Analyses of the Main Characters in Uncle Tom.doc

analyses of the main characters in uncle toms cabinabstractthe bible influences western life and culture deeply. mrs. stowe (18111896）the author of novel uncle toms cabin is also influenced by it. on the basis of bible, the author attempts to analyze the backgrounds of times and the purposes she composes it, and analyze several characters, such as uncle tom, little eva, eliza and some pious christian mothers. with the analysis of these persons and the comparison with the characters in bible to reveal the christianity in this novel. at last, the author explores mrs. stowes solution to institution of slavery and the results. however, in her times, her nonresistant policy to topple the slavery fails completely.key words : bible; christianity; personal character 摘 要圣经对西方生活及文化的影响至深，汤姆叔叔的小屋的作者斯陀夫人也深受其影响。本文以圣经原形以及基督教义精神为基础，先试图分析斯陀夫人所处的时代背景及她创作这部小说的意图，再分析小说中的几类人物形象，如汤姆叔叔、小伊娃、及几位虔诚的基督教徒母亲。通过对这些人物特点的分析,以及所表现的基督精神，揭示这部小说中强烈的宗教理念。关键词：圣经; 基督教; 人物特点1 introduction1.1 background greek culture and hebrew culture have great influence on western culture. in hebrew culture, there is a book named bible, which is an important literacy work in the world. it is divided into two parts: the old testament and the new testament. it includes the essence of hebrew culture. during the eleventh century, hebrew people become prosperous and dominated a large area. at the same, they spread their culture, so christianity becomes a powerful and influential religion during. many famous artists and writers adapted the stories in bible to compose the immortal works. harriet beecher stowe (1811-1896), a nineteenth century american female writer, was also influenced by the book. stowe was born into a respectable family that was to become famous: her father lyman was a clergyman who was famous for supporting abolitionism, and ever held the post of director of lane seminary, cincinnati, ohio. her husband calvin ellis stowe was one of the leading professors in the seminary. two of her brothers, henry ward and edward, were celebrated preachers. and her older sistercatherine, she is the pioneer in womens education. the family were all opposing to raising slaves and they were all famous abolitionists. coming from a family with good christian tradition, she was deeply influenced by christianity and became a pious christian. as her family were all opposing to raising slaves, she was influenced by them and held the anti-slavery belief. she stood up for the belief that slavery should be abolished. mrs. stowe believed and loved religion and pays attention to the problems of society and morality. influenced by christianity, she held the belief that each man is born to be equal and should enjoy freedom, so she was strongly against slavery, which betrayed the ideas in christianity. in christianity, people are equal in soul and should enjoy freedom. she often tried to do something about changing the conditions of slaves. to learn more details about slavery, she even went to the south to see the miserable conditions of slaves with her own eyes. especially when the enactment of the “fugitive slave act”in 1850. mrs. stowe was infuriated and influenced by the innumerable anti-slavery events and persons. influenced by the idea in christianity that people are equal in soul and should enjoy freedom and the belief that slavery should be abolished, she decided to compose a novel to lash the slavery. the blending of pious belief in christianity and abolishing slavery resulted in uncle toms cabin.1.2 the summary of noveltom was a slave of mr. shelby who was a slaveholder in kentucky, he sincerely believed in christianity. once mr. shelby was encumbered by debt, he decided to sell tom and another female slave and her son. knowing the news, eliza and her son ran away immediately but tom would stay to be sold to haleya slaver. as a result, he was sold to new orleans by haley.on board the boat bound for new orleans, tom saved the life of young eva.st. clare, evas father, purchased tom with gratitude. in st. clares home, tom lived a happy life for two years. eva and he became good friends. but after eva and her fathers death, toms fate was changed again. he was sent by evas mother to an auction market to sell. tom was bought by a slaveholder named legree. legree was cruel to slaves and addicted to alcohol. at last, when tom protected two female slaves from being captured, he was beaten to death viciously by legree. when he was dying, his former masters songeorge shelby got the plantation and bought toms body with huge wealth.at the same time, eliza and her son met her husbandgeorge 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 canadaa 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 toms 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 toms 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. lets compare tom to jesus in bible. toms 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 disciplejudas，who has the greed for the money; and tom is sold by his masterarthur 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. 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 burialcustoms. tom is rescued by his former masters son-george shelby. he loves tom for his faith, so he vows to find tom when he is sold. more important, toms 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. tom loves not only black people, but also white people. when his first master is going to sell him, he has no complain on it. after he stays at the second masters home, he often advises st. clare not to go to these celebrating parties. in order to let st. clare have the words in mind, tom even goes down on his knees and pleads with him not to attend those revelries. he quotes a sentence from the bible “ it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder!” p1 to persuade st. clare. when he is on his deathbed, he says to george shelby. we all think tom is a man with good qualities and immaculate character. he is a stereotype with typical african features and disposition of that race, yet tom has the passive character in his life. his non-resistant principle is not accepted by the white readers, but his upright quality is not separated from his firm belief and personal strength. in a word, tom is the representative of a kind of person rather than a single man. whatever happens, he sticks to his belief in christianity and tried to help others to change by persuasion. mrs. stowe portrayed such a character as tom because she herself believes in christianity and was greatly influenced by christianity and believes in the kindness in human beings.2.2 little eva the five-year old “litter eva” is characterized as a beautiful, angelic child. it is a female character that cant be ignored. evas name is “evangeline st. clare”; “evangeline” symbols the ideal image of an angel. in bible, angel is sent by god to help and save those who needed. the little eva is full of love and friendliness to others. she tries to do her bit to help others. in this way, she is just like an angel sent by god. somehow she always tries to put herself on equality with every creature that comes near her. tom and her become best friends, and they are bonded by the common love they have for those around them. eva has many puzzling problems, such as why the black men would be slaves, why tom would be separated from his wife and children, why prue would be dead, why topsy is so disliked by others. she hopes that the people around her are all happy. just as her name “ evangeline” suggests, she is an evangelist to everyone. she often listens to the stories from bible told by tom. she shares the gospel with the slaves in her fathers plantation and helps them to learn knowledge and gives them hope. unfortunately, she does not live a long life. towards her death, she gives every slave servant in her house a lock of fair golden hair and asks the slaves to be good christians; she also has her father promised that he would let them free.2.3 george harris george is elizas husband who lives in a neighboring plantation. when he hears that eliza has run away, he also does the great action. desperate for his freedom, george escapes disguised himself as a spaniard and finds his family in ohio. he is very quick-witted