Summary: Chapter XXIX
Though St. Clare promised Eva that he would make arrangements for
the slaves and that he would free Tom after she died, his own death
came so suddenly that he had no time to act on his promise. Thus
all of the St. Clare slaves find themselves the property of Marie.
The cruel woman sends Rosa out to a whipping, previously unheard
of at the St. Clare house, and then agrees to sell all of the slaves.
Miss Ophelia pleads on their behalf, but Marie says that it would
be worse for the slaves to be set free than to be kept in the system
of slavery. She sends them off to the slave warehouse.
Summary: Chapter XXX
The narrator introduces two slave women in the warehouse,
Susan and Emmeline, a mother and her beautiful daughter of fifteen. Emmeline
has wondrously curly hair, but her mother combs it all out flat,
in the hope that she will look less attractive and not be noticed
by men who are buying female slaves for their pleasure. Before the
women are brought to the selling-block, however, the seller tells
Emmeline to go curl her hair—such an enhancement could bring in
an extra hundred dollars. Uncle Tom now comes up for sale also.
Simon Legree, a crude and evil-looking man who owns a cotton plantation,
buys both Uncle Tom and Emmeline, as well as two other men.
Summary: Chapter XXXI
Legree chains Tom’s hands and feet and puts the slaves
on a boat headed for his plantation. Legree takes all that Tom owns,
except for his Bible, which Tom has hidden in his pocket. Legree
does find his hymnbook, however, and tells him that his plantation
tolerates no religion. He then shakes his fist in the slaves’ faces,
declaring it hard as iron and well-suited for “knocking down niggers.”
Summary: Chapter XXXII
As they travel, Legree leers at Emmeline, promising that
she will have “fine times” with him. Legree lives all alone on the
plantation, with only slaves to keep him company. He keeps two black
overseers, whom he treats with some familiarity, yet he attempts
to make them brutal toward the under-slaves. He also has one slave
woman, Cassy, living with him in his quarters. He has bought Emmeline
to replace her. The plantation proves a horrific place, where even
the slaves treat each other cruelly. Tom’s religious belief falters,
but then he sees a vision of Eva, which renews his faith and his
strength. He works diligently and tries to help the other slaves.
Summary: Chapter XXXIII
One day, as Tom works in the cotton fields, Cassy comes
and works alongside the other slaves. Tom sees another slave woman
struggling to fill her sack, and so Tom helps her, and then Cassy
helps him. The overseers see the slaves cooperating and report back
to Legree. When Tom and the women bring in their baskets, Legree tells
Tom to whip the woman. He refuses, and the two overseers drag him
outside, where they beat him nearly to death.
Analysis: Chapters XXIX–XXXIII
Stowe has spent much of the novel exploring morally ambiguous forms
of slavery in order to expose their underlying evil. She has noted
the insidious wickedness inherent in even the “benevolent” slavery
practiced by otherwise decent men such as Shelby and St. Clare.
Now, however, Stowe at last tears the mask of gentility off the slave
system and shows what can happen when slaves live with cruel masters.
Stowe uses the conversation between Emmeline and her mother to appeal
specifically to women with children. Under the slave system, young
girls could be purchased to act essentially as prostitutes, and
Legree purchases Emmeline with this purpose in mind. In the previous
sections, Stowe has approached the theme of slavery with the persuasive
niceties of debate. However, in this section, she offers a visceral,
emotional appeal against slavery based on the power of shock and
moral outrage. If the goodness of Tom has not won the reader over
to her position, she hopes that the evil of Legree will have a stronger
effect.
