Analysis Of The Book Uncle Tom s Cabin - 864 Words

Lauren Drake Ms. Jenkins English 13 November 2014 North and South â€Å"Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart† but there are many of them in the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe 272). Uncle Tom, Augustine St. Clare, Evangeline St. Claire, and Eliza Harris are just a few of the main characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s amazing story about being taken captive and set free. The book has many settings; the main locations being Canada, New Orleans, and a plantation in Kentucky. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a book that has shaped the past and will continue to shape the future. The book opens with Arthur Shelby, a Kentucky farmer, struggling to keep his farm because of debt. He and his wife Emily Shelby believe that they have a†¦show more content†¦Her father, Augustine St. Clare, buys Tom and assigns him the job of being the family driver. Tom and Eva both share a faith in Jesus Christ and bond over reading of scriptures and singing of hymns. Eliza, during her escape, meets up with her husband, George, who has also run away. They are adamant about getting to Canada soon, but their trip is halted by the discovery of a slave hunter named Tom Loker. Tom Loker surrounds them, but then is wounded by a gunshot to the side. In New Orleans Mr. St. Claire buys a slave girl, Topsy, for his cousin, Mrs. Ophelia to teach. Mrs. Ophelia complains that Topsy is not compliant or willing to learn. Soon Eva and Topsy became good friends. After Topsy knew Eva loved her, â€Å"Topsy did not become at once a saint; but the life and death of Eva did work a marked change in her. The callous indifference was gone; there was now sensibility, hope, desire, and the striving for good – a strife irregular, interrupted, suspended oft, but yet renewed again† (Stowe 126). Eva grows very ill, very quickly, and before she dies she gives a piece of her hair to all of the slaves to remember her. Also, before she dies, St. Claire agrees to free Tom upon his death. But before St. Claire can follow through on his promise, he gets injured in a bar room brawl and dies soon after. Marie, St. Clare s wife, recants St. Clare s promise to