What is a slave narrative?
Slave narratives are accounts of the trials and tribulations slaves have experienced throughout their slavery, and generally, on their journey to freedom. They offer an experience differing from their slave owners' claims. They were often used as propaganda to end slavery in the South. They provided substantial evidence of African-American intellect and intelligence. "The narratives told of the horrors of family separation, the sexual abuse of black women, and the inhuman workload. They told of free blacks being kidnapped and sold into slavery. They described the frequency and brutality of flogging and the severe living conditions of slave life. They also told exciting tales of escape, heroism, betrayal, and tragedy. The narratives captivated readers, portraying the fugitives as sympathetic, fascinating characters" (Slave Narratives and Uncle Tom's Cabin).

Although Stowe was not an abolitionist, she had strong anti-slavery feelings. Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is not a slave narrative, rather a fictitious account of what is commonly seen throughout slave narratives. However, it had a profound impact coming from a white intellectual woman, as opposed to the slave narratives which are written by ex-slaves. Stowe accomplished what so many slave narratives had hoped to because of her social status, which was her ultimate goal in writing the novel. She had reached people from all over the United States; from slave owners to abolitions, form the north to the south, the "whole nation [can] feel what an accursed thing slavery is" (Stowe 8).

Major Characters:

Uncle Tom: He is the main protagonist in the story. Uncle Tom is a large, broad-shouldered black slave in his late 40's and he lives and works on the Shelby family's plantation until he is sold to Mr. Haley. He is a very honest, hard-working man who always does right by his master. His main characteristic is his unrelenting faith in God. No matter what cruelty he is subjected to, he strongly holds on to his religion and trusts God to see him through it. On the Shelby family plantation, he was respected as a leader and a speaker. "Church services" among the slaves would be held at his house and he was known by everyone for his touching sermons.When torn from his family, he is sold down the river to the kind hearted St. Claire who takes him to his house in New Orleans. However, misfortune takes place and Tom is again sold down the river to Simon Legree.

Aunt Chloe: Aunt Chloe is Uncle Tom's wife and the cook for the Shelby family. She is a big-hearted woman and because she is Uncle Tom's wife and she works in the Shelby home, she is usually in the know about everything that is going on. She acts happy and ignorant around the Shelby family, but it's clear that she always knows more than what she lets on. Whether or not she chooses to share them, she has her own opinions and feelings.

Arthur Shelby: Arthur Shelby is a slave-owner in Kentucky. He is the owner of Tom and Eliza's son, but he chooses to sell them to Mr. Haley to pay off his debts. He is a highly educated and generally kind master, and he's respected by his slaves for the way he treats them. Uncle Tom was his favorite slave and he promised Uncle Tom that he would one day give him his freedom. He absolutely would not have sold him if he had any other choice. He seems to have good morals, but he is not quite as compassionate as his wife. Though he may not completely agree with slavery, he seems to tolerate it, simply because that's just the way things are. When he decides to sell Tom, he goes on a trip, so he doesn't have to be around when everyone finds out and Tom must leave. Perhaps he doesn't want to seem weak to his other slaves or maybe he has more concealed emotions about Tom's departure that he does not want to share.

Emily Shelby: She is Mr. Shelby's wife. Even though her family owns slaves, she does NOT believe in slavery. She maintains a close relationship with everyone that works for her and she is very kind and loving. She is very compassionate towards her slaves and when she finds out that they must sell Uncle Tom and Eliza's child to pay their debts, she even offers to sell her own jewelry and personal items to prevent it. She wants to liked by all the slaves. Her closest companion is her maid, Eliza Harris. She is a very Christian woman and she tries to make her slaves the same way. She has a certain amount of influence with her husband, so she tries to influence him to do what she believes is right.

George Shelby: George is the Shelbys' son. He is compassionate and good-hearted like his mother. He is very close with Tom and his family and he often reads the Bible to them. He promises to rescue Tom when he is sold. Uncle Tom calls him "Mas'r George".

George Harris: He is Eliza's husband, but he lives on another plantation, owned by a very cruel master. He is a very smart, good-looking, talented man and his master sees this as a threat and a reason to punish and work him harder. Finally, he has enough and decides to escape to Canada and fight for his freedom. George was able to pull this off because he is mostly white and could easily fool others to think he is of spanish descent.

