The Evils of Slavery

Slavery is a major topic of the book. The book is about slavery but it specifically tells the reader of the evils of slavery. There are many moments throughout the book where slavery is mentioned. There is a lot of racism in this book. The slave owners are all money hungry people. The only decent slave owner in the book is George Shelby. He is a nice owner who says that will let all his slaves free when he dies. Everybody else treats the slaves like animals. The book was written after the law for runaway slaves was passed. It was illegal for anyone to help slaves in the 1800s. This book demonstrates the evil of slavery by giving examples of runaway slaves that needed help.

Emancipation of Slavery

“It was on his grave, my friends, that I resolved, before God, that I would never own another slave while it was possible to free him-that nobody, through me, should ever run the risk of being parted from home and friends and dying on a lonely plantation, as he died. So when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and pay it back in kindness to his wife and children. Think of your freedom every time you see UNCLE TOM’S CABIN. And let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was.” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Page 434)
This is the last paragraph in the book. When George Shelby returns home he tells all the slaves that he will pay them and that when he dies they will all be free. He says the reason for their freedom is Uncle Tom. Tom had a very big impact on Shelby’s life. Shelby looks at Uncle Tom’s Cabin where he was taken away from his family. He tells his slaves to look at Uncle Tom’s Cabin when they think of freedom. This book ends sort of on a happy note because the slaves get emancipation but Uncle Tom dies which isn’t good. But overall the book has a happy ending.

Slavery Is Not In The Bible

“And he showed how all the orders and distinctions in society came from God, and that it was so appropriate, you know, and beautiful, that some should be high and some low, and that some were born to rule and some to serve, and all that, you know. And he applied it so well to all this ridiculous fuss that is made about slavery, and he proved distinctly that the Bible was on or side, and supported all our institutions so convincingly. I only wish you’d heard him.” (Page 182-183)
In this quote Mrs. St. Claire is talking about her beliefs about slavery. She is saying that slavery is needed. She believes the Bible says that slavery is not an option and that God made slavery for a reason. Her husband however disagrees saying that slavery is just there for convenience. It isn’t really needed; it just makes white people’s lives easier. Miss Ophelia the maid of the St. Claire house has a different opinion about slaves. She doesn’t think slaves should not be a degraded race. She doesn’t love slaves but she doesn’t believe slavery is a good thing.

Seperating Families Through Slave Trading

“‘They want to sell the boy and the old woman together,’ said the man. ‘Find a tight pull-why, she’s an old rack o’ bones, not worth her salt.’ ‘You wouldn’t be then?’ said the man. ‘Anybody’d be a fool ’twould. She’s half blind, crooked with rheumatis, and foolish to boot.’” (Page 121, Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
In this chapter Haley is in his wagon with Tom going around buying more slaves. In this scene he is trying to buy a young boy named Albert without his mother coming with him. Haley seems to like to separate families apart. He doesn’t really care if he buys a son and leaves the mother behind. He sees black people as just property which is despicable. In this chapter Haley buys more slaves and separates them from their families. He buys a man named John and doesn’t give him a chance to say bye to his wife. He also buys a women and her infant and sells the infant to another slave trader. The mother commits suicide because of this. Haley shows no emotion and puts her name under the losses category.

Uncle Tom's Personality

“Tom was sitting very mournfully while this conversation was going on. Suddenly he heard the quick, short click of a horse’s hoofs behind him, and before he could fairly awake from his surprise, young Master George sprang into the wagon, threw his arms round his neck, and was sobbing and scolding with energy.” (Page 101, Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
In this chapter Tom is being taken away by Haley, the slave trader. Uncle Tom is very sad and depressed that he is being taken away from the Shelby’s plantation. In this quote George Shelby is chasing after Tom to tell him good bye. He finds Tom and a tavern and gives him a hug and starts crying. It seems as if the slave trader has grown attached to his slave like a friend. Their relationship is not slave owner and slave. They are actually friends and they respect each other. In the south there was no such thing as white people and black people being friends. There were slaves and slave owners. Uncle Tom seems to have a big impact on people because of his kind gentle nature. Uncle Tom is one of the nicest people in the book even though he is being forced to work for no pay. He doesn’t get mad at anyone he just says “let god have mercy on them”.

