tom very much. Mr. St. Clare promised him his freedom and Tom was so happy about it. He looked forward to being finally free when something unexpected happened and he was then sold to the evil Simon Legree.
But, no matter how Legree tormented and criticized him, Tom still prayed fervently to God and was always faithful to Him. This made Legree even angrier. Even his other tortured slaves kept asking Tom to tell them more about God.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin would be an insightful read about faith, kindness, and courage.
Buy Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Wordsworth Classics)
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Posted in Authors S, Classics, Titles U at 1:10 pm |
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