Eliza Harris: She is George's wife, Emily Shelby's maid and closest friend, and the mother to little Harry. She is a very beautiful and smart girl. Eliza is about 25 years old and is a quadrooon, meaning she is 1/4 black and 3/4 white. She hides in a closet to eavesdrop on Arthur and Emily and when she finds out that they are going to sell her son Harry. What Eliza is most memorable for from the novel is the scene in which she leaps across the breaking ice on the Ohio river with Harry in her arms to escape from Mr. Haley.Heading north, Eliza is helped by a Quaker family and is eventually reunited with her husband, George, who also escaped from his plantation.

Harry Harris: A little boy, he is George's and Eliza's son. Harry is a "small quadroon boy between four and fives years of age" (Stowe, 43). He never has any significant dialogue throughout the book. When Mr. Shelby is trying to sell him to Mr. Haley, Mr. Shelby makes him dance and sing, "walk like old Uncle Cudjoe", do an impression of "Elder Robbins leading the psalm", and fetch raisins and orange slices that Mr. Haley and Mr. Shelby throw towards him (Stowe, 44). After seeing this, Mr. Haley says Mr. Shelby can settle his debt by sellling Harry along with Uncle Tom.

Mr. Haley: He is the slave trader to whom Mr. Shelby sells Uncle Tom and Harry. He appears to be a kind man and he likes to think that he treats "his niggers" very well, but somehow, when he says this to Mr. Shelby, Mr. Shelby still feels very uneasy and doubtful about him. His cold demeanor suggests that he's not the nice guy he tries to act like. He is motivated by money and he gives Mr. Shelby the impression that he would sell his own mother if he could get anything for her. Mr. Haley is an ill-tempered man and he is very angry when he discovers that Eliza had run away with Harry.

Senator and Mrs. Bird: This is another couple similar to Arthur and Emily Shelby. The Senator is a kind man who doesn't completely believe in slavery, but he tolerates it and votes for it like he thinks he is supposed to. Mrs. Bird is like Emily, because she is compassionate and against slavery. She tries to influence her husband to act in the best interest of the slaves. This family takes in Eliza and Harry for a night and helps get them to another safe place.

NEW CHARACTERS INTRODUCED AFTER THE MIDTERM PRESENTATION

Tom Loker: He is a slave hunter that Mr. Haley hires to catch Eliza, George, and their son. When he is first introduced, like Mr. Haley, he is a cruel, rough man motivated by money. When he catches up with Eliza, George, and Harry, George shoots him in the side, to protect his family. After Eliza convinces the Quakers to take him to the next settlement and they heal him, he becomes a "changed man". He goes through a complete "paradigm shift" and decides to join the Quakers, instead of returning to being a slave hunter. Since he joins the Quakers, he aids in helping George, Eliza, and Harry escape as well.

Augustine St. Clare: St. Clare is an attractive, wealthy young man from New Orleans. He purchases Uncle Tom from Mr. Haley aboard a riverboat and becomes Uncle Tom's new owner after Uncle Tom saves the life of his daughter Eva. He is very similar to Mr. Shelby (Uncle Tom's previous owner) in that he is a generally nice man, and he is compassionate towards his slaves. Also similar to Mr. Shelby, he does not fully believe in the concept of slavery, but he owns slaves, because he knows that's just how his society works. Rather than daring to be different and refusing to own slaves (because he knows it's wrong), he chooses to own them, just like everyone else.

There is a rather tragic story behind St. Clare's love life. After he went to college, he met and fell in love with a woman and kept in correspondence with her through letters, planning to marry her one day. His letters were returned to him by the woman's parents, saying that she was going to marry someone else. Heartbroken, he sought to fill the void in his heart and he quickly married a beautiful, wealthy woman and tried to move on with his life. While on his honeymoon, he received a letter from his former love, telling him that the letters from her parents were lies, and she had loved him along. At this point...it was too late. He was already married, so he told her to move on, and he continued to live with the horrible wife he chose to marry. Because of this, he likes to attend parties and drink every night, perhaps to drown the sorrows that he doesn't show. Because he did not marry his true love, Stowe portrays St. Clare as a lazy man, both physically and morally, and makes it obvious that if he had married the love of his life, he would have followed his morals and lived in the north and would have opposed slavery. The slaves on the plantation are not disciplined at all and much money is wasted. His laziness eventually results in tragedy since he never had the time to truly set Tom free and when he is stabbed breaking up a fight, his mean wife eagerly sells Tom down the river.