Anyone Could Save a Life or Two

“When they had gained the top of the bank, the man paused. ‘I'd be glad to do something for ye,’ said he, ‘but then there's nowhar I could take ye. The best I can do is to tell ye to go thar’ said he, pointing to a large white house which stood by itself, off the main street of the village. ‘Go thar. They're kind folks. Thar's no kind o' danger but they'll help you—they're up to all that sort o' thing.’ ‘The Lord bless you!’ said Eliza earnestly. ‘No 'casion, no 'casion in the world,’ said the man. ‘What I've done's of no 'count.’ ‘And oh, surely sir, you won't tell anyone!’” (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Page 64)
In this chapter Haley the slave trader is searching for Eliza and Harry the runaway slave. After being told about the sale Mrs. Shelby doesn’t want Haley to own her slaves. She and Mr. Shelby are shown as very nice considerate people. In this scene Eliza is trying to escape Haley and she falls in a river. Mr. Symmes, a farmer, hears her cries for help. He says he can’t do much for her except tell her that she can go to a nearby house where the white people will help her. This quote shows the reader that not every person in the south was pro slavery. There were many people against slavery and helped runaway slaves. This kind of relates to the Jews when they needed help from people except people that helped Jews faced dire consequences where as in the south people that helped runaway slaves would not experience many consequences. By having helped Eliza and Harry escape Tom now has to be sold alone for 1000 dollars.

Jim Crow

“ 'Come here, Jim Crow,’ said he. The child came up, and the master patted the curly head and chucked him under the chin. ‘Now, Jim, show this gentleman how you can dance and sing.’ The boy at once commenced a wild, grotesque song common among the Negroes, in a rich, clear voice, accompanying his singing with many comic movements of the hands, feet, and whole body, all in perfect time to the music.” (Page 3, Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
Here is a talented young boy and he is being sold as a slave to another master. The name of this boy is actually Harry but he is called Jim Crow which is a very familiar name. This gives the reader an understanding of where the Jim Crow Laws originated from. It is said that Jim Crow was a dance that white people would do to make fun of black people. Here the boy’s nickname is really Jim Crow. The master has him dance and sing to impress the buyer. It seems cruel that the boy is being forced to act like a circus animal. Mr. Shelby is the slave owner that is selling him and Tom to another slave owner named Haley. Mr. Shelby has a heart and he is not a mean slave owner. He still is pro slavery but he doesn’t treat his slave with cruelty like Haley does. However in this one part he makes the boy dance to sell him to settle his debts. Slavery was wrong no matter how it is looked upon. The slave owner could be nice but he is still a slave owner which doesn’t make him a saint. This book shows the reader that there were differences between the slave owners in the south.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is about a black slave that is sold many times in the book with no problem. He is one of the few slaves that can read and he makes a very big impact on a white girl that he saves from drowning. I read a short version of this book in seventh grade and it was on of the best books I ever read. The short version was hard to read because it was in old English with many grammatical mistakes. Harriet Beecher Stowe does a great job of representing the life of slaves back in the 1700s and 1800s and she makes Tom seem like the hero of the book. Tom may not have powers or super strength but his intelligence is what makes him a hero in this book. This book is what started the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln says, “So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that made this Great War.” Stowe’s book showed the evils of slavery throughout the world. She showed people how horrible it was that her people were being treated like animals. This is a book that should at least be heard of by anyone that knows about racism and slavery.

