Preview

Uncle Tom's Cabin Literary Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1047 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Uncle Tom's Cabin Literary Analysis
Love, what is it? Is there a specific definition? To each person love can mean something else but, throughout the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe love causing pain is a recurring motif. The more one opens themselves up to another person, the more vulnerable they become to getting hurt from that second person. Throughout Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe portrays in her characters the desire for love, but due to the fact that the world is full of tragedies, the pain of those in dire situations is deepened by the loss of their loved ones.
Eliza, Mrs. Shelby's personal maid servant is married to George Harris, a slave from the next plantation over. Together they have a son named Harry. On the Shelby plantation Eliza has always been
…show more content…
Augustine St. Clare a wealthy slave owner has only one thing in his life that he truly loves and cherishes, which is his daughter, Eva. Eva and her father are extremely close and she brings him great pleasure and joy. But as Eva begins to mature mentally and begins to understand more of what goes on in the world, it taxes her physically. Eva's health begins to wane and she becomes deathly ill. She knows she will soon die but her father refuses to believe so and all her talk of death pains him. He tells her everyday how much he loves her and all that she means to him. "When you are dead, Eva," said St. Clare, passionately, "O, child, don't talk to me so! You are all I have on earth" (Stowe, 316-317). Due to St. Clare's lack of religiosity he has no true meaning to his life and therefore has nothing to cherish but his daughter. Because she is the only thing in the world that St. Clare loves he is all the more devastated by her death, and is not able to overcome the loss of that which he loved the most.
Susan and Emmeline a mother and daughter waiting in the slave warehouse, about to be sold the next day, neither one can sleep at night. Susan, Emmelines mother is dreading the next day with a passion. She is scared for her daughters life and what will become of it. Emmeline had been raised in a Christian home and taught morals and faith, but Susan knows what lays out there

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Uncle Tom's Cabin Summary

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    the other slave that was being sold, and told them that Tom and her boy, Harry, were being sold…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was a novelist and an American abolitionist who is responsible for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, some people might say the most influential books in the history of America. Her father and her brother were pastors of the Congregational Church in Litchfield. After one of her children had died, it made her contemplate the pain slaves had to face when their family members were sold and taken away, and that’s when she decided to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 1852 when she published her first book, she became known nationally, and went on to write several more books on the same topic of slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold 500,000 copies in the first 4 years. This book brought about the controversy of the harsh reality…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Arthur Shelby is a Kentucky farmer and a slave-owner who is forced to sell two of his slaves so he can pay a debt. He sells Uncle Tom and Harry (the son of his wife’s slave Eliza) to a slave trader named Haley. Eliza hears the discussion and warns Tom and his wife, and runs away with her child. Haley follows them, but he does not catch her, she crosses the Ohio River and is helped by citizens. Haley meets two slave-catchers that agree to capture Eliza and Harry. Tom refuses to run away so he is taken to New Orleans by Haley. Before Haley leaves Kentucky, he buys several more slaves, but one of them commits suicide.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The tale of Uncle Tom’s Cabin begins in the parlor of the Shelby household, as Mr. Shelby discusses how many slaves he will need to sell to Mr. Haley, a slave trader, to relieve him of his debts after falling upon hard times. Shelby ultimately decides to sell Tom, a “good, steady, sensible, pious fellow” (Stowe 2). Eliza, Mrs. Shelby’s favorite slave, overhears the negotiations for the sale of her son, Harry, as well and promptly decides that they must run away to Canada that same night. She hopes to ultimately reunite with her husband, George, who has previously decided that he will run away from his master to Canada. Eliza also warns Tom and his wife that they too should flee. …

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Augustine told Tom he would give him papers to be free. Marie was depressed day by day, Topsey began to be a better person, one day Miss Ophelia thought that Topsey was stealing, but then found that Topsey had a verse and a piece of Eva’s hair that was given to her be Eva. Miss Ophelia asked Augustine if he can sign a free will to give Topsey legally to her, he signed and Marie as well and Topsey now belonged to Miss Ophelia and she was no longer a slave, Augustine walked around the veranda and saw Tom reading, he then began to read to Tom after he began walking back and forth. Augustine felt as his mother was near, he then went off to a café to look at the evening paper as two men went in drunk and fighting, he then separated them and got stabbed, he was taken home as he now began dyeing he told Tom to pray for him and Tom did so, he then began singing and said mother! And then passed. There was a funeral for Augustine then after a couple days Rosa ran to Miss Ophelia to tell him that Mrs. Marie was going to have whipped for wearing her dress, Miss Ophelia then told Marie she was sorry, Marie then sold all her servants and…

