Title : Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Author : Harriet Beecher Stowe
Retold
by : Brett Thomas
Plot :
This story
uses closed - plot which is explained from the beginning to the ending
chronologically .
1.
Exposition
Having run
up large debts , A Kentucky farmer named Mr. Shelby decided to sell two Slaves
in their house to pay all the debts to
slave – trader , Haley. He signed the letter agreements with the slave -trader.
The slaves that were going to be sold at that time were Uncle Tom, an old slave
with a wife and children in the farm, and Harry , the young son of shelby’s
maid Eliza. Mr.Shelby was a kind person
and always treat the servants in a good way but at that time He was so confused
about his debts so he decided to sell his two slaves. Mr.Shelby told his wife
about his decision to sell the slaves .She was shock and angry hearing it
because She had promised Eliza that She
would never sell her slave and she would never seperate the son from the mother
.
2.
Raising Action
Eliza
overheard the conversation between Mr.Shelby and his wife about selling
the slaves . She came to Uncle Tom’s
cabin and told everything she heard about selling the slaves to Uncle tom and
his wife, Aunt Chloe. She warned them and tried to leave Kentucky to the north
and She hoped that She would find her husband in Canada and got freedom with
him there. Eliza brought her son and run towards the Ohio river the Boundary
separating Kentucky from the north. She crossed the half - frozen river by
jumping to one ice block to another without any footwears. She could do that
because of the power of love to his son. Meanwhile , Haley the slave- trader
hired a slave hunter to bring Eliza and her son back to Kentucky .Eliza and her
son arrived at the big house of rich family . They took a rest a while there
before the owner of the big house brought eliza and her son to a place where
she could get freedom in a Quaker Community . Quakers would help Eliza to
transport her to safety.
At the
same time , Uncle Tom was in the boat to be transported to a slave market by
The Slave – Trader , Haley. Uncle Tom Left his beloved wife and his children
and also his closed friend , Mas’r George ,Shelby’s young son . On the boat ,
Tom met a little white girl who was very
kind to him . Her name was Eva, Evangeline St. Clare. Eva asked her father,
Augustine St. Clare, to buy Uncle Tom from the slave – trader . Her father
decided to buy Tom and brought Tom together with Eva to the New Orleans where
Tom got new work with his new master.
3.
Climax
Up north ,
Eliza and George had tried to escape from the Slave Hunters , Tom Loker and
Marks. Tom Loker was succeed in searching Eliza . George, eliza’s husband ,
Shot Tom Loker in the side and Marks run off leaving his friend . Eliza told to
Her husband to bring Tom Loker to the next settlement , where he could be
healed.Meanwhile , in the new orleans Tom’s new master discussed to manage his
house with his older cousin , Ophelia.
After Tom
had lived with St. Clare for two years , Evangeline grew very ill . She slowly
weakens , and then died . Before her death , She learned about bible from Uncle
Tom . She aslo gave her cutting hair to all of the servants in order to always
remember her Master. Her death brought a sadness to everyone who knew her
including Tom . As his promised to Eva that he would set Tom free , Augustine
decided to give a freedom to the Tom . However , before he could act on his
decision ,St.Clare was dead when tried
to settle a brawl . St.Clare’s wife who was cruel , Marie , Sold Tom the Cotton
Plantation owner named Simon Legree. Legree was a cruel slave- owner.Legree
took a strong dislike to Tom when Tom refused him to whip the fellow slave as
his ordered. Tom received a severe beating . Cassy , one of the slaves in
Legree’s plantation , tried to helped Tom by giving him a bottle of water. She
told many things to uncle Tom that she was purchased to use as a sex slave by
Legree five years ago before Tom came to the plantation.Emmeline was the young
woman who replacing Cassy as a sex slave .
One day ,
Cassy and Emmeline escaped from the
Legree’s plantation . Legree was angry and asked his foremen to catch them but
they couldn’t find them at all . Legree asked Tom where Cassy and Emmeline had
gone . Tom refused to tell to him about their escaping . Legree got angry of
him and whip him for many times . When Tom was near death , Mas’r George
arrived with money to buy Tom back to Kentucky .Unfortunately , He was too late
. Uncle Tom was already died at that time because of severe beating from
Legree.
4.
Falling Action
Cassy and
Emmeline took a boat towards freedom .On
the boat Cassy met George Harris’s sister , Emily de Thoux, and travel with her
to Canada where cassy realized that Eliza was her long- lost daughter. After they had arrived at Canada , They met
Eliza and George and lived together with them . George had a good job and Eliza
had given birth to a baby daughter. Their son Harry was doing very well at
school . Emily had married with a rich man and had enough money to shared with
her brother and his family. They all decided to go to France .
5.
Resolution
George
Shelby returned to the Kentucky after his journey to get Tom back . He told to
Aunt Chloe that he was too late because Tom had gone to a better place . Mrs.
