Uncle Tom

• UNCLE TOM Uncle Tom manages the Shelby plantation. Strong, intelligent, capable, good, and kind, he is the most heroic figure in the novel that bears his name. The list of Tom's virtues is endless. He is a good father to his own children, especially the baby, Polly, and also nurtures the children of his masters, George Shelby and Eva St. Clare. From Stowe's description of his voice, "tender as a woman's," and his "gentle, domestic …

…George calls himself a Christian. By moving to Africa, he removes himself from the slaveowners he could never forgive in the United States. Although he agrees with Stowe's position in the end, George never embraces the instinctive Christianity of Uncle Tom. You see less of George Harris than of Uncle Tom, and he is a less significant character in the novel. But you may find him easier to understand and to respect than Uncle Tom.