Resumo de Uncle Tom?s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

The People of Humanity:
the characterization of the Shelbys
in the novel ?Uncle Tom?s Cabin?
by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom?s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1851 and became enormously popular within a short period of time. Uncle Tom?s Cabin had been translated into many foreign languages and had a great impact on the American and international readers and communities. In the novel the author raises some important questions about the institution of slavery, morality in society and the problems of racism in America.
From the very beginning of the novel we learn that the Shelbys are the slaveholders in Kentucky which is known as the Southern State with the mildest form of slavery. Agriculture as the main industry in the State dictates a slow lifestyle to both slaveholders and slaves. Outbreaks of violence by the masters are rare. As Stowe writes in A Key to Uncle Tom?s Cabin, ?it is popular now to treat slaves with kindness? (Stowe 17).
In the Shelbys? estate, the religious meetings have an important meaning in
the life of the owners and the slaves. Family relationships, harmony and
being a Christian are all highly valued. Emily?s teaching is based on the moral principles of the Bible, and one of her most important teachings is that ?the slaves? marriages are as sacred as the masters??. Furthermore, we can notice that Arthur?s and Emily?s attitude towards their slaves is different. Despite of having promised freedom to Tom, Mr. Shelby agrees to sell him because ?Tom and Harry will bring the highest sum of any? (Stowe UTC 47). Whereas for Arthur, ?a man of humanity?, the Negroes are only the financial property of the family, ?Mrs. Shelby sees the slaves as a part of her personal familial domain? (Braker 45). Mrs. Shelby?s reaction to her husband?s action is full of indignation and grief: ?This is God?s curse on slavery! - a bitter, bitter, most accursed thing! - a curse to the master, a curse to the slave!? (Stowe UTC 38). Mr. Shelby does not share Emily?s point of view about slavery. He assures his wife that his actions are right, since they are practiced by the majority of the American slaveholders: ?I [Mr. Shelby] do not know why I am to be rated, as if I were a monster, for doing what every one does every day? (Stowe UTC 37).
Mrs. Shelby is ready to help the slaves not only through words, but also through actions. Emily assures Arthur that ?if I [Mrs. Shelby] could only at least save Eliza?s child, I
would sacrifice anything I have? (Stowe UTC 39). Emily?s suggestion is to sell
off her personal things and to give private music lessons. ?Mrs. Shelby does
not accept that the idea of earning money is out of place in her social order?
(Braker 52). For her, the promise given to the slave is much more important
than the opinion of the aristocracy. Mr. Shelby, however, refuses her idea
to earn money because this is, according to him, degradation of themselves and unworthy of their place in society. Arthur?s responsibility towards Tom (and also towards the other slaves on his plantation) is demonstrated in his request: ?I hope you [Haley] will remember that you promised, on your honour, you would not sell Tom, without knowing what sort of hands he?s going into? (Stowe UTC 35).
In Uncle Tom?s Cabin, Stowe emphasizes the importance of the role played by women in family life. Through an in-depth analysis of the Shelby family we come to notice that Emily has a central place in running the estate household. Although Mr. Shelby is convinced that women cannot know and do business, Emily Shelby manages the daily plantation life very energetically, clearly and economically.
George, the Shelbys? son, is highly disappointed and hurt by Tom?s sale and later his death. As a result of these events the young Shelby finds out about the grief of a large number of black slaves when they are being sold off and must leave their families. At the end of the book George does what his mother does not have the power to do: He frees the African Americans on the Shelbys? plantation.
At the points discussed above we come to the conclusion that the Shelbys are presented as the people of feeling and humanity in Uncle Tom?s Cabin. The picture of the mildest and fairest side of slavery in America is shown through the example of the Shelby plantation.
On the grave of Uncle Tom George exclaims grievously: ?[?] oh, witness, that from this hour, I will do what one man can to drive out this curse of slavery from my land? (Stowe UTC 490). This point had an important meaning for the Southern reader because the feminist author had great hope in the book that the other slaveholders would follow the example of George Shelby.

References
Ammons, Elizabeth and Belasco, Susan. Approaches to Teaching Stowe?s Uncle Tom?s Cabin. New York: MLA, 2000.
Braker, Regina. Weapons of Women Writers: Bertha von Suttner?s Die Waffen nieder! as political literature in the tradition of Harriet Beecher Stowe?s Uncle Tom?s Cabin. New York: Peter Land Publishing, Inc., 1995.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. A Key to Uncle Tom?s Cabin. London: Sampson Low, Son & CO, 1853.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom?s Cabin. London: Partridge and Oakey, 1852.

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