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Uncle Tom's Cabin Essay

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“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a classic book about slavery. Set in Kentucky, middle 1800’s, it gives readers a glimpse of what life would be like as a slave. Owned by a kind slave owner, Mr. Shelby, Tom is the ideal slave, loyal, trustworthy and kind, but when his master goes into debt, he is sold to a mean man that treats him cruelly. Along with Tom, Harry, a young child, is to be sold, but when his mother, Eliza Harris, finds out her child is going to be taken from her, she flees on a journey to freedom in Canada. In “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, uses character types from older, traditional texts to make them seem new.
Stowe focuses on the hero aspect of Tom for the majority of the book. At one point in the book, Harriet Beecher Stowe even states he is a hero. The text reads “...Uncle Tom, Mr. Shelby’s best hand who, as he is to be the hero of the story, we must daguerreotype for our readers. He was a large, broad-chested, powerfully-made man, of a full glossy black, and a face whose truly African features were characterized by an expression of grave and steady good sense, united with much kindliness and benevolence. There was something about his whole air self-respecting and dignified, yet united with a confiding and humble simplicity.” Tom is a good man that is admired …show more content…

When Eliza realizes her 4-year old boy is about to be torn from her by a brutal trader the next morning, she escapes. For the sake of her little boy, she ran. At a particular scene, the book says “But stronger than all was maternal love, wrought into a paroxysm of frenzy by the near approach of a fearful danger.” Overall, Eliza risked her safety to keep her son with her and this shows how much she loved her son. The author uses Eliza’s actions to show her motherly love and willingness to sacrifice to protect her young

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