Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin opens in a farm in Kentucky, where Tom is a slave who is married with several children. Mrs Shelby the mistress of the farm, hates slavery... but her husband owns several slaves. He finds himself in financial trouble and decides that he has to sell some of his slaves. Tom is a sensible man and a good farm manager, and there is a young woman who has a small child, Harry... and Shelby sells them to a slave dealer. Mrs Shelby is horrified and tells Tom that as soon as they can, they will buy him back. Tom is a Christian and is resigned to whatever happens to him. But Eliza, the mother of the little boy, tells him that she cannot let her son be sold down South, and she is going to run away. Her husband, an intelligent man called George, has a cruel master and he has talked of running away to Canada. Tom tells his wife that he supports Eliza escaping, as it is natural for a mother to want to save her children. She flees with Harry, and manages to cross an ice bound river and make her way to a Quaker settlement. The Quakers dont believe in slavery so they are willing to hide her and help her to go North. Tom is taken away on a journey down the river, to New Orleans. On the boat, there is a little girl called Eva, who is travelling with her father and her father's cousin Ophelia, from the North. Eva takes a fancy to Tom, and asks her father to buy him. Mr St Clare does not like slavery but he is an indolent man and has never made the effort to free his slaves. His wife Marie, is a cold silly selfish woman and she is hard on her slaves. St Clare tries to mitigate her harshness and he agrees to buy Tom. He has become worried about his house and his daughter. Marie does nothing about the house and is lazy. He is concerned that Eva who is in delicate health, needs a mother figure, so he has brought his cousin Ophelia from New England to manage his house.