Uncle Toms Cabin Book Review

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Austin Jeffords US History I Mrs. Pat Morris 11-9-11 Uncle Tom’s Cabin Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe first published in 1852, is an abolitionist novel depicting the slavery in the United States in the years leading up to the Civil War. It was tremendously influential, both in America and across the Atlantic. It fanned the flames of the Civil War. Upon meeting Stowe, President Lincoln commented, “So this is the little lady who made this big war.” Uncle Tom’s Cabin opens on a plantation in Kentucky with a farmer named Arthur Shelby and Haley, a slave trader from the Deep South; who are in the midst of an earnest conversation. To avoid loosing everything Mr. Shelby decides to sell Uncle Tom, his most loyal and favorite slave and, Harry, the son of Mrs. Shelby’s maid Eliza. Shelby tells Mr. Haley “I would rather not sell him…. the fact is sir I’m a humane man, and I hate to take the boy from his mother, sir” (pg. 9; ch. 1). Shelby regrets taking Harry away from Eliza as much as he regrets betraying Uncle Tom’s trust. Eliza overhears the discussion between Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. Mrs. Shelby was protesting her husband’s decision to sell Tom and Harry, “I’ll be in no sense accomplice or help in this cruel business. I’ll go and see poor old Tom, God help him, in his distress…. as for Eliza I dare not think about it. The Lord forgive us! What have we done, that this cruel necessity should come on us?”(pg. 43; ch. 5), and decides to escape the plantation to Canada via the Underground Railroad with her husband George. Eliza tries to convince Uncle Tom to come with her and Harry, but he declines as he is too loyal to his master. When Mr. Haley shows up the next morning for little Harry both he and his mother are gone; “Lor, Missis! Lizy’s drawers is all open, and her things all laying every which way; I believe she’s just done clared out!” (pg.
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