No slavery, be equal
These days I've just finished the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin that left a really deep impression on me and we can see.
It is a book written in 1852 in response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, Uncle Tom's Cabin has been considered as the most influential anti-slavery novel in that period and described by Stowe herself as a “series of sketches” describing the human cruelty of slavery, opens with a description of Arthur Shelby's Kentucky plantation during the antebellum period.
There are several impressive characters in this novel, George who is clever and brave;Harry, a beautiful and talented child who sings dances and mimes;Mrs. Shelby, a very religious woman;Sambo and Qimbo and so on. The major character Uncle Tom who was the most impressive in this novel was a devout Christian. He endured the miserable fate bravely and aroused the white's sympathy for slaves with his Christ's sacrifice and the tolerance of returning good for evil. This novel focuses on the distinctive personalities of Uncle Tom deeply influenced by Christianity and the important role Uncle Tom's Cabin playing on abolition; and the Significance of “Uncle Tom” to the harmonious world's development, and the effect on modern people.
In the book, at the beginning, the author presents us a very beautiful image of a rather harmonious family who live a happy life. However, that beautiful image couldn't last long, the darkness came soon. The master of this happy family, Uncle Tom was arranged into a difficult situation. As Shelby, the not cruel master, he has incurred serious debts- prompting him sell some slaves to avoid financial ruin, so Uncle Tom, Shelby's loyal servant since childhood was sold to Mr. Haley, the slave trader. Uncle Tom remained loyal to his master, despite his betrayal and the risk of death at the cruel hands of a new master. The slaves at the plantation were very mournful, but Tom remained placid and tried to read his Bible for comfort. On the steamboat to New Orleans, where Tom was to be sold, Tom befriended an angelic little girl, “Little Eva” St. Clare. Uncle Tom saved the five-year-old beauty from drowning, and she convinced her father to buy Tom for her own family. In her family, Tom enjoyed his life because of the girl's love; Tom's contentment does not last, however, because Eva soon falls ill. Dying, Eva asked Mr. St. Clare to free Tom after her death. But Mr. St. Clare is so sad by her death that he never legally freed Tom before he himself was killed trying to mediate a barroom scuffle. Mrs. St. Clare sold the slaves to settle her husband's debts and Tom was sold to Simon Legree who was so violent that beat his slaves brutally. At last, when Mr. Shelby, finally found Uncle Tom, he was almost died. After Tom was dead and buried, Shelby went back and freed his slaves.
As we all can see that Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery novel and it was even considered as one factor that caused the Civil War. In the novel, the slaves were sold from one place to another frequently, and their fate was tragic, with no exception- just like Uncle Tom, no matter he was under the control of kind masters or evil masters, he can't escape the misfortune of being sold from one master to another. We can't see any human right of them, so terrible.
As someone said, with more people realizing the inhumanity of slavery in the 19th century, slavery became one of the most important issues and it became more violent year by year in American society. However, slavery was not abolished irrevocably until ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865, following the Civil War. After the passage of Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this novel Uncle Tom's Cabin which publicized the evil of slavery to a wide audience.
Now we are in the 21st century, we may never come across such kind of thing. However, this book can always remind of us that there ever has existed this evil and we can't let it happen again. And “equality” 、“human right ” can't just be a slogan, we should make it come true really and always.