Eva (Evangeline): St. Clare and Marie's beautiful, young daughter. She is an angelic, cute, blonde-haired little girl. She is the perfect child. She possesses greater morals than almost every other adult in the story. She doesn't believe in the story, and she sees blacks and whites to be the same. Like Uncle Tom, she is a very faithful Christian. She befriends him on the boat and tells him that she will ask her papa to buy him, which he does after Uncle Tom saves her life. She becomes Tom's closet friend when he goes to live with them. She brightens everyone's life, and her passing affects everyone who knows her in a very positive way. Later in the story, Eva grows sick from seeing ill treatment of slaves; she gives all of the slaves in her mansion a lock of her golden hair as a keepsake memory of her and passes away soon after.

Marie: She is the horrible wife that St. Clare is stuck with. She's extremely self-centered and complains about everything. She can't stand when the attention's not on her, and she gets jealous of other characters. She even gets jealous when St. Clare pays attention to their daughter, Eva. Marie is not in great physical or mental health and she does not like their slaves at all. However, she behaves as if she could not live without them. It seems that St. Clare tries hard to please her, not the other way around, like it should of been in that time period. When her husband dies, she resumes ownership of the slaves and she sells Uncle Tom to Simon Legree, a plantation owner with a very well-deserved, vicious reputation.

Miss Ophelia: She is St. Clare's cousin, from Vermont. She comes to live with their family, to help manage the household, since St. Clare's wife is not capable in her mental state. She is not much like St. Clare. She is against the idea of slavery, but she does not like actual slaves or black people. She holds some kind of prejudice, probably because she hasn't been exposed to them as much. After Eva dies, she begins to care more for Topsy and she learns to change her ways and comes to accept the slaves as the people that they are.

Topsy: A young slave girl who had been abused by her previous master. St. Clare gives her to Miss Ophelia to educate and take care of. She is wild and she steals, but she tries to be more like Eva and eventually learns to treat others with respect. Before St. Claire's death, Miss Ophelia demands that he give Topsy to her legally and thus when he does die, Topsy is saved from being sold down the river with the other slaves.

To listen to Topsy's intro, click here. http://www.archive.org/details/EDIS-SRP-0195-01 Provides a good example of her personality and general behavior.

The Quakers: A Christian, religious group that appears throughout the book to help Eliza and her husband escape to freedom. They are a very kind group of people, and all the Quakers always do whatever they can to care for and aid Eliza and her family. They seem to be the only people besides Eva who truly see the slaves for who they are.

Simon Legree: He is the cruel and vicious slave owner from Louisiana who buys Uncle Tom from Marie. He is a horrible man, not at all like Uncle Tom's previous owners. He comes to dislike Uncle Tom after he refuses to follow his orders. He is a sick man, who owns female sex slaves. He orders his overseers to beat Uncle Tom to death.

Cassy: She is Simon Legree's mistress (sex slave). She tells Uncle Tom of how she was separated from her daughter when Simon Legree bought her. She became pregnant again, but couldn't bare to lose another child, so she killed the baby. In the end, it turns out that Eliza is her long-lost daughter, so she escapes with her and her family.

Emmeline: A beautiful, young girl that Simon Legree purchases, perhaps to replace Cassy as his sex slave.

Sambo and Quimbo: Legree's overseers who are very cruel to the slaves. They whip Tom to death but eventually repent when they see his behavior.

Compelling Characters: What makes many of these characters compelling and interesting to the reader are the drastic changes in personality and lifestyle that they make because of the experiences they go through. For example, Tom Loker gives up the life of being a slave hunter to become a Quaker (very opposite) after the Quakers heal his wounds. He actually helps the slaves that he had been trying to capture! Also, Miss Ophelia overcomes her bigotry towards slaves after Eva dies and she learns to love Topsy.
Besides the changes made by these characters, another reason they are so compelling is the reader can relate to and sympathize with their stories. Sure, the reader may not know what it's like to be a slave or lose a child, but they learn to feel for these characters and hope that everything will work out in the end. After hearing all of the cruel things that each slave has to go through, you want the closure of knowing that they survive and make it to the other side of their horrible experiences.

