One of the best-known books in the list of American classics is “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The story first appeared as a series between 1851 and 1852, and it greatly influenced opinions and views on slavery. It was finally published as a book in 1852. The book describes a number of slaves and how they live in misery during their slavery in and around a plantation in the American state of Kentucky. The original title under which the author published the book is ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Life among the Lowly’. The book was published in Dutch as ?? De negerhut ?? and “Uncle Tom’s Negro Hut”.
Content
- Details of the book: Uncle Tom’s cabin
- Writer Harriet Beecher Stowe
- The Book’s Influence on Slavery
- Persons in the book
- The story of the book
Details of the book: Uncle Tom’s cabin
- Title: Uncle Tom’s cabin, original title: Uncle Toms Cabin
- Busy: 46th edition
- Writer: Harriet Beecher Stowe, translated by H. Smit
- ISBN number: 9789000030439
- Publisher: van Goor
- Information: A famous and truth-based story from slavery history in the nineteenth century. The main character of the book is Tom, a black man who has to work as a slave on a number of plantations with three different masters. The book tells the story about Tom and what he went through. His faith in God is also strongly reflected in this book.
Writer Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the last born in a family of 13 children. Her father, Lyman Beecher, was a pastor. Her mother, Roxana Beecher, died when Harriet was 5 years old. She grew up in the city of Hartford, which is also in the state of Connecticut. In 1832 the family moved to Cincinnati, a city in the state of Ohio. Harriet was then 21 years old. On January 8, 1836, she married Calvin Ellis Stowe, a professor and theologian. He was also strongly against slavery, which is how Harriet came into contact with abolitionism, a movement that advocates the abolition of slavery. Because of this knowledge about slavery, she felt obliged to write a book about it. This became Uncle Tom’s Cabin, her most famous work and released in 1852. Together with her husband, she had 7 children. On August 22, 1886 she became a widow, her husband died and was 84 years old. On July 1, 1896, Harriet died in Hartfort. She turned 85 years old.
The Book’s Influence on Slavery
This book was intended to bring out and tell the people the bad conditions of slavery, the slave trade and the cruel, degrading conditions. The story came about through the stories of people who experienced it. This book is also seen in modern history as the first example of campaigning for a political cause, through a larger means of communication. In this case, this was the printing press. This book was bought en masse in a short time and distributed to other countries, making it an international bestseller. Not everyone was happy about this, especially the slave-holding states in America. They cursed the book. Ultimately, this book played a major role in the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Translations and titles
In 1853, various versions of the book were published in the Netherlands, including a children’s book, this was “A look at the cabin of Uncle Tom”. From the beginning this story has been performed as a play in various countries. Since the book was released in 1852, the book has been reprinted and edited many times and millions of books have been sold. The book was translated in 1853 by CM Mensing and the title then became ‘De negerhut’. Later the book was also translated by Jan Goeverneur. The title ?? Uncle Tom’s cabin ?? has existed since 1856 and has been widely used since the early 1980s. The versions in which the word ?? negro cabin ?? features in the title were last printed in 1982. The book was released in 2013, along with a number of other classics by Readers Digest. This series of books has been dubbed “the world’s most loved books” and Uncle Tom’s Cabin is one of them.
Persons in the book
- Tom – An honest, Christian slave who works hard and always listens to his master unless it is inconsistent with his conscience. He lived in Kentucky with his wife Chloe and his children. He was a slave to Arhur Shelby, Augustine St. Claire and later to Legree. Tom dies of assault at Legree.
- Chloe – Tom’s wife who is very good at cooking.
- Eliza – Slave girl with the Shelby family. She has a son Harry and is married to George.
- George – He is married to Eliza and a slave to another master.
- Cassy – The daughter of a rich white man and a slave. She grows up as a free citizen, but she is officially on the books as a slave. When her father dies, she is sold to Legree. She escapes and later she takes care of Tom on his deathbed. She is the mother of Eliza who used to be sold as a little girl by the Shelby family.
- Arthur and Emily Shelby Good masters of slaves, they live in Kentucky. Unfortunately, they have to sell Eliza’s son Tom and Harry to Haley due to lack of money.
- George Shelby Arthur and Emily Shelby’s son. He has a good relationship with Tom and Chloe, whom he calls aunt and uncle. He is present at Tom’s deathbed and then makes sure that all his slaves become workers. He turns against slavery.
- Haley – Evil slave trader who buys Tom and Harry from the Shelby family.
- Tom Loker Slave hunter hired by Haley to capture Harry and Eliza. During the chase, he is injured and is received and cared for by a group of believers.
- Eva St. Clare – A religious girl who befriends Tom on the boat to New Orleans. Her father buys Tom as a slave. She dies at a young age because of ill health.
