Uncle Tom's cabin

Author: (American) Stowe / Wu Fang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Uncle Tom's Cabin, also translated as Clotel or Uncle Tom's Cabin, begins with a negotiation between a slave owner and a slave trader. Shelby, a slave owner in Kentucky, incurs debts from stock market speculation and decides to sell two slaves to settle his obligations. One is Tom, who was born on Shelby's plantation and served as a small household slave in his childhood, earning the master's favor. As an adult, he becomes the head of household slaves, loyal and devoted to the master's interests. The other slave to be sold is the mixed-race daughter of Eliza, Harry. Eliza is not a submissive slave who blindly obeys her master. When she accidentally overhears that her master plans to sell Tom and her son Harry, she flees with her child at night, jumping into the ice-choked Ohio River and escaping to a free state, eventually making her way to Canada. Her husband, George Harris, a slave on a nearby plantation, also seizes the opportunity to escape and reunites with his wife, taking their child with them. After enduring many hardships, they successfully reach Canada with the help of abolitionist organizations.
Tom, however, has a different fate. He knows and supports Eliza's escape but does not flee himself. From a young age, he has been instilled with Christian teachings about revering God, enduring hardship, and being loyal to his master. He accepts without complaint when his master decides to sell him to settle debts and willingly submits to his master's will. He is sold to a slave trader in New Orleans and becomes the slave of Haley. During a drowning accident, Tom saves the life of the young daughter of a slave owner, Eva. Her father, St. Clare, buys Tom from Haley and hires him as a household servant, driving the carriage for the family. Tom and the girl develop a bond. Soon after, the girl suddenly dies, and St. Clare, following his daughter's wishes, decides to free Tom and the other black slaves. However, before the legal papers for their freedom can be finalized, St. Clare is accidentally killed in an accident. His wife does not free Tom and the other slaves but instead sells them to a slave auction.
From then on, Tom falls under the control of Legree, the ruthless owner of the "Red River" plantation. Legree treats the black slaves as "talking animals," whipping them at will and inflicting brutal punishments. Tom endures this inhuman torture without ever seeking an escape for himself, instead silently adhering to the principles of being a righteous person. The two female slaves on the plantation, seeking to survive, decide to flee and hide. Legree suspects Tom of helping them escape, ties him up, and beats him severely until he is near death. Yet, in the end, Tom shows his defiance against his master without uttering a word. When Tom is on the brink of death, his former master, George Shelby, the son of the slave owner who originally sold him, arrives to buy Tom back. Because Tom had been his childhood servant and playmate, but Tom cannot accept his former master's belated help, he dies with his body covered in wounds. George Shelby delivers a powerful blow to Legree, knocking him to the ground, and buries Tom on the spot.
After returning to his hometown of Kentucky, young Shelby frees all the black slaves he owns in Tom's name and tells them, "Whenever you see Uncle Tom's cabin, you should remember your freedom." Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of two slaves with different personalities—Tom and the George Harris couple—to convey to readers that Tom, who submits to his fate and obeys his master, cannot escape death, while George and his wife, who dare to resist and fight, are reborn. Therefore, Uncle Tom's Cabin played a positive role in social development, particularly in advancing the American abolitionist movement and contributing to the victory of the righteous side, represented by Lincoln, in the American Civil War.