Plot Summary:

After the Shelby family fell into debt they were forced to sell Uncle Tom and Harry to Mr. Haley the slave trader.

Uncle Tom was taken away by Mr. Haley but Harry’s mother Eliza took him and ran. Eventually, Eliza's husband George escapes as a slave disguised as a Spaniard, and upon hearing of Eliza's plan to flee to Canada, searches and finds her and Harry.

Mr. Haley pursues Eliza and Harry but they elude him. So he hires Tom Loker and his group of slave hunters to continue searching for them.

While en route to a slave market Uncle Tom is sold to the St. Clare family after he saves their little girl Evangeline from drowning.

Eliza and Harry who have been successful at escaping so far find refuge at a Quaker settlement.

Upon confrontation between the slave hunters and the Harris', George shoots Tom Loker in the side and after the rest of his friends flee, Eliza convinces the Quakers to take care of him until he heals.

Mr. St. Clare is very kind to his slaves and Uncle Tom is treated very well. He stays with the St. Clare’s for two years.

But after Evangeline dies from an illness and Mr. St. Clare is killed in a fight, Tom is sold to a cruel man named Simon Legree.

Meanwhile Eliza and Harry are taken to a home out in the middle of nowhere where they are to be reunited with George before continuing their flight to Canada.

After Uncle Tom refuses to beat a fellow slave, Simon Legree tries to break him of his faith and his resolve.

Uncle Tom then meets Cassy who is Legree’s sex slave. She was very bitter over the loss of her daughter who was taken from her when she was very young.

George, Eliza, and Harry all escape to Canada. They had evaded the men who were searching them. Tom Loker heals and has a change of heart after being cared for by the Quakers and helps George and Eliza with their escape.

Uncle Tom who had become disheartened while enslaved had had this spiritual revelation and lived with joy in his faith. Legree was angry over Uncle Tom’s commitment to his faith and was all the more cruel to him.

Cassy and Emmeline then run away and when Uncle Tom refuses to tell Legree where they have gone he is severely beaten by Sambo and the other overseer until Tom is near his death.

When George Harris had finally saved enough money to buy Tom back, he was too late. He had arrived at the Legree plantation just in time to hear Uncle Tom's last words.

Cassy escapes from Legree and finds out that her daughter is Eliza and that she had escaped to Canada with her family. They eventually reunite.

Cassy, Eliza, George and Harry all eventually go to Liberia which is a country in Africa that was established by former slaves.

Uncle Tom’s cabin was considered a type of monument and whenever anyone saw it they thought of Uncle Tom and how he lived his life so faithfully.

Conflicts:

1) Man vs. Man
-This is the most obvious of conflicts in the story. You can constantly see the conflict between slaves and those that are for slavery and abusive towards them.
-Slaves versus their masters. In the story Tom questions his role as a slave. “My master! and who made him my master? That’s what I think of – what right has he to me? I’m a man as much as he is” (23).
-This conflict is also shown through the cruel separation of families over and over. Aunt Chloe and Tom are split apart. Eliza and Harry are about to be split apart. Emmaline and her mother are split apart. Cassy has been torn away from her whole family.
-There is also conflict between the kind masters and the slaves. Both Mr. Shelby and St. Claire promise Tom his freedom, but he never obtains it and is thus sold eventually to Legree.
-Bounty hunters who are tracking Eliza and her little boy, Harry. “Tom’ll have the boy for yer, anywhere ye’ll name won’t ye, Tom” (99).

2) Man vs. Self
-Mr. Shelby, Tom’s first owner in the story, battles his conscience after having to sell Tom and Harry; especially since he had promised Tom his freedom some day. “…there is no choice between selling these two and selling everything. Either they must go, or all must go…I had to give them up” (49).
-The cruel treatment that Tom suffers at the hands of Simon Legree threatens his belief in God, but Tom withstands his doubts.
Many of the slaves are constantly fighting themselves on the issue of "Shoud I stay, should I run???" They are left to think about the dangers that running holds yet the positive things that may come from it. They also have to consider which is worse; constantly hiding and running or having a stable home with less than optimum conditions.

