In Chapter II, when George’s master reclaims him from the factory, the factory owner whispers words of encouragement in George’s ear and the master looks on with anger. The way is described is, “The tyrant observed the whisper, and conjectured its import, though he could not hear what was said; and he inwardly strengthened himself in his determination to keep the power he possessed over his victim.” For me, the description of this scene paints the slave and slaveowner in two extremely different lights, trying to remind the readers of the horrible aspects of slavery. The master is described as a “tyrant” who has to control his anger towards George and is driven by the need to exert power over him. A reader of this time might feel the word “tyrant” hit them hard and notice the weird and horrible mentality one must have to be determined “to keep the power” over another human. Stowe could have written “the power he possessed over his property” or “George,” but decided to use the word “victim.” In choosing “victim,” George is humanized in the readers mind as someone who has been hurt. It’s the small choices like these that go a long way in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
“Now, John, I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.” For any reader’s during Stowe’s time that believed slavery was justified through the Bible, this is Stowe’s condemnation of that. This is one of her many attempts to get readers to notice the glaring contradictions between the Bible and slavery. Mrs. Bird here is choosing to follow her religion and conscience rather than the follow a law stating they have to turn in any runaway slaves. Stowe attacks the religious angle of things by trying to have readers understand that if they truly followed the word of God they would know that they would take in any slave, not just the hungry, naked, and desolate.
Comments are closed.