Uncle Tom's Cabin - 1st set of quotes

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Quote 1: George Harris talking to his wife: "'Yes Eliza, it's all misery, misery, misery! My life is bitter as wormwood; the very life is burning out of me. I'm a poor, miserable, forlorn drudge; I shall only drag you down with me, that's all. What's the use of our trying to do anything, trying to know anything, trying to be anything? What's the use of living? I wish I was dead!'" Chapter 2, pg. 18

*This shows how worthless the slaves feel.

*They feel as if anything even death could be better then what they have.

*He doesn’t want to ruin the possible goodness in her life.

Quote 2: Mr. Shelby talking to Mrs. Shelby: "'This is God's curse on slavery!--a bitter, bitter, most accursed thing!--a curse to the master and a curse to the slave! I was a fool to think I could make anything good out of such a deadly evil.'" Chapter 5, pg. 36

*This shows that maybe slavery is on a downfall.

*He realizes that slavery is not good.

*Its not just punishment to the master but to the slave too.

Quote 3: Tom talking to Mr. Shelby: "'If I must be sold, or all the people on the place, and everything go to rack, why, let me be sold. I s'pose I can b'ar it as well as any on 'em.'" Chapter 5, pg. 37

*Again showing the fact that nothing can get any worse.

*He makes if seem like everywhere is the same conditions.

*He realizes that he isn’t the only one that has to suffer.

Quote 4:The narrator speaking of Cassy’s escape: "The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and creaked as her weight came on it, but she staid there not a moment. With wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake;--stumbling--leaping--slipping--springing upwards again! Her shoes are gone--her stocking cut from her feet--while blood marked every step; but she saw nothing, felt nothing, till dimly, as in a dream, she saw the Ohio side, and a man helping her up the bank." Chapter 7, pg. 61

*Escaping is so very important that nothing will get in her way.

*She is so desperate to see freedom and she is finally going to get to it.

*There is a lot of adrenaline in this situation.

Quote 5: Mrs. Shelby talking to John: "'You ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It's a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I'll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do! Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can't give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!'" Chapter 9, pg. 81

*There are sympathizers for the slaves in the world.

*Some (mostly woman) would do just about anything to help out even the poorest.

*She truly is a good person and doesn’t judge of skin.

Quote 6: Eliza talking to her mistress: "'I have lost two, one after another,--left 'em buried there when I came away; and I had only this one left. I never slept a night without him; he was all I had. He was my comfort and pride, day and night; and, ma'am, they were going to take him away from me,--to sell him,--sell him down south, ma'am, to go all alone,--a baby that had never been away from his mother in his life!'" Chapter 9, pg. 85

*She is so in love with her baby she can’t stand to lose it.

*Especially after losing two previously.

*This shows the ruthlessness of some people who would just separate mother and child.

Quote 7:Narrator description: "Her form was the perfection of childish beauty, without its usual chubbiness and squareness of outline. There was about it an undulating and aerial grace, such as one might dream of for some mythic and allegorical being. Her face was remarkable less for its perfect beauty of feature than for a singular and dreamy earnestness of expression, which made the ideal start when they looked at her, and by which the dullest and most literal were impressed, without exactly knowing why." Chapter 14, pg. 146

*She has a unique charm.

*This charm she could use to her advantage.

*It is almost like she is oddly irresistible.

Quote 8: George speaking boldly "'We don't own your laws; we don't own your country; we stand here as free, under God's sky, as you are; and, by the great God that made us, we'll fight for our liberty till we die.'" Chapter 17, pg. 194

*Someone sees the real truth to life.

*It’s not the laws that are made up that should count, it is the common decency that should be applied.

*Everyone should fight for what they know or should know is right.

Quote 9: Slave explaining feelings: "'I looks like gwine to heaven, an't thar where white folks is gwine? S'pose they'd have me thar? I'd rather go to torment, and get away from Mas'r and Missis. I had so.'" Chapter 18, pg. 216

*Again this reiterates the fact that the slaves know it is a horrible life.

*Most would rather suffer and die then be enslaved.

*The owners are the real problem.

Quote 10: Mr. Shelby talking his feelings: "'When I have been travelling up and down on our boats, or about on my collecting tours, and reflected that every brutal, disgusting, mean, low-lived fellow I met, was allowed by our laws to become absolute despot of as many men, women and children, as he could cheat, steal, or gamble money enough to buy,--when I have seen such men in actual ownership of helpless children, of young girls and women,--I have been ready to curse my country, to curse the human race!'" Chapter 19, pg. 222

*Again there are good people on Earth that are against slavery.

*He sees that it isn’t right for the scum of Earth to own the right to the young or helpless.

*There shouldn’t be ownership over people.