Shelby cried but Chloe made no sound . A month later George called all the
servants . He would to set them all free. He brought a pile of paper ,
certificates which gave them of freedom . He urged them to think on Tom’s
sacrifice every time they look at his cabin . He wanted all the servants to
remember uncle Tom whenever they rejoiced in their freedom and he wanted all the servants tobe
as good and honest Christians as Tom was.
·
Characters in Novel of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin “
·
Mr.Shelby :
He was salve- Owner. He was the master of Uncle Tom in Kentucky. He was ellegant man .
·
Mrs.Shelby (Emily) : She was Mr.Shelby’s Wife .He was kind woman and she loved
her all slaves very much .She didn’t want to
sell the slave to the slave-trader.
·
Haley : He was slave-trader
·
Uncle Tom :
He was hard-working ,reliable , honest , and good slave. He was religious man , he liked to help the
others even he was in danger. He was chritian nigger.
·
Harry :
He was Eliza’s son . He had brown skin .He was very handsome and Had big ,dark
eyes and shinny , curly black hair.
·
Eliza :
She was a beautiful young light skinned woman .She is Harry’s mother and She got
married with a man named Goerge Harris . She loved her son very much and she
protected his child from the slave trader. She would do
anything to save the Son . She had Strong , religious character.
·
George Harris :
He was kind person . He was Eliza’s husband . He was hard working . He
was intellegent man . He had invented a machine that made easily to clean cotton.
·
Mr. Harris :
He was cruel and Hard Slave Owner. He was the master of George Harris.
·
Aunt Chloe :
She was Uncle Tom’s wife . She was a cook in Mr.Shelby’s House . She was hard working and religious woman .
·
Mas’r George :
He was the son of Mr. Shelby. He was a kind person . He had tought Uncle Tom to
write a letter. He was best friend of Uncle Tom .
·
Sam :
He was on of the servants in Shelby’s house who tried to help Eliza escaping from the slave trader ,
Haley.
·
Mr.Symmer :
He was a farmer who lived near The Shelbys . He helped Eliza to climb up over the grassy river bank when
she wanted to escape from the slave
trader.
·
Tom Loker :
He was a big , hard looking man with a dirty , black beard and cruel eyes. He hated black people . He
helped Haley to catch Eliza and her son.
·
Marks :
He was small , thin with sharp eyes and a crooked smile that showed his
few remaining teeth tobe yellow and brown . He was Tom loker’s friend when tried
to look for Eliza and her son .
·
Mr.Bird :
He was a member of the senate in Washinton D.C , the Capital of US . He was
not a cold-hearted man .
·
Mrs.
Bird : She was
a very quite little lady who very rarely lost control of her feelings . She hated Cruelty.
·
Cudjoe :
He was the servant in Mr.Bird’s house.
·
John Van Trompe : He was a man who protect a mother and child from
slave-catchers. He was a big man with a big heart. He
had bought some lands in Ohio, gave all his slaves
letters of freedom and let them live and work as free people on the new land.
·
Rachel :
She was on of the Quaker women .
·
Simeon Holliday : He was a big strongman in Quaker Coomunity.
·
Rurth :
She was Simeon’s wife .
·
Evangeline St. Clare: She was a daughter from
the wealthy St. Clare Family of New Orleans. She
was pretty . She had a serious look on her face as she listened to the conversations of the older
people. She was kind and Loved all her servants in her house.
·
St.Clare / Augustine: He was a rich man . He
was Evangeline’s father . He was kind person . He had bought Tom from the slave
trader to become his servant in his house .
He loved his daughter very much . He did everything to make her daughter
happy.
·
Marie :She
was Evangeline’s Mother. She was hard woman . She was cruel to her servants . She hated the nigger that worked at her
house .
·
Ophelia :
She was Agustine’s older cousin . She was fourty – five years old and had never married. She was a tall slim woman , neat , and
tidy and always
dressed in plain practical clothes. She hated laziness , wasting time and
people who did things for no reason and without an aim.
·
Mammy :
She was one of the servants in Augusitine St. Clare’s House . Evangeline usually called the old woman
servant with Mammy. She loved Evangeline very
much .
·
Phineas Fletcher : He is one of the Quakers Comunity . He was alert and
sharp eyed.
·
Dinah :
She was a cook in the Evangeline’s House .
·
Topsy :
She was a little servant girl in St.Clare’s House . She was not very well liked by the
other servant because she was always stealing things from the house.
·
Mr.Simon Legree : He was a hard looking man with strong shoulders , a
round, bald head and very cruel eyes. He was the
owner of a cotton plantation up the red river.
·
Emmeline :
She was a young girl . She had been bought by Mr. Simon to use as a sex slave .
·
Cassy :
She was a woman who worked at Simon legree’s plantation. She had been
purchased to use a sex slaver by Simon Legree before Emmeline Came
replacing her. She was Eliza’s mother
who had been seperated for along time.
·
Emily de Thoux :
She was George Harris’s Brother sister who had been seperated for along time .
Point of View
The
author used “Third person point of view” and it showed from the way the author
introduce all characters by mentioning the name.
Setting
·
On a cold day in February . In small Kentcuky
town .
·
In New Orleans
Theme
The
Slavery and Humanity
