Andres F. Mancipe A.P U.S History, 8th Hour Ms.Reed Uncle Tom's Cabin 1.

)Uncle Tom's Cabin is mainly about Uncle Tom, and his story. But its also about George, Eliza's and Harry's journey toward freedom and the struggles and difficulties they had to faced. Its also about the good people that helped them escape from the slave catchers, the different types of plantation owners, and the different moral views of people depending on their location and upbringing. Finally its about the struggles and challenges that slaves had to endure and about families that where once separated being reunited. In my opinion Uncle Tom should be classified as a hero, since he always put his believes and morals first instead of coping with the demands of those who were persuading him to do wrong. Also, he was not afraid to stand up for others or for the injustices that where being imposed on them. He was willing to sacrifice himself for others and be severely punish for his unwillingness to cope with the rules and for helping others. Furthermore, Uncle tom was a very kind, gentle and helpful person, who would rather gives his possessions and labor in order to protect others from harm and punishment. His morality and honorability was so strong that he preferred to sacrificed himself and endure a long and painful death than to give away Casey's and Nancy's plan for escaping the plantation. Besides this key points, he was so honorable and kind that he would rather be wiped and abused for not having enough cotton or helping other slaves. Than having slaves such as Lucy endure this treatment. Overall in my opinion Uncle Tom should be classified as a hero since he was courageous, gentle, morally upright, kind, and honorable. Some characters that went through changes as the story developed where George Harris, Miss Ophelia, Augustine St. Clair and George Shelby. At the beginning of the story George Harris is an obedient, honest and kind slave, who is hardworking, efficient and intelligent. As the story progresses he is hired out to a cloth making company, in which he strives and invents a machine that cleans hemp. This causes for his owner to become quite jealous of him and prohibits him from seeing his family, and from continuing to work at the cloth making company and be force to work tirelessly and endlessly at the farm. This change causes for him to runaway, become rebellious against his master and be courageous and willing

to do anything that its in his power to be free, even if it means sacrificing his own life. Furthermore, once he is freed and he meets with his long lost sister. He decides to get an education, and help establish a community for free slaves. Another character that goes through a change is Miss Ophelia, even though she is against slavery and its a strong abolitionist she is very racist and sees with strong disapproval they way her cousin Augustine interacts with his slaves. She changes her views when her cousin gives her a girl named Topsy as a present and encourages her to educate her. This results in quite a challenge, since Topsy its rebellious and deifying, causing Miss Ophelia to try to tamed her and for Topsy to continue with her behavior. Topsy finally starts to cope with Miss Ophelia once Eva has a chat with her and from then on Miss Ophelia grows quite fond of Topsy. She becomes so loving towards Topsy that she even grants her freedom and inquires her to stay living with her until she is old enough to subside for herself. Another character that goes trough changes is Augustine St. Clair, even though he is caring and compassionate towards his slaves and treats them like equals. He understands that slavery its necessary and that he needs his slaves. But once he meets Uncle Tom and sees how kind, gentle, and trustworthy he is with him and his beloved daughter Eva. He begins to change his viewpoint on the necessity of slavery. But when his daughter Eva becomes fatally ill and dies, he then truly realizes that slavery need to be abolish and that he needs to free Uncle Tom and the other slaves. Causing him to forget about his own individual needs and focus on the need to free his slaves. Lastly George Shelby changes by at first being a compassionate and kind individual towards the slaves, but not clearly understanding the severity of slavery or the severity of Uncle Tom being sold. As the story progresses he grows up and understand what slavery truly is and what the consequences of Uncle tom being sold where. He also acknowledges that he needs to buy Uncle Tom back, but sadly when he is ready to get him back he is startled by the fact he has died. Which causes him to truly comprehend that slavery is evil. So he then decides to free all his slaves and offered them pay wages if they wish to stay and work for him. There aren't any other characters that are as heroic as Uncle Tom, except for Eliza, since she was willing to sacrifice everything she has even her own life and well being in order to save her little boy Harry.