Uncle Toms Cabin Argumentative Essay Example For Students

Uncle Toms Cabin Argumentative Essay By: Khadijah Murray E-mail: emailprotected Uncle Toms Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe UNCLE TOM -Uncle Tom manages the Shelby plantation. Strong, intelligent, capable, good, and kind, he is the most heroic figure in the novel that bears his name. Toms most important characteristic is his Christian faith. God has given Tom an extraordinary ability. He can forgive the evil done to him. His self-sacrificing love for others has been called motherly. It has also been called truly Christian. AUNT CHLOE- Aunt Chloe, Uncle Toms wife, is fat, warm, and jolly. She is a good housekeeper and a superb cook, and justly proud of her skill. She loves Tom, and urges him to escape to Canada rather than to go South with Haley. After Tom is sold, she convinces the Shelbys to hire her out to a baker in Louisville and to use her wages to buy Toms freedom. She is heartbroken to learn of his death. MOSE, PETE, AND POLLY Mose, Pete, and Polly, the children of Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe, are playful and rambunctious. Polly is Toms special favorite, and she loves to bury her tiny hands in his hair. ELIZA HARRIS Eliza Harris is raised by her mistress, Mrs. Shelby, to be pious and good. Described as light-skinned and pretty, Eliza dearly loves her husband, George Harris, and their little boy, Harry. When she learns that Harry is about to be sold, Eliza carries him in her arms to the Ohio River, which she crosses on cakes of ice. Although generally a modest and retiring young woman, Eliza becomes extraordinarily brave because of her love for her son. GEORGE HARRIS- George Harris, portrayed as a light-skinned and intelligent slave, belongs to a man named Harris. He is married to Eliza, who lives on the Shelby plantation, and they have a son, Harry. HARRY AND LITTLE ELIZA Harry and little Eliza are the children of George and Eliza Harris. Harry, born a slave on the Shelby Plantation, is bright and cute, and sings and dances for Mr. Shelby and Haley. He is so beautiful that he is disguised as a girl in order to escape into Canada. Once there, he does very well in school. Little Eliza is born free in Canada. SAM AND ANDY- Sam and Andy, slaves on the Shelby plantation, provide comic relief through their mispronunciations and deliberate mishaps. Andy, who likes to makes speeches, is meant to satirize politicians. But Sam and Andy make an important contribution to the novels plot- their clowning allows Eliza to escape across the Ohio River. MR. SHELBY Mr. Shelby, the owner of a Kentucky plantation, generally treats his slaves well, but he decides to sell two of them, Uncle Tom and little Harry, to pay off a debt. Although he regrets the sale, Shelby feels he has no other choice. MRS. SHELBY Mrs. Shelby, a kind, religious woman, tries to raise the familys slaves with Christian values. She attempts to convince her husband not to sell Tom and Harry, and she helps Eliza escape. Warm-hearted Mrs. Shelby treats her slaves like people, crying with Aunt Chloe when Uncle Tom leaves and consoling her when they learn he is dead. GEORGE SHELBY- George Shelby, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, is thirteen years old when the novel begins, and eighteen when it ends. He likes to spend time with Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe, basking in their kindness and attention. He teaches Uncle Tom to read and write, and reads the Bible at the slaves religious meeting. On Uncle Toms grave, he swears to do whatever he can to fight against slavery, and he begins by freeing the slaves on his own plantation. George is one of the few characters who changes during the course of Uncle Toms Cabin, as he develops from a good-hearted but somewhat self-centered boy into a noble and effective man. Cell death Essay Because Marie cant act for anyone but herself, she fails to prevent Uncle Toms sale to Simon Legree. OPHELIA- Ophelia St. Clare comes from Vermont to manage her cousin Augustines New Orleans household. Her thrifty New England ways contrast with the easy-going St. Clare style. One of Ophelias functions in the novel is to contrast the North and the South. An abolitionist, Ophelia finds slavery perfectly horrible, and she rails against it in her running debate with Augustine. ALFRED AND HENRIQUE ST. CLARE- Alfred St. Clare, Augustines dark, forceful twin brother, is a stern but decent slaveowner. The contrast between the twins contrasts their two approaches to slavery. Similarly, dark, handsome, proud, and angry Henrique, Alfreds son, contrasts with his blonde, loving cousin Eva. Henrique is cruel to his slave, Dodo, but Eva reaches him with her love. TOPSY- Ignorant but energetic, Topsy is brought by Augustine into the St. Clare household to see whether the high-principled Ophelia is actually capable of managing a slave. Topsy, who cant tell the difference between right and wrong. ADOLPHE, ROSA, JANE, DINAH, AND MAMMY- The well-treated slaves in the St. Clare household seem to be divided into two groups. Some, such as Adolphe, Rosa, and Jane, are light-skinned servants who borrow the St. Clare familys airs as well as much of its wardrobe. Others, such as Dinah the cook, and Mammy, are dark-skinned hardworking, and realistic. PRUE-A worn-out, hard-drinking woman, Prue is beaten to death by her owners. Tom discovers the cause of her misery- like so many other slave women, she has lost her children to the slave-trader. SIMON LEGREE- Simon Legree is the owner of a plantation on the Red River in Louisiana. Sadistic and cruel, he breaks his slaves in body and soul and works them to death. Legree has no real human ties. He has sexual relations with slave women whom he buys for that purpose, and his main companions are the barbaric Sambo and Quimbo. Legree is interested in growing as much cotton as he can, as his bet with several other plantation owners indicates, but he also seems to enjoy abusing his slaves, particularly Uncle Tom. CASSY- Cassy, the daughter of a wealthy white man and a slave woman, is sheltered and convent-educated. The death of her father results in her sale to a man who becomes her lover, and whom she adores. But after some years, he sells her and her children to pay a gambling debt. Cassy is driven half-mad by the loss of her son and daughter, and searches in vain for them. She is owned by a series of masters. By one of them she has a son, whom she kills with an overdose of opium rather than face the pain of losing another child to slavery. SUSAN, EMMELINE, AND LUCY- Susan, Emmeline, and Lucy are sold in the New Orleans slave market with Uncle Tom and the rest of the St. Clare family slaves. Susan and Emmeline, a religious mother and daughter, are heartbroken when they are separated and sold. Legree buys Emmeline to be his mistress, but she resists him. Emmeline marries a crew member on the ship that carries the Harris family, Madame de Thoux, and Cassy to France. Lucy is purchased by Legree as a mistress for his second-in-command, Sambo, although she had a husband and children in New Orleans. Lucy finds it difficult to work in the fields, and Tom helps her by secretly putting cotton into her bag so that she will be able to turn in the required amount of cotton each day. SAMBO AND QUIMBO-Sambo and Quimbo are Simon Legrees black lieutenants. Brutal and ignorant, they lord it over the other slaves. Legree manipulates them so that they fight with each other too. Both Sambo and Quimbo whip and otherwise abuse Tom, but they are converted by him in the end. Word Count: 1939