3) Man vs. Nature
-Eliza must battle nature when she has to cross an ice river when the ice has already begun to break apart. “…with one wild cry and flying leap, she valted sheer over the turbid current by the shore, on to the raft of ice beyond…with wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake…Her shoes are gone – her stockings cut from her feet – while blood marked every step” (86).
- Up in Georgia where a lot of this story takes place, the weather is extremely hot and the slaves are still put to work in the harsh conditions.

4) Man vs. Society
-Uncle Tom talks with another slave named Prue who has had a terrible life but can do nothing to change it because it is accepted by society. “A man kept me to breed chil’en for market, and sold’em as fast as they got big enough;” (309).

Major Themes:

Anti-slavery: In this novel, the reader is shown how horrible slavery is and the many hardships that slaves have to go through. Stowe writes about how slaves are separated from their families, sold and traded as if they were products, abused both physically and verbally, restricted from contact outside the plantation in which they are forced to work on without pay, and many other harsh treatments endured by slaves. Stowe relays the message that slavery should not be accepted under any circumstances.
-Slavery is the most important theme in Uncle Toms Cabin. Stowes goal in writting this book was to open her readers eyes to the horrors of slavery. Each of the African American charactes in this novel suffered at the hands of slavery. Whether it was being sold down the river away from family, being subjected to the abuse and vivious beatings of a cruel master, or having to choose between seperation from a child or running away from plantation and risking death for freedom, the trials of the slaves in Uncle Tom's Cabin reflect a few of the effects and consequences of slavery.

Religion: Throughout the novel, Christian values are emphasized. Tom holds strong Christian beliefs which help get him through each day, and Eliza does as well. Even through the worst of times, Tom holds on to his strong faith in God. Stowe also shows how slavery can crush a person’s faith when George gives up on his faith after being separated from Eliza and Harry to live with a cruel owner. Stowe depicts supposed Christians that justify slavery as being unaware of what true Christianity is all about. This is especially portrayed in the character Marie. A true Christian would not accept the cruel treatment of fellow human beings.
-In this book the theme of religion was used to show how a person belief in God could give them the strenghth to endure a horrible situation, or it could be corrupted by "christians" in order to justify their need for slavery. Uncle Tom's belief in God gave him the strenghth he needed to survive the seperation from his family. Marie St. Clare was a christian in the sense that she went to church every week, but the sermons given by her minister justified slavery by supporting the idea that African Americans were better off as slaves because they lacked the ability to take care of themselves. Although he preferred parties to religion, St. clare was generally a good man who refused to go to church because of "christians" like his wife, who twisted the scripture to fit their own desires.

Family: The importance of family is a prominent aspect of the story. Stowe stresses how families are torn apart due to slavery. She especially focuses on the relationship between mother and child. There are many instances in the novel when a slave mother is separated or threatened to be separated from their children. Stowe shows the reader how strong the bond is between a mother and her child and the consequences that can come about in the instance that a mother loses her child.

Relationships: One of the major themes in Uncle toms cabin is relationships. In the begining, the main family relationships that Stowe focused on were that of Tom's family. Tom loved his wife Chloe and their children very much, which was one of the reasons it was so difficult for him to leave the Shelby plantation. two other types of relationships depicted in Uncle Tom's cabin were the mother-child relationship, and the father-daughter relationship. When Eliza ran away from the Shelby's plantation to protect her son it was apparent that he ment the world to her and that she was willing to risk her life to stay with him. Marie St. clare on the other hand felt no such connection towards her daughter who she dismissed as a "strange child". Marie was incapable of having a real relationship with her child becasue so was so self-centered. The father-daughter relationship was represented by Augustine St. Clare and his daughter Eva. Augustine was very fond of his daughter and they were practically inseperable. the last for of relationship in Uncle Tim's cabin was the Master-slave realationship. the Shelby's and Augustine St.Clare treated their slaves very well under the circumstances and punishment was never too severe or cruel, although Tom was sold by Shelby despite Shelby's promise to one day set him free. Mr. Halley and Simon Legree, who is introduced later in the story, are the kind of slave owners that every slave wished whole-heartedly never to be sold to.

