Courageous and Cowardly Characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin

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him that there was a ghost in his house. When a wild shriek came from the room where the ghost was supposed to have been, “Legree’s knees knocked together; his face grew white with fear.”(Stowe, 341) But on a deeper level, a moral and spiritual level, Legree was even more of a coward. He was afraid of Tom, and his Christian beliefs. Legree aspired to be a meaner master every new day and tried to drive the spirit out of tom, but always came out unsuccessful.

Another character in the book that had quite a noticeable fear was St. Claire’s own brother. During a conversation with St. Claire, Alfred said “The lower class must not be educated” (Stowe, 227). Alfred was afraid that if slaves were knowledgeable, they would have a slave revolt, just like in Haiti. He was one of many slave owners who were afraid of slaves being on the same level as their masters

Mrs. Stowe, a great author, strategically put these characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin for a purpose. The cowards and courageous showed their true character, told the story, and accurately represented the people in the 19th century. To some extent, also gave the reader the characters view on slavery. The most courageous characters, the slaves, were most obviously against slavery. The cowards; the slave owners were all, for the most part, in favor of slavery. This characterization shows that slave owners were morally lesser than the slaves, in the eyes of Stowe. In the end, though, slavery did not last, but the courageous heart of Mrs. Stowe’s characters prevailed.