Uncle Tom’s Cabin Reflection

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Eva’s death also affected Topsy. When Topsy was first introduced, she was a very rude slave child that always misbehaved. Topsy did not understand that she was a normal human, and that is just what Eva showed her. Eva says, “I’m sure I’d rather give you anything of mine, than have you steal it.”7 This is the first act of kindness that Topsy has ever experienced from someone before. Eva is the only person in Topsy’s life that has shown any interest in actually

getting to know her or be a part of her family. Eva says, “O, Topsy, poor child I love you!”8

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This is the moment when Topsy knows that Eva will always be the one to have the biggest impact on her life. When Eva was on her death bed, Topsy brought in a bunch of flowers to give to her. She has never been so upset and felt as though she was losing her only family member. Marie St. Clare was affected in a different way from Eva’s death. Mrs. St. Clare is someone who loves the attention on herself, so it was no surprise that with this event she did just that. The way Eva preached Christianity and love never really affected Marie in the same way it did with all of her other family members. Marie thought Eva was a ‘different’ child and was ‘odd’ for treating the slaves as equals. She never paid any sort of attention to Eva when she was alive, but right when Eva dies, Mrs. St. Clare acts as if the world is about to end. “Marie seemed unusually ingenuous in keeping her [Mammy] busy…about her own person.”9 She took all of the servants away from Eva, even when Eva was the one who needed them the most. Eva’s death will give Marie even more of a reason to draw the attention to herself. She will act as though she is the only mother that has ever lost a child, and will yearn for assistance. Marie was impacted in a way that fulfilled her selfish needs.

Through the death of Eva and the events that occurred, Stowe foreshadows other deaths. Eva is shown to be such a great Christian model, and she passes away always loving her family. In many ways, Tom and Eva are very similar in their faith and how they treat others. They both have very strong morals, know there is good in everyone, and believe that everyone should always be a servant to the Lord. Stowe shaped the two characters’ deaths to mirror Jesus’

sacrificial death. “It is as if heaven had an especial band of angels, whose office it was to sojourn for a season here…”10 In many ways, Tom and Eva both were compared to being angels. The

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way Tom acts and portrays himself as Eva once did, is a way the reader can predict his upcoming death. Stowe also shows that even when Eva and Tom were both close to death, they were not afraid for they knew the Lord was with them. They knew that the outcome would be going to heaven, so they did not care about what happened to themselves. In the end, the poem and the way Stowe foreshadowed events helped the reader to predict the outcomes of the characters’ lives.

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