- Augustine St. Clare – Eva’s father. He was a wealthy and good slave owner in St. Orleans. His family is Christian, but he himself does not believe. Until he gets Tom as a slave and becomes good friends with him, he learns more and more about faith and starts reading the Bible. He is converted and promises to free his slaves. Unfortunately he dies before he can sign for this. His slaves fall into the hands of his wicked wife Marie.
- Marie St. Clare – Augustine’s wife st. Claire. Their marriage is not good. She always has something to complain about and feels that the slaves are not taking good care of her. When her husband dies, she does not listen to his wishes and sells all slaves to Legree.
- Ophelia St. Clare – This is a cousin from Augustine st. Claire. She comes into the family to put things in order. She’s not a slave keeper, but she still hates dark-skinned men and doesn’t want Eve cuddled by the slaves. Augustine St. Claire gives her the black girl Topsy as a present. They develop a close friendship and this makes Ophelia’s aversion to black people disappear.
- Simon Legree – A poor slave owner who owns a cotton plantation in Louisiana. He mistreats his slaves or orders other slaves to mistreat them. When slaves die of abuse, he just buys new ones. He would like Tom to be a supervisor at his plantation, but Tom does not want to cooperate in assault or betray other prisoners.
- Quimbo and Sambo – Two blacks who work as servants for Legree. They torture Tom and other slaves, but eventually regret their actions when they see Tom dying from their mistreatment. Tom forgives their actions and through Tom’s testimony they come to the Christian faith.
The story of the book
The book begins with the story that the Shelby family is in a financial crisis and therefore feel compelled to sell Uncle Tom and Harry, Eliza’s little boy, to Haley, a slave trader. Eliza manages to get away with her son and she meets a friendly gentleman who helps her further. George, Eliza’s husband, is a slave to someone else and is mistreated by his master. He flees from his master and meets Eliza again. Together they decide to flee by going to Canada. Unfortunately, they are chased by a slave hunter hired by Haley. This slave hunter is called Tom Loker and he is injured in the chase. Eliza and George bring him to a group of believers called Quakers.
Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom lives with his wife Chloe and his children in Kentucky and is being taken away from them. He undergoes the sale and does not resist. After his sale to Haley, he is put on a boat and taken to a cotton plantation. On this boat he comes into contact with Eva and she asks her father Augustine St. Clare if he wants to buy Tom. Tom lives very well with this family. He is treated well by Mr. Clare. He has his own room with this family and he can write and send a letter to his wife and children who are left behind in Kentucky. He also brought a Bible from home and he can keep it. Eve, who, like Tom, is also religious, is a cheerful and sensitive girl and she feels sorry for all slaves. Tom and Eva develop a close relationship, but unfortunately Eva dies of poor physical health and exhaustion. Eva’s father has become very depressed by the loss of his daughter. Tom, who now has a good relationship with his master, is very concerned about his master and takes care of him even more than before. Eve’s death has changed her father’s mind about slavery and promises Tom that he will be released soon. This was also Eve’s wish that her father should free all slaves. Unfortunately, Augustine dies after being stabbed in a cafe. Tom and the other slaves of the St. Clares family now belong to Marie, Augustine’s wife. She is a tough, cruel woman and she makes the decision to sell all slaves. Tom no longer has any hope that he will ever see his wife and children again. Just before Tom is sold again, Cousin Ophelia decides to do something nice for Tom and writes a letter to the Shelby family.
The last cotton plantation
An auction is held in the slave warehouse. Tom and another girl Emmeline are bought by Simon Legree. A very mean and heartless man who owns a plantation. He treats his slaves very badly. Tom is a good and obedient servant, but he refuses to obey Legree’s command to beat another slave. As a result, Tom is terribly mistreated by Sambo and Quimbo, two black servants of Legree. Cassy, another slave girl on the plantation, takes care of Tom after his abuse. She and Emmeline eventually flee from the plantation and Tom doesn’t tell Legree about Cassy and Emmeline’s escape. Legree is so angry about this that he tortures Tom so terribly that Tom dies a few days later. Sambo and Quimbo regret everything they have done and on Tom’s deathbed they ask for his forgiveness. Meanwhile, George Shelby, son of the Shelbys, has read the letter Ophelia had sent them. He’s on his way to New Orleans to see Tom. He arrives at the plantation just in time and sees Tom still alive.
After Tom’s death
After Tom is dead, George buries Tom in a sand mound and returns to Kentucky to share this sad news with Tom’s family. George Shelby, who owns a plantation, is so angry with everything he has seen that he releases all his slaves and wants nothing more to do with slavery. Cassy and Emmeline succeed in their flight and leave for Canada, where Cassy discovers that Eliza is her daughter. They also meet George’s sister. The whole family has now come together again and together they leave via France to Liberia, where they also find Cassy’s son, who was also sold in the past.