Uncle Tom’s Cabin
(Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Arthur Shelby

Uncle Tom's first owner in Kentucky. Mr. Shelby is a kind man who has affection for his slaves but not love. He acts cowardly in his use of the system, trading away two of his slaves in order to get out of debt. While he provides well for his slaves, Stowe makes it clear that his form of slavery is not okay. Because he is willing to use his slaves selfishly and doesn't make the effort to retrieve Uncle Tom, he is seen as a coward.

Emily Shelby

Mrs. Shelby is, in many ways, better than her husband. She truly loves her servants and is horrified when she finds out that her husband has sold Tom and Harry. She has business sense enough to know that they could have sold some of their land or possessions instead of their slaves. She seems to genuinely love her servants and is willing to make sacrifices for them, unlike her husband.

George Shelby

Mr. and Mrs. Shelby's son, George is a young boy at the beginning of the novel. He is good friends with Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe and teaches Uncle Tom how to read and write. When he finds out Tom is being sent away, he gives Tom his silver dollar to wear around his neck and promises to come back for him. When George becomes a young man, he does everything he can to live up to his promise. He eventually finds Tom just before Tom dies and swears over his friend's grave to do everything he can to end slavery. When he returns to Kentucky, he starts by freeing all his slaves, and promising those who stay fair wages. George's transformation mirrors what Stowe wants in her readers, to go from being sympathetic to following through with conviction and actions.

Uncle Tom

The primary protagonist of the novel, Uncle Tom is honest, pious and hard-working. A good Christian man who loves his family and his master, he always practices forgiveness. Even when Mr. Shelby sells him, Tom still says he is a good man. Over the course of his journeys, his religious conviction increases and becomes his strong point. Because of his incredible morality, he is the perfect martyr for Harriet Beecher Stowe to use. The readers at the time admired Tom for his honesty and religious fervor, and so accepted him as a Christ-like figure at the end of the novel.

Aunt Chloe

Uncle Tom's wife, Aunt Chloe is a cook at the Shelby house. More simple-minded than Tom, but also more passionate, Aunt Chloe is lively and loud. When she finds out that Tom is being sold, whereas Tom is resigned to his fate Aunt Chloe is angry. She blames the Shelby's, who Tom tells her to forgive. She knows something is not right, but can't put her finger on it. After Tom leaves, Aunt Chloe goes and works as a cook to earn wages to buy him back.

Eliza Harris

A mulatto woman in the Shelby household. Bought by Mr. Shelby as a child for her rare beauty, she was brought up a favorite of Mrs. Shelby's. She received an education from her, as well as fancy clothes. As an adult, Eliza became Mrs. Shelby's personal servant and close friend. She married George Harris and had two miscarriages before her son Henry was born. Because of this, she is intensely protective of her son and goes to considerable lengths, escaping and crossing the ice, to keep him safe.

George Harris

Eliza's husband, George worked at the factory near the Shelby farm. A handsome, intelligent mulatto man he quickly impressed his manager with his invention for efficiently cleaning hemp. When George's owner learned of his achievement and saw his confidence, he vowed to show George his place in society. He moved him to the farm, away from his family, and treated him like a dog. This is what causes to run away. He is the romantic hero of the story, and he passionately rebels against slavery.

Haley

The slave-trader who buys Uncle Tom and young Harry from Mr. Shelby. Although he professes to be a "man of humanity" and to treat his slaves well, in reality he is a callous slave trader who gets by while lying to himself about his moral and justifying his actions with faulty logic. While Stowe paints him as a cruel person, capable of taking a child away from its mother without a second thought, she also makes it clear that he is a product of the system. She doesn't allow her readers to separate themselves from men like Haley because they are all part of the same system which supports cruelty.

Tom Loker

Tom Loker is a man who hunts down runaway slaves. Haley hires him, and his partner Marks to chase down Eliza and Harry. Tom agrees to give the boy back, but wants the girl if they catch them. All brawn and no brain, Tom lives to hunt. He charges the place where George and the group are hiding recklessly, despite the warning that they have a gun. He is shot, and after he is abandoned by his partner and rescued by his enemies, he recovers at the Quaker settlement. After his recovery, he becomes a convert.

Evangeline St. Clare

A beautiful young girl who befriends Tom on the ship to New Orleans. She cares about all people, and wants nothing more than to make them happy. When she falls over the side of the boat, and Tom rescues her, she begs her father to buy Tom no matter what the price. At their manor house, she and Tom become fast friends, and he views her as heavenly and angelic. She reads the bible to Tom and becomes devoutly religious. The cruelties committed against slaves hurt her heart, and eventually she becomes ill. She recognizes that she is going to die and welcomes it. Her only regret is that she couldn't free the slaves.

Augustine St. Clare

Evangeline's father and wealthy land-owner. Originally he inherited a much larger estate which he ran a plantation on with his brother. However, he didn't support the way slaves were treated, like nothing more than cattle, so he took his servants and left. Careless, somewhat lazy, witty and philosophical, St. Clare always has an opinion or comment on any given subject. He loves his daughter more than anything else in the world and admires her religion and innocence. Although not religious himself, and a sympathizer of slavery, St. Clare does not act on his beliefs until after Eva's death.

Miss Ophelia

Augustine St. Clare's cousin from Vermont, Miss Ophelia is middle aged, hard-working and orderly. She professes in her conversation to feel sorry for slaves and to want them free, but she can't bear to see Eva be so familiar with them. As a result, St. Clare calls her out on her hidden prejudice, and buys her a slave, Topsy, to educate. Miss Ophelia tries everything she can, in good Christian spirit, to educate the girl, but repeatedly fails. Only after she witnesses Eva's pure love towards Topsy is she able to open up to the girl and truly care for her. After St. Clare's death, she takes Topsy back with her to Vermont.

Topsy

The young girl educated by Miss Ophelia. Topsy does not know her parents and has lived her entire life being abused. Uneducated and unloved, she instead relies on trickery and cleverness to survive. When she first arrives at the St. Clare household she steals, and, when reprimanded, admits falsely stealing other items to please Miss Ophelia. She recognizes that Miss Ophelia has an aversion to her, and so continues to misbehave until Eva shows her something she never knew existed: love. Eva's gesture resonated with Topsy and changed her entire demeanor. She eventually moved to Vermont with Miss Ophelia and became a Christian missionary.

Simon Legree

Simon is the Louisiana plantation owner who buys Tom and Emmeline. A cruel man who works his slave, literally, to the death, and purposefully turns them against each other for his profit. He has a house which was once beautiful but is now fallen into disrepair, much like the state of his body and soul. He is not intelligent and is frightened of religion and superstition. Ultimately, this is his downfall as he is tricked by Cassy into believing his house is haunted. Legree represents the worst of the slavery system.

Cassy

Cassy is Simon Legree's retired mistress. She and her two young children were sold, and she went from house to house before finally ending up with Legree. It is obvious that she used to be a woman of marvellous beauty, but now she is older and has been through hardships. A strong woman and a realist, she tells Tom that he shouldn't try to rebel against the system because it won't do any good. Although she tells him this, however, she still has hope. She escapes with Emmeline and finds her daughter Eliza in Canada.