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t the plantation and bought Tom’s body with huge wealth.
At the same time, Eliza and her son met her husband－George Harris, who disguised himself as a Spaniard and brought a gun with himself. He shot a slaver on his way to Canada. At last, he and his family got together in the Canada----a free country.
2. Character Analysis
Mrs. Stowe portrays several vivid characters with distinctive temperament. Among them, there are the white and the black, the nobles and the slaves, the kind and the cruel. In her description of all these characters, we can learn that Mrs. Stowe advocates that people are equal and is against racial discrimination. Some people think that the dark skin of African slaves externally represents negative qualities such as evil or heathenism. However, Mrs. Stowe viewed slaves that evoke these presumptions actually contrasts their internal strength and spirituality. In fact, black men are better than some white slaveholders who have intentional purposes.
Mrs. Stowe herself is deeply influenced by Christianity; she held the belief that people are born to be equal and should enjoy freedom. So the main characters she portrayed in Uncle Tom’s Cabin are all Christians to different extent. This part of the paper deals with the analysis of perfect Christian, non-perfect Christian and half-Christian in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. From the analysis, we can get a better idea on how Christianity is reflected in the novel.
2.1 Tom
Uncle Tom is an old slave and the protagonist of the novel. His two most prevalent qualities are his inherent goodness and piety. He is a pious Christian and resembles Jesus in many aspects. He consistently forgives the wrongs committed against him and turns to God in time of crisis.
Mrs. Stowe is very successful in portraying Tom as a Christian figure. Let’s compare Tom to Jesus in Bible.
Tom’s experience is quite similar to that of Jesus Christ. First, Tom and Jesus are all sold by the man they are familiar with. Jesus is betrayed by his disciple－Judas，who has the greed for the money; and Tom is sold by his master－Arthur Shelby, who also needs money to repay debts when he suffers the financial difficulties. Second, both Tom and Jesus have strong faith in God and never give up under pressure. When Jesus is near his death, the soldiers are all speaking sarcastically and crying to him, they shouted,“Hail, king of the Jesus!” [4] And struck him on the face, however, the Governor would not arrest Jesus, but he has no choice but to have Jesus crucified. When Jesus knows he will die, he does not complain only to pray to the God. Tom is in the similar situation, At Legree’s manor, Tom is not willing to sell out his friends, so he meets the brutal treatment. He dose not give up and continues preaching to Qimbo and Sambo. He said, “ Into thy hands I commend my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me, Oh Lord God of truth!” [5] Even if Qimbo and Sambo beat Tom almost to death, he still forgave them and prayed for them. Tom’ prayer is answered and his kindheartedness moves Legree’s two overseers----Qimbo and Sambo and they would not want to hurt Tom any more, but Legree will not be satisfied until he sees Tom’s death. Although Tom was beaten almost to death, he determined to say nothing. When thundered Legree struck him furiously, Tom answered, “I know, Mas’t, but I can’t tell anything. I can die!” However, Legree couldn’t understand him. Then Tom looked up to his master, and answered, “Mas’r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I’d give ye my heart’s blood; and, if taking every soul, I’d give ’em freely, as the Lord gave his for me. O, Mas’r! don’t bring this great sin on your soul! It will hurt you more than ‘ t will me! Do the worst you can, my troubles’ll be over soon; but, if ye don’t repent, yours won’t never end!” [6] At last, one who believes Jesus is Messiah and is saved at the very moment and spot. Third, Tom and Jesus are all redeemed by the person who esteems them. Joseph of Arimathaea, a secret apostle of him, redeems Jesus. He took the body of Jesus and wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial—customs. Tom is rescued by his former master’s son----George Shelby. He loves Tom for his faith, so he vows to find Tom when he is sold. However, when he found Tom, Tom was dying and died soon. Bearing great respect and sadness for Tom, George took Tom’s body away and decided to bury it decently. More important, Tom’s temperament is quite the same as Jesus. When Jesus sees people who sin, he pities them, helps them, tells them and cures them. His heart can forgive anyone, anything. He brings the gospel to people. Tom is obviously a Christ figure with black skin. He is full of love for his neighbors, both the black and white. He also serves as a Christian leader for the other slavers in the novel. In Shelby’s house, Uncle Tom is a sort of patriarch in 上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] 下一页
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