Invisible Black Community

At the end of the book in the last chapter a riot breaks out in Harlem because of the Brotherhood. The narrator goes to see what is happening and he sees that his brotherhood brethren are the cause of the riot. Police come to the scene shooting at the black people for causing the riot. Rocks are being thrown around, shots are being fired, and fights are breaking out. The narrator is being chased by his own people. There is violence within the black community. The black people use each other to get what they want. There are many cases where people are being used. The brotherhood uses the narrator for their plans and the narrator uses a woman for his plans. The brotherhoods plan the whole time was to have the black community turn their backs to each other. The narrator was the cause of the black people fighting each other. His speeches that he made throughout the book were all a plan from the brotherhood to get the riot started. The brotherhood sold out their own people by starting this riot. Why would anyone sell out their own race? Maybe it was money and power? The narrator sees the reason there is racism is because of people like the brotherhood. The white man sees this senseless fighting as primitive and believes that blacks should not be given an identity. He believes black people are just pawns of the white supremacists. The black people are unimportant in the white community. They are invisible to the white people. Back in that time most black people were invisible men through the eyes of the racist whites.

Dancing Dolls

“A grinning doll of orange and black tissue paper with thin flat cardboard disks forming its head and feet and which some mysterious mechanism was causing to move up and down in a loose-jointed, shoulder-shaking, infuriatingly sensuous motion, a dance that was completely detached from the black, mask-like face. It’s no jumping-jack, but what, I thought, seeing the doll throwing itself about with the fierce defiance of someone performing a degrading act in public, dancing as though it received a perverse pleasure from its motions. And beneath the chuckles of the crowd I could hear the swishing of its ruffled paper, while the same out-of-the-corner-of-the-mouth voice continued to spiel.” (Page 326)
The narrator is in Harlem buying some new shoes when he sees a crowd of people. He approaches them and he sees that they are watching a man show of his dancing black dolls. These dolls are stereotypical because they dance in odd ways when the string is pulled. The narrator finds this very degrading and he wants to destroy the dolls. The person that is selling these dolls is a person from the brotherhood named Tod Clifton. The brotherhood’s own people are selling them out. This stereotype really enrages the narrator. He sees one of the dolls in the street but he doesn’t step on it. He picks it up and wonders why his brotherhood friend was doing this. It could probably have been that he wanted money. Would you degrade your own race to make a few extra dollars?

The Brotherhood

“This is advice from a friend who has been watching you closely. Do not go too fast. Keep working for the people but remember that you are one of us and do not forget if you get too big they will cut you down. You are from the South ad you know that this is a white man’s world. So take a friendly advice and go easy so that you can keep on helping the colored people. They do not want you to go too fast and will cut you down if you do. Be smart.” (Invisible Man, Page 289)
The narrator is a member of the Brotherhood. The brotherhood is group of black people fighting against the white oppression. There are also white people in the brotherhood and they also fight against white racism. This quote shows that no matter what white people think they are on top. It says in the quote that it is a white man’s world and that the narrator should be careful as to what he says. This quote is actually a letter to the narrator to be careful or else he will be cut from the brotherhood. This letter is meant to have the narrator be checked upon. They want to control the narrator and his identity. This letter confuses the narrator because he does not know where it’s from. Do you believe this letter is from a white man or a black man?

The Solution to Beauty and Happiness

“I passed on to a window decorated with switches of wiry false hair, ointments guaranteed to produce the miracle of whitening black skin. ‘You too can be truly beautiful,’ a sign proclaimed. ‘Win greater happiness with whiter complexion. Be outstanding in you social set.’ I hurried on, suppressing a savage urge to push my fist through the pane.”(Invisible Man, Page 199)
The narrator is walking around the streets of Harlem because he got bored of reading books and decided to take a stroll. As he was walking he was passing by through many signs and statues. He walks by a beauty shop and sees the sign that talks about whiter skin being the way to happiness and beauty. When reading this the narrator becomes and angry wants to punch the sign and break it. This is an example of white racism saying that white skin is better then colored skin. They are trying to make black people have a whiter complexion with their products. Usually the narrator is a pushover and he would just accept the sign. But after the accident when he lost his memory he felt more free and was mad at the sign. This showed that he wasn’t ashamed to be black. He sees the evils of white society towards black people. The narrator finally sees that he has given up so much on life because of white society. He used to do whatever society told him to do but now he actually has a mind of his own and able to see the racism going on in the world. If you had seen that sign and you were black would you be offended?