Uncle Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Mr. Shelby, Mrs. Shelby, Mr. Haley, Tom (Uncle Tom), Chloe (Aunt
Chloe), Harry, Eliza, George Harris, Mr. Wilson, Tom Loker, Marks, George Shelby, Jr.,
Sam, Senator Bird, Mrs. Bird, Mr. Van Trompe, Rachel and Simeon Halliday, Augustine
St. Clare, Evangeline St. Clare (Eva), Marie St. Clare, Miss Ophelia, Prue, Topsy, Alfred
and Henrique St. Clare, Simon Legree, Cassie, Emmeline, Sambo and Quimbo, Madame
Eliza, Harry, George Harris; Slave traders, slave catchers, the Underground
. Tom and Kentucky family, Tom and the St. Clare family….
. Tom and Simon
Augustine St. Clare, Marie St. Clare, Eva, Miss Ophelia,
. Tom, Cassie, Emmeline, Simon Legree, Sambo and Quimbo….
Emmeline, Elize, George Harris, Madame de Thoux.
Slavery, the slave trade, and the Fugitive Slave Law; Civil
Disobedience; Religion and Christian obedience;
Motherhood; Race and “racial
characteristics” (essential or environmental?); Gender and “gender characteristics”
(essential or environmental?);
Autonomy, agency, self-determination.
4. General questions:
Why is the novel called
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
and not just
2) What kinds of homes does Stowe describe in the novel?
What is the closest thing
to a true home in the novel?
What makes a family a true family in Stowe’s
3) Is the novel effective propaganda?
How did you react to it?
Stowe want people to react to the book?
Who did she write the novel for?
she trying to reach?
How does Stowe try to make different groups (of her
prospective audience) aware of the evils of slavery?
4) How does Stowe depict slavery?
What, according to Stowe, are some of the worst
things about slavery?
How is slavery the same everywhere in the slave states?
How was it different in different places, with different masters?
Did having a “kind”
master compensate for the deprivations of slavery?
Were the slave masters all
How were they different and why?
What role did the “mistress” play in the
lives of the slaves?
What does Stowe have to say about how slavery affects the
humanity and personality of both slaves and slave owners?
5) Stowe describes three nations in her book:
the American South, the North, and
the nation that Stowe proposes that American blacks establish in Africa.
Stowe’s opinion, each of these nations possesses certain distinctive
What are they?
What was to be the character of the black nation
What did Stowe hope such a nation could accomplish?
6) Why does Stowe have the successful escapees go to Africa?