Female Power: Stowe shows strong women in the white female characters in the story. In the beginning of the novel the reader is introduced to two strong women, Mrs.Shelby and Mrs.Bird. Both of these women are opposed to slavery and have their own opinions on everything. They are not afraid to express their opinions to their husbands and are even an influence on the decisions that their husbands make. Miss Ophelia, and especially Marie, are representations of weak women. They are easily influenced and materialistic. We see the strong woman developing in young Eva in her free-thinking. Stowe was ahead of her time, already expressing the rights of women.
-Abolitionists and womens sufferage seem to go hand in hand, so it comes as no surprise that Stowe included a few strong female characters in her book. Eliza demonstrated strenghth by escaping the Shelby plantation alone with her son, until she could rejoin her husband. Both Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Shelby represented female power by openly disagreeing with their husbands views and attempting to persuade them to show kindness to their slaves and/or runaway slaves.
-Selfishness and self-centerness
Marie's behavior throughout the book shows her selfishness and constant asking for attention.Marie is a constant complainer who thinks she had life more worse off than anyone else in the house. She does not believe that Eva is in much worse health than she is herself.Marie thinks that everyone should be pampering her and she is this poor little thing that needs to be constantly looked ober. Stowe however shows her resentment to this kind of behavior as it turns out that Eva and St. Claire both die before Marie does.

Writing style:

Harriet Beecher Stowe offers several writing characteristics that are very unique in her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe writes this novel in the sentimental style. This style is meant to invoke emotions in the reader. Since Stowe’s purpose behind writing the novel is to get people to oppose slavery, this style is very fitting. By making the readers feel the slaves’ pain, Stowe effectively causes them to start to oppose it.

Stowe also uses several interesting techniques in her novel. One of these is the fact that the novel incorporates more than one plot line. Stowe intertwines the plot line regarding the cruelties that Tom faces with the plot line where Eliza escapes into the north as well as a few other minor plot lines. This technique of her's is possible because she writes the entire novel in 3rd person. Since there is more than one plot line, Stowe is able to attack the issue of slavery from more than one perspective. The switching of perspectives every few hours also keeps the story moving and interesting to the reader.

Uncle Tom's Cabin is also interesting in that it accurately portrays several different dialects. Here are some examples:
The Slave trader Haley: “Lor bless ye, yes! These critters an’t like white folks, you know; they gets over things, only manage right”
Aunt Chloe: “Bery nice man, de Gineral! He comes of one of de bery fustest families in Old Virginny!”
St. Clare: “My dear child, what do you expect? here is a whole class, - debased, uneducated, indolent, provoking,- put without any sort of terms or conditions, entirely into the hands of such people as the majority in our world are”
Topsy: “I never tell no lies, Miss Feely”…”It’s just the truth I’ve been a-tellin now, and an’t nothin’ else.”
Rachel Halliday (a Quaker): “And what’ll thee do, when thee gets there? Thee must think about that, my daughter.”

Interesting Facts:

-Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter of an abolitionist (xiii).

-Stowe and friends helped slaves escape on the underground railroad (xiv).

-Stowe meant for the novel to be popular (xvi). And it was because it sold over 300,000 copies the first year (v).

-The book was viewed as “vicious propaganda” by it’s critics.

-When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe he supposedly said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war."

Truth or Fiction:

While the characters may not have been real I think that the situations are representative of happenings in real life. Stowe not only had exposure to slaves and their trials through her involvement with the underground railroad (xiv) but she also was very well educated (xvii). So the story may be fiction, but it was representing a problem that was very real.

Predictions:

-That Uncle Tom will eventually be sold to a cruel master and only his faith will sustain him.

-That Eliza, George, and Harry escape successfully.

Accuracy of our Predictions:

Our predictions were pretty accurate for the most part. Tom is sold to a very cruel owner named Simon Legree after the death of Eva and Augustine St.Clare. Through all the turmoil, Tom holds his strong Christian faith, much to Legree's dissent. But I don't think any of us were expecting Tom to die after being brutally beaten. Eliza, George and Harry escape like we thought they would, along with Cassy. They end up living in Liberia.

Links

- www.uncletomscabin.org provides information regarding Josiah Henson who Stowe commemorated as being the inspiration for Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin
- http://www.online-literature.com/stowe/uncletom/ is a link to the actual story in ebook format.

Works Cited:

Slave Narratives and Uncle Tom's Cabin. PBS online. 1 June 2008.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The Modern Library: New York, 2001.