Student Book Review:


Uncle Tom's Cabin

by: Harriet Beecher Stowe


Review done by:

 Jessica Chen
Grade 7
Van Antwerp Middle School
Niskayuna, NY

The classic Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel about kindness and betrayal. The story begins in Kentucky on a plantation. The plantation owners are Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. They own many slaves and treat them all as equals. One of their best slaves was Tom. Everyone on the plantation called him Uncle Tom since he was like a father to everyone. His most valuable possession was his bible. Tom was a very religious man who always told people to believe in the Lord if they had problems. He would never lie or do anything he was not supposed to do. An example was when Tom's owner, Mr. Shelby, told him to go across the state to deliver a large sum of money. Tom went alone in a wagon. He could have easily taken the money and crossed the border to Canada where he would be free. Tom delivered the money and returned to the plantation. The Shelby's were very surprised that Tom actually did what he was supposed to do.
In the beginning of the book, Mr. Shelby had to sell Tom and another slave, Eliza's son, Harry, because of financial problems. Eliza over heard this and that night when they were sold, she took Harry and ran away. In the morning, when the slave holder, Mr. Haley, came to take Harry and Tom away to a slave convention, Mrs. Shelby had realized Eliza was missing. She understood why she escaped and tried to tell Mr. Haley why, but he issued a missing slave ad anyway. Eliza took Harry to a Quaker's house where they would be safe from the slave holders and dogs.
Mr. Haley took Tom to a slave convention where he was bought by a small girl, Eva St. Clare. Tom became Eva's personal slave and soon they had a father-daugher relationship. Eva had many characteristics Tom had. She was sweet and innocent and she didn't believe in violence. Just like Tom, she believed strongly in the bible and was always honest.
Eva's aunt, Miss Ophelia, bought a little girl, Topsy, who was about 8 years old. Miss Ophelia wanted to teach her sewing and give her an education. Topsy would refuse to do anything she was told to do unless she was supervised. Usually Topsy would go off and steal things. Miss Ophelia didn't know why Topsy kept doing these bad things. Finally Eva took Topsy by the hand one day and talked to her about why she was so bad. Topsy spilled out all her reasons and started crying.
A few weeks later, Eva got sick. Tom was sold to another plantation owner, Mr. Simon Legree. He was a master who often beat his slaves and thought they all thought the same. When he bought Tom, he knew there was something special about him. He thought Tom had a lot of power in a different way. Legree wanted to make him the highest-ranking slave on the whole plantation.
When, Legree brought Tom to the plantation, he immediately put him to work. He observed Tom for many days and realized he was very kind and gentle to everybody. He would treat everybody equally and with respect. Legree decided to harden Tom up. He went up to Tom and told him to whip another slave for no reason. Tom refused to do it so Legree beat him. Everyday, Legree told Tom to do the same thing and Tom would always say no.
This book was my favorite book because it showed very well how diverse people are. Tom was very different from Topsy in many ways. Topsy was mean and very dishonest but Tom was just the opposite, even though the were the same race. When the book was written, many of the slave holders and owners thought that all slaves thought alike. They thought all slaves would lie and steal unless they were beaten and kept under strict supervision. I would recommend this classic to a 7th or 8th grade frequent reader because of the content.
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