Uncle Tom’s Cabin Part V

While I was not too surprised when Eva passes away in the novel, St. Clare’s death caught me by slight surprise in its sudden occurrence, which was surprising in itself as most of the novel had felt very predictable up until this point. As previously mentioned, once Tom gets sold to Legree, I found myself more interested in his story line again as it contained more drama, and I kept hoping that Tom would escape somehow and try to make his way home or that Mrs. Shelby and Chole would raise enough money to purchase Tom from Legree. But then Stowe surprises me a second time with Tom’s death; I’m a sucker for happy endings, so I found it really frustrating when Tom died in the novel. It left me thinking, “If only George had gotten there a few days sooner” type of sentimentality, which is ironic since we discussed how many critics find Uncle Tom’s Cabin to be overly sentimental. In some ways, I have to agree with that, especially in some of the previously stated “wishy-washy” scenes. Overall, I liked the story and the way it was executed as far as multiple storylines go.