    • 2509 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is difficult to relate personally to the narratives covered in "Slavery and Freedom", especially during this time of year when we are reminded to give thanks for all that we hold dear. It is unimaginable to think about the life of slaves such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. Their sense of family was cut off at birth or shortly after, forming a personal identity was impossible and gaining freedom required huge acts of courage.…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are best friends that have many things in common and many things that are not in common. Tom is better at using his imagination. In the beginning of the Adventures of Huck Finn Tom makes a robber band with the neighborhood boys. Huck soon decides that it is boring because they were not doing anything that Tom promised they would. Huck could not pretend that they were doing what Tom said they were doing. This is again illustrated in the end when Tom and Huck are trying to free Jim and Huck simply cannot see the use of what Tom is doing with all his talk about rope ladders and messages on the walls. Huck is wiser, more sensible, and more grown up. He thinks that Tom is rather silly and nonsensical because he is talking about matters that are not important in the plot of rescuing Jim. Huck understands that the topics that Tom is talking about are not of use. Tom is more daring, civilized, and pushy than Huck. Tom lives with his aunt Polly and wears store bought clothes. He can make Huck do what he wants him to do. Tom is daring enough to help Huck steal Jim and Tom spearheads the mission and he adds all the extra effects. Both Huck and Tom are loyal friends. They did not give each other away when they were living with Aunt Sally. They both knew Jim and they helped him escape from his prison hut. Neither of them are afraid to lie, in fact, most of the book is contains at least one of them lying.…

    • 1686 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Uncle Tom’s Children is a book to describe the life of blacks though a part named The Ethics of Living Jim Crow and five separate fictional stories.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a sad fictional story about the hardship of slavery. The book describes a life of a slave who is sold again and again and finally meet his end at the hand of his last mastered. Uncle Tom’s cabin is an amazing book that describe the life of Tom and other slaves who fight on to keep their family together. Her book revealed the inhumane cruelty of slaves separated from their families…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    And in a sense, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", this is definitely not children's book - the book is primarily about children of Eve (Evangeline), Enrique, Harry (Harris), Topsy (seventeen years before this naughty girl Negro is baptized and leaves a missionary in Africa), faith in the "Be like children." It is for the violence "against defenseless children, girls and women," Augustin Saint-Clair "ready to curse their homeland ..."…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This story is about a boy who pretty much has a front row seat to witness the horrible things that we see being broadcasted on the news today; such as racism. Huck knows that the racists situations that he is witnessing around him are wrong in the eyes of society, but in his heart he knows what's right, which is why he chose to help Jim. Throughout the adventure , Huck struggles with the thoughts of turning Jim in, not because he knows it's the right thing to do but because he knows what could be the consequences for himself and Jim. The only thing that is holding Huck back from turning Jim in is their friendship and what he feels in his heart.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Uncle Toms Cabin Analysis

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Every picture speaks a thousand words; however, this picture speaks so many more. Uncle Toms Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was crucial for equality of slaves. The piece of art is showing that African Americans can get along with white people, in this case a young white girl. The young white girl is influential to the picture for many reasons. To start off with, since it is a child, it shows that young generations can change the way the older generations act, in this case treating former slaves, and African Americans the same way they treat everyone. The art also became that much more sensitive to the public because if it was a middle age white man, most people viewing the picture would not care, or think it is the African Americans…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is an American masterpiece. Contrary to The Algerine Captive Mark Twain‘s satire and irony is emphasized through the style and the use of the American “vernacular” dialect for the first time as well as the use of the African-American dialect. Therefore Huckleberry Finn remains the work that elevates this onetime rustic humorist into the ranks of literary genius. It is considered by Satirist Dick Gregory once said that Twain “was so far ahead of his time that he shouldn’t even be talked about on the same day as other people Huckleberry Finn is considered as the first American Novel and aimed at forging an American identity independent from the European one. The Novel, hence, satirize the paradoxical issues of slavery and the hypocrisy of the society as well as the deep intuitions of America.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she is trying to voice the harsh reality of slavery, and that with divine love for christianity even the work of the devil, such as slavery, can be ended. She illustrates these points by describing the inhumane reality of slaves and slave families, showing the lengths that a parent would go to from being separated from their child, and that with true love for christianity no one, even in those harsh conditions, can be broken.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, a book that quickly became a topic of polarizing national discussion. Harriet Beecher Stowe used the power of the pen to prompt a debate about change centered on the social movement of abolitionism. Considered one of the precipitants of the Civil War, Uncle Tom’s Cabin raised awareness among abolitionists and northerners who had never interacted with African Americans or had never experienced slavery first hand. When slavery’s defenders vehemently disputed the novel’s authenticity, Stowe published the factual research for her novel in A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin the following year. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book portrayed a face, a mind, and a soul of black Americans…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays