Uncle Tom's Attitudes To Slavery

Words: 554
Pages: 3

In the novel, Uncle Tom has three masters in all: Shelby, St. Clare and Legree. Although they share some similarities, they have differences as well.

Mr. Shelby is Tom’s first master, who is kind but careless. Mr. Shelby treats his slaves relatively humanely. However, when his mismanagement of the household finances causes him fall into debt, he breaks his word and decides to sell both Uncle Tom and Eliza’s son, Harry in order to pay his debts.

St. Clare is Tom’s second slave master. Overall, St. Clare is unwilling to spend his life doing the right thing - abolish the slavery - even though he knows that it is the right thing to do from all the time. When St. Clare’s daughter Eva dies, there is a real change in his attitude towards slavery. He promises Eva that
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He will become a powerful abolitionistthat he ought to be, and he will try to lead his society through a moral revolution. Unfortunately, he dies after Eva, and his selfish wife Marie sends his slaves to Legree.

Legree, Tom’s last master who hates Tom, he whips Uncle Tom, and leads the death of Uncle Tom. He cannot even count for a person, since he is as evil as a monster. As the novel says, with "the native antipathy of bad to good". Legree and Tom are in

conflict largely because Tom is Good and Legree is Evil. Once again, Uncle Tom’s Cabin uses archetypes so much that it is almost an allegory.

The first two masters shared similarities since they are all treat their slaves friendly. Nevertheless, although Mr. Shelby drops out of the story quickly in the novel, he is a foil to the other major