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00:00Uncle Tom's Cabin. A summary. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is an anti-slavery novel. It was first published in America in 1852. Uncle Tom's Cabin is also known as Life Among the Lowly.
00:21It is believed that this was the novel which paved the way for the revolutionary changes in American society and helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. Uncle Tom's Cabin is regarded as one of the finest pieces of fiction in American literature.
00:39Summary. Arthur Shelby is a Kentucky farmer. In the opening scene of the book, he is introduced to the readers. Shelby is on the verge of losing his farm owing to debts. He has not been able to pay the loan on time. They have no other fixed assets the sale of which could raise money to pay off the loan.
01:06Finally, the farmer and his wife take a decision that they would never have taken if there were no debts. Even though Arthur Shelby and his wife, Emily Shelby, believe that they have a benevolent relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise the needed funds by selling two of them.
01:28Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby's maid Eliza to a slave trader. Emily Shelby is averse to this idea because she had promised her maid that her child would never be sold. Emily's son, George Shelby, hates to see Tom go because he sees the man as his friend and mentor.
01:54The impending departure of Tom definitely makes the boy very sad. Eliza overhears the conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. She is shocked to know that they have decided to sell Tom and Harry. She knows that it is going to be very difficult for her there in the following days. She determines to run away with her son.
02:20Uncle Tom's cabin clearly states that Eliza made this decision because she feared losing her only surviving child. She had already miscarried two children. Eliza departs that night, leaving a note of apology to her mistress. Events take place in a rapid succession in the opening of the novel and the readers are prepared for more complex situations.
02:48Finally, the day arrives and Tom is sold to prospective masters. He is placed on a riverboat which sets sail down the Mississippi River. Tom finds himself in an alien world and he finds himself among strangers, mostly white.
03:07On board that boat sailing down the river, Tom meets and befriends a young white girl named Eva. Eva's father, Augustine St. Clair, buys Tom from the slave trader and takes him with the family to their home in New Orleans. Tom and Eva begin to relate to one another because of the deep Christian faith they both share.
03:31The readers get the first sign of Christian love through this incident. Having escaped from the farmhouse, Eliza finally meets up with her husband, George Harris, who had run away from his master before her escape. Like most of the other fugitive slaves, the husband and wife decide to somehow reach Canada.
03:55They believe that they will be safe and better off in Canada. However, they are tracked by a slave hunter named Tom Locher. Eventually, Locher and his men trap Eliza and her family, causing George to push Locher down a cliff. Worried that Locher may die, Eliza convinces George to bring the slave hunter to a nearby Quaker settlement for medical treatment.
04:25Slavery is the burning issue and there is perhaps no one in that part of America without a word or two for or against the social evil called slavery.
04:35Back in New Orleans, St. Clair debates slavery with his northern cousin Ophelia who, while opposing slavery, is prejudiced against black people. St. Clair, however, believes he is not biased, even though he is a slave owner.
04:55In an attempt to show Ophelia that her views on blacks are wrong, St. Clair purchases Topsy, a young black slave. St. Clair then asks Ophelia to educate her. Tom finds the Clairs very friendly and caring people. They are real Christians and their kindness is reflected in their behavior meted out to their slaves. Tom spent two years with the Clairs.
05:25Suddenly, Eva falls very ill. Before her untimely death, Eva experiences a vision of heaven, which she shares with the people around her.
05:38As a result of her death and vision, the other characters resolve to change their lives, with Ophelia promising to throw off her personal prejudices against blacks, Topsy saying she will better herself, and St. Clair pledging to free Tom.
05:57Tom and St. Clair have no idea that the harsh reality of fate is waiting for them, and the future is going to be equally harsh and painful. Before St. Clair can follow through on his pledge, however, he dies after being stabbed outside of a tavern.
06:17An ugly future awaits Tom because St. Clair's wife reneges on her late husband's vow and sells him at auction to a vicious plantation owner named Simon Legree.
06:28Legree, a transplanted northerner, takes Tom to rural Louisiana, where Tom meets Legree's other slaves, including Emmeline, whom Legree purchased at the same time.
06:42Tom immediately realizes that his new master is not only harsh but also full of evil and hateful schemes. Tom is a kind-hearted person, and he would never harm a fellow human being.
06:57Legree begins to hate Tom when Tom refuses Legree's order to whip his fellow slave.
07:04Legree beats Tom viciously and resolves to crush his new slave's faith in God.
07:11Despite Legree's cruelty, however, Tom refuses to stop reading his Bible and comforting the other slaves as best he can.
07:21While at the plantation, Tom meets Cassie, another of Legree's slaves.
07:28Cassie was previously separated from her son and daughter when they were sold. Unable to endure the pain of seeing another child sold, she killed her third child.
07:40Tom Loker, who had been hurt in an earlier accident, returns to the story.
07:47He is a completely changed person now, having been healed by the Quakers.
07:53George, Eliza, and Harry have also obtained their freedom after crossing into Canada.
08:00In Louisiana, Uncle Tom almost succumbs to hopelessness as his faith in God is tested by the hardships of the plantation.
08:10However, he has two visions, one of Jesus and one of Eva, which renew his resolve to remain a faithful Christian, even unto death.
08:22He encourages Cassie to escape, which she does, taking Emmeline with her.
08:30When Tom refuses to tell Legree where Cassie and Emmeline have gone, Legree orders his overseers to kill Tom.
08:39As Tom is dying, he forgives the overseers who savagely beat him.
08:45Humbled by the character of the man they had killed, both men became Christians.
08:52Very shortly before Tom's death, George Shelby, Arthur Shelby's son, arrives to buy Tom's freedom but finds he is too late.
09:03On their boat ride to freedom, Cassie and Emmeline meet George Harris's sister and accompany her to Canada.
09:11Cassie discovers that Eliza is her long lost daughter who was sold as a child.
09:17Now that their family is together again, they travel to France and eventually Liberia, the African nation created for former American slaves.
09:29George Shelby returns to the Kentucky farm and frees all his slaves.
09:35George tells them to remember Tom's sacrifice and his belief in the true meaning of Christianity.
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