An unprecedented best seller in its time, Uncle Tom's Cabin has also been controversial from the start. Primarily the story of Uncle Tom, a godly slave who improves all around him, much like Joseph of the Bible. But when Tom is sold to Simon Legree, he meets evil. Legree treats slaves as animals and plans to make Tom overseer because of his strength and intelligence, but when Tom refuses to whip a fellow slave, and then refuses to turn in two runaways, Legree slowlly beats Tom to death. The son of Tom's first owner comes to redeem Tom but finds him dying. In honor of Tom, he frees his family's slaves and educates them. Stowe reveals the horrors occurring under slavery and the damage done to society as a whole when its weakest members are preyed upon. She also shows that Christians can, and must, make a real difference in the world. |