Reasons of Obedience and Disobedience in the Novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin

張梅燕

【Abstract】In this paper， through the perspective of political and religious and peoples character described a variety of reasons of why the slaves obedience or disobedience to the slave owner.

【Key words】obedience； disobedience； political； religious

The book Uncle Toms Cabin is a novel depicting the struggle against slavery in the United States. Tom represents the obedience in the novel， and Eliza represents the disobedience. This paper will analyze the reason why they obey or disobey to their master through the perspective of political and religious.

1. Political Reasons

Throughout the whole novel， most of the slaves are obedience to the arrangement make of the master， even if they dissatisfied with the masters order and unwilling to execute， but as a black who define himself was born to a slave， obey the arrangement of the master is their mission， so although not willing to do what the master was told， they will still obey to the masters will and get things done. But， as to the reasons of disobedience the slaves to their master， the most important reason is the political reason. By reading the book， people can know that a law which forbidding people to help slaves has been passed in the house of the state. Through the law， people can know that even though both the white and the black are live in the same country. Most people have discrimination on skin color. The white think the black must be inferior， must be like animal succumbed to the white and be the slaves. But the black does not agree with this view. They think that all men are created equal， why the white would enslave them. And in view of this situation， the government not only havent prevent this kind of behavior doing by the white， but also make laws to forbid people to help the black， prevent them against. It hurts the black and contributing to their resistance， and finally caused some of the Negroes against the slave owners directly.

In addition to the governments political problems caused by the unfair， discrimination on skin color is another political reason caused by the slaves resistance. People can see that through the sentences “He was waited upon over the factory， shown the machinery by George and that he began to feel an uneasy consciousness of inferiority. What had his Negro to be inventing machines？ Hed take him back， and put him to hoeing and digging.” Thought the master when see the machine invented by the black slave George Harris. So people can see that most white think the black must be inferior， must not smart than the white， and must be like animal succumbed to the white and be the slaves. Most white have discrimination on skin color.

2. Religious Reason

Tom is always commented as a saint and is regarded as a noble perseverance Christian slave. As Mr. Shelby said “Tom is a true Christian， he devoutly to god as the same as other Christians”. Tom， in fact is the incarnation of Jesus. His experience and character is similar to Jesus. Like Jesus was betrayed by his own disciple， Tom was sold to slave trader by his master who he supports wholehearted in order to pay a debt. They were betrayed by their very close relatives， and then began to suffer flesh torture endless， and end up dead. But no matter how bad the situation is， Tom always treats the people around him with a loving heart. However， his kind of perseverance is actually caused by his inner nature of cowardice， this weakness is the effect produced directly by Christianity on conservative slaves represented by Tom. Toms loyal to the master is from its devotion to god. And such piety is what makes Tom thought is when learned that he will be sold “no， no， I dont go”， he thoughts that his being sold is the idea of god， and he cant violate gods meaning， and so cant betray his master. Under the guidance of god， Tom chose to obey the arrangement of the master， been sold to the southern eventually. In his second home， after the two of his benefactor， little Eva and St. Clare die， the faithful Christian Tom gave up to escape too， he obeyed to the mistress Marys arrangement， been sold again. At the same time， it is Christianity that influence Tom to stand silently rather than fight when face to violence.

Religion makes most of the slaves so obedient and makes them have “virtue” at that time which mostly represented by Tom. The incomplete of Christianity had become the tool of slave owners to appease and control slaves to a large extent， which resulted in the existing of slavery for such a long time.

Eliza is a totally different figure from Tom， she is like the Israel fled from Egypt under gods guidance and help in the Bible. When Eliza learned that his son would be sold to slave traffickers， she protected her child to escape bravely and she also got away under Gods guidance and help. As the Miss said， “the soul is more important than the whole world. My child has a soul， and if I dont take him to escape， who knows what will happen later.” Eliza was raised as a child by Shelby， because of her good looking and nice personality she was deeply loved by Mrs. Shelby who was a devoted Christian too but different from Tom. She could accept all-sided doctrine of the Christian. Eliza was affected by Mrs. Shelby， and was come into contact with Christianity fully， and became a pious Christian. Eliza is not the person like Haley said “As for the woman， let your wife to buy earrings or other small things to compensate， is not it？” ， and give in to violence and temptation， but choose to fight. The Christian doctrines tell that soul is the highest gave her the most direct and powerful motivation undoubtedly.

3. Conclusion

This paper shows the reasons of obedience and disobedience in the novel Uncle Toms Cabin. As the same Christian and the same Negro， To Tom， Christianity is the best reason he rolled with the punches and content with the life， but to Eliza， it was the best reason for her to strive for freedom. I do hope this paper can offer some suggestions for the studies of this book.

References：

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