Uncle Tom's Cabin 读后感.docx

Uncle Tom's Cabin 读后感That House, Those People -Reading Uncle Toms Cabin Slavery and Civil War remain with us as the most disturbing issues in American history. Therefore, when mentioning them, we cannot forget that there is such a person who was once greeted by Abraham Lincoln as “the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war”. This woman is the author of Uncle Toms Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Toms Cabin is one of the most famous books in the world. The book is so famous, according to the introduction written by Alfred Kazin, that people are capable of describing someone as an “Uncle Tom” or a “Simon Legree” without remembering that they have never read Uncle Toms Cabin. Therefore, I cannot help reading this book to get a deep understanding of Uncle Tom and those American-byword figures. Uncle Tom, as the head figure of the book, his main characteristics are told at the very beginning of the story through the talk between two gentlemen. Mr. Shelby, Toms first master, told the dealer Mr. Haley that “Tom is a good, steady, sensible, pious fellow.” Even Tom himself thinks that he fully had the gentle, domestic heart which had been a peculiar characteristic of his unhappy race. He could run the whole farm of Mr. Shelby like a clock. St. Clare, Toms second master, “handed him a bill without looking at it, and pocketed the change without counting” (in Chapter Ten). Those examples make Uncle Toms capability and honesty full of life in front of us. Almost every slave wanted their own freedom; however, Tom gave up any chances of being a free man. When people asked why he did not escape, his answer was that “master trusted me, and I couldnt”. In the view of Tom, Master was the power of disciplining himself. As a faithful believer in Christianity, he did not fall short of his masters expectation or do anything he thought to be ashamed. Such was Uncle Tom. I Page - 1 - cannot get such an honest and straight image out of our mind. However, one thing of Uncle Tom which I do not like sometimes even hate is that he did not struggle for his life. No matter what his masters did with him or how they arranged him, he would grin and bear them. I think that is one main reason of Toms tragic. On hearing that he and Eliza were sold by their master, though sorrow and unwilling, Tom refused to escape. He supported that escape was the right of Eliza; however, he said that he was not the one to say no. “If I must be sold, or all the people on the place and everything go to rack, why, let me be sold” (In Chapter One). With Toms master changing from Shelby to Legree, I can see that Tom was also changing. Different from the former obeying, he began to struggle and do things according to his own view. Tom refused to beat the two black women for Legree. When Cassy and Emmeline escaped from the farm, Tom refused to say anything about it. “I know, Master; but I cannot tell anything. I can die” (in Chapter Forty). He even called his master “you poor miserable critter”. It was the courage that shocked Legree. Tom showed his spirit of resist. However, Tom couldnt wait anymore because he was covered all over with cuts and bruises. Everything was too late. When George came to “buy” him and take him home, Tom put forward his last strength to hold the warm hands from his young master and his tears ran down the cheeks. Though George called Tom loudly and crazily, “a sudden sinking fell upon Uncle Tom; he closed his eyes; and that mysterious and sublime change passed over his face, that told the approach of the other worlds”(in Chapter Forty One). Uncle Tom passed away in this broken-hearted way. Page - 2 - As far as now, we cannot ignore that hateful master, Simon Legree, who played an important part in the life of poor Uncle Tom. Legree was the embodiment of demon. Every time Tom did not satisfy him, He would be like a fierce and cruel beast and want to swallow him. When Tom refused to say anything about the running away of Cassy and Emmeline, Legree beat Tom almost to death. After that, he said “I will take every drop of her blood he has, unless he confessed” (in Chapter Forty). At the moment of Toms going dead, “Legree sauntered up to the door of the shed, looked in, with a dogged air of affected carelessness, and turned away” (in Chapter Forty). I think Stowe was too kind towards Legree. He deserved the most miserable ending. With that devil besides, there was a bright angle, Eva, along with Uncle Tom for a period of time. She was beautiful, innocent and good. She liked Uncle Tom and treated every slave very well. She deeply believed in Christianity. She liked reading Bible for Uncle Tom and listening to his explanation and his songs. She was the comfort of Uncle Tom when he was in bad mood. They became good friends. However, god was eager to ask the angle to go back home. She thought the heaven was the best place, where there were no slaves, nobody being beaten and she could help more people. Eva died at a very young age, but she behaved bravely in front of death. When her father asked her what she saw before dying, “a glorious smile passed over her face, and she said, brokenly,-O! Love,-joy,-peace! gave one sign, and passed from unto life!” (In Chapter Twenty-Six) They said Evas death was neither darkness nor shadow, but such a bright fading as when the morning star fades in the golden dawn. I do think so. Page - 3 - Comparing with Tom, Eliza and her husband George made their great effort and had another fortune. On hearing Mr. and Mrs. Shelby talking about selling her little Harry secretly, Eliza decided to take Harry away by herself. Though her hostess educated her and treated her very well, though she was soft and mild, in order not to break up with her only child, she escaped. After reading the story, nobody would forget the scene of Elizas jumping onto the fragment of the ice on the river. When the dealers were chasing after her, “with wild and cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake; stumblingleapingslippingspringing upwards again! Her shoes are goneher stockings cut from her feetwhile blood marked every step; but she saw the Ohio side, and a man helped her up the bank”(In Chapter Seven). What a miracle! With kind-hearted Symmes, Senator Bird and his wife Mary, Eliza and her child came to a village where people sheltered those run-away slaves. At the same time, her husband George was dressing up himself as a white man and playing the “dangerous game” with his master. “He was very tall, with a dark, Spanish complexion, glossy blackness. His well-formed aquiline nose, straight thin lips, and the admirable contour of his finely-formed limbs, impressed the whole company instantly with the idea of something uncommon”(in Chapter Eleven). The image of his braveness and wittiness emerged from the book. Coincidentally, George went to the village at which Eliza had arrived earlier. The family had a reunion there. Though thistles and thorns filled their way to Canada, they made their constant decision. With the help of the kind-hearted, they finally got to Canada and gained Page - 4 - their freedom. By comparing the different fortunes of Uncle Tom and the spouse of George and Eliza, I think Harriet Beecher Stowe wanted to show us that if they wanted to get their freedom and lead their own life, the slaves had to struggle for themselves. Resigning themselves to the adversities could make them successful. This spirit encouraged those slaves and played a positive role in the Great Civil War. Uncle Tom was unfortunate, but he was remembered by all the slaves. When Toms young master, George, came back to his home after Toms death, he gathered all the slaves and handed each of them a bundle of papers containing a certificate of freedom on the place. He freed all the slaves and claimed that he would never have any slaves. He reminded us that every time we rejoice in our freedom, think that we owe it to that good old Uncle Tom. Think of our freedom, every time we see Uncle Toms Cabin, that warm and loving place. Page - 5 -