Uncle Tom's CabinUncle Tom's Cabin follows the lives of two slaves who live on a Kentucky plantation. Tom, a black slave, and a young mulatto girl named Eliza are owned by Mr. Shelby. Tom is her most trusted slave, while Eliza is Mrs. Shelby's beloved servant, whom she has raised since she was a young girl. Mr. Shelby is a nice man, but he is not very good with his finances. He is indebted to a slave trader named Haley. The story begins with Haley giving Shelby the opportunity to trade some of her slaves to pay off her debt. Haley tells Shelby he wants Tom, Shelby's most faithful slave. Knowing he has no choice, Shelby ends up giving Eliza's five-year-old son Harry and Tom over to Mr. Haley, settling his debts. Eliza overhears the men talking and flees the plantation with her son. With Haley not far behind her, she begins her dangerous journey to Canada, where she hopes to reunite with her husband, George, who is also a fugitive. Haley is unable to catch Eliza, so he returns to the farm and gets Tom. Intending to take Tom to sell him in the South, Haley boards a steamboat with several other slaves. On the boat, Tom meets and makes a big impression on a little girl, Evangeline St. Clare or Eva. Eva travels with her father Augustine St. Clare and her cousin Ophelia. After Tom saves Eva from drowning, she persuades her father to buy Tom. Augustine is a kind man who treats his slaves as if they were his own children. Tom goes to work at St. Clare's stables and becomes the private driver for Augustine's selfish wife, Marie. As Marie is so busy worrying about herself, she is unable to take care of Eva properly. So Augustine brought Ophelia back from...... middle of paper...... I could only visualize the hardships the slave families had to endure. I was saddened by the fact that these things were actually happening, and the worst part was that they were happening all the time. I would have been just as devastated if my family had been ripped from my arms and traded like cattle. Stowe painted a vivid picture of the lives of slaves. Stowe may have had a biased opinion on slavery, but in my opinion, she had every right. I believe the reason the South was so upset by this novel was because they knew slavery was coming to an end. It is an amazing book that introduced me to the different lives and situations that men and women had to live and endure. Harriet Beecher Stowe was an amazing writer who opened the door for abolitionists to speak out. Bibliography: Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe