Summary: Chapter XX
St. Clare buys a young slave named Topsy, who has never
received any education, and gives her to Miss Ophelia to tutor.
Miss Ophelia protests, but St. Clare tells her that Topsy’s previous
owners have abused her. He notes that the child’s back bears multiple
scars. He also points out that, in teaching Topsy, Ophelia would
be fulfilling a role akin to that of a missionary. This statement
awakens Ophelia’s conscience and she agrees to take on Topsy’s instruction.
However, Topsy proves disobedient and wild, unacquainted with the
conventions of Christian behavior. After she steals a pair of gloves,
Ophelia presses her to confess her other sins, and she confesses
falsely to stealing other items. Later, Topsy explains that she
had nothing to confess but wanted to oblige the older woman. When
Eva speaks a few words of kindness to the girl, Topsy looks at her
in bewilderment, having never heard kindness before. Still, the
young slave and Eva quickly become friends, and traipse about playing
together. But Topsy remains just as unmanageable as before. Ophelia
tries to teach Topsy the catechism, but the girl fails to understand
even its words, and thus she recites them back mangled and confused,
without any comprehension of their meaning.
Summary: Chapter XXI
Back on the farm in Kentucky, Aunt Chloe receives Tom’s
letter. Though Mr. Shelby’s business remains fraught with debt,
Mrs. Shelby wants to try to raise enough money to buy Tom back.
Mr. Shelby begins to shout and tells her not to meddle in his affairs. Chloe
calls Mrs. Shelby outside, ostensibly to look at the chickens, and
asks to be hired out to make cakes and pies to help earn money for
Tom. Mrs. Shelby agrees.
Summary: Chapter XXII
Two years pass while Tom serves the St. Clares. He gets
a letter from Mas’r George telling about life in Kentucky and about
the studies he has undertaken. Tom and Eva grow increasingly close;
he gives her little gifts, and she reads the Bible aloud to him.
The whole family goes out to a villa on Lake Pontchartrain
for the summer, hoping to escape the heat of the city. Tom and Eva
sit together in the villa’s garden, reading the Prophecies and the
Revelation, and Tom sings hymns about the new Jerusalem and angels. Eva
says that she has seen angels, and points up to the sky. She declares
that she will be joining them in heaven soon. Miss Ophelia calls
them inside and reminds them that Eva has been sick and should not
spend too long outdoors. Ophelia worries about the child’s cough,
and Tom notices that she has grown thinner.
Summary: Chapter XXIII
St. Clare’s brother Alfred visits with his son, Henrique.
Eva and Henrique enjoy playing together, but, one day, Henrique
strikes his slave, Dodo, because he has allowed Henrique’s horse
to get dusty. Eva reacts with sadness, asking Henrique how he could
act so wickedly. He responds with incomprehension, and, after Dodo
saddles the horse, he gives the slave money so that he may go buy
candy for himself. Eva thanks Dodo for his work, and
Dodo appreciates Eva’s gesture far more than Henrique’s. The fathers
watch what has happened and begin to argue about slavery. St. Clare
says that soon the slaves will rise up; Alfred replies that he will
keep them down as long as possible. Eva and Henrique return, and
she asks him to love Dodo. He says that he will, because he would
do anything that she asked.
Analysis: Chapters XX–XXIII
This section emphasizes the importance of love—both Christian and
romantic—in eradicating slavery and its mindset. The reader notes
the value of Christian love through its absence, as Miss Ophelia
teaches Topsy the catechism without conveying the spirit of it.
Because Ophelia forces Topsy to memorize the words without any sense
of the emotions behind them, it is no surprise when Topsy spews
the prayer back in a mangled and confused form. Without love, the
words are simply meaningless sounds. As we have seen, Stowe uses
Ophelia as a kind of surrogate within the book for her Northern
audience. Now she suggests to these readers that for them, as for
Ophelia, it is not enough to support abolition out of a sense of duty
alone. Their anti-slavery sentiments must stem from a deeper place,
from a love for human beings.
