Plot and Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The following short
summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin plot provides a short overview of the
events surrounding the main characters of the book.
Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
Introduction to the Story
A Kentucky farmer
and kind hearted slave owner named Arthur Shelby and his wife Emily
are forced to sell two of their slaves to pay off debts. The two
slaves Arthur Shelby intends to sell are Uncle Tom and Harry to a
cruel slave trader, Mr. Haley. Uncle Tom has a wife and children and
young Harry is the son of Mrs. Shelby’s maid, Eliza. Arthur Shelby
tells his wife who is greatly distressed as she had promised Eliza
that she would never sell Harry.
Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
The Story of Eliza
Eliza overhears the
conversation, warns Uncle Tom, and runs away to the North hoping to
her husband George and reach safety in Canada. Eliza is pursued by
the slave catchers but manages to reach a Quaker settlement after
crossing the half frozen Ohio River which is the boundary separating
the slave state of Kentucky from the North. Eliza is reunited with
George.
Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
The Story of Uncle Tom
The slave trader
takes Uncle Tom by boat along the Mississippi to be sold at a slave
auction. Uncle Tom befriends a little white girl called called Eva
St. Clare and rescues her from drowning. Her grateful father,
Augustine St. Clare, buys Uncle Tom and takes him to the St. Clare
home in New Orleans where Uncle Tom becomes a devout Christian.
Ophelia, a cousin of the St Clare family, is hostile towards black
people and to help Ophelia overcome her bigotry, he buys a young
black girl called Topsy, and asks Ophelia to educate her. Eva then
dies and Augustine St. Clare is killed. Uncle Tom is sold by
Augustine's wicked wife Marie to a vicious plantation owner called
Simon Legree. Simon Legree takes Uncle Tom to his plantation in
Louisiana where Uncle Tom makes friends with the harshly treated
plantation slave, Cassy and her daughter Emmeline.
Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
Simon Legree and the Death of Uncle Tom
The religious beliefs of Uncle Tom are sorely questioned but he
experiences visions and his faith is restored. Uncle Tom helps Cassy
and Emmeline to escape the terrible life with Simon Legree. Uncle
Tom refuses to tell the evil Simon Legree where the escaped slaves
have gone and Simon Legree orders his overseer to beat him. Uncle
Tom is beaten to death but as he dies he forgives Simon Legree and
the overseer. Just as Uncle Tom is dying George Shelby, the son of
Arthur Shelby, arrives to buy Uncle Tom’s freedom, but can only bear
witness Tom's death as a martyr.
Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
Eliza and Cassy
It turns out that
Eliza is Cassy's long lost daughter. The reunited family travel to
Liberia, in Africa a safe home for former American slaves.
Summary of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
The Slaves on the Kentucky Farm are set free
George Shelby returns to the Kentucky farm, where he gives all of
the slaves their freedom in honor of Uncle Tom’s memory. Uncle Tom’s
cabin is left standing as a reminder of the slave's Christian life
and his martyr's death. George Shelby urges the slaves to follow
Uncle Tom's Christian beliefs of forgiveness, loyalty and love which
Uncle Tom's Cabin symbolizes.
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