The action rests in the hands of a boy who grew into a young man throughout Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Master George plays an essential role in the understanding of Stowe’s real agenda in publishing her novel. Since he was a young boy, George helped his slaves and gave them a constant source of love and strength. He taught his slaves to read and write and gave them the gift of religion as well. Stowe is setting Master George up to be the real savior. What Eva wants, George possesses and in the end, George sets all his slaves free and gives them paying jobs. This character is how Stowe illustrates exactly how she believes slaves should be treated, like human beings rather than property.
Master George first appears when he is thirteen years old. He is teaching Uncle Tom how to write and is already dignified for his young age. He has a profound wisdom and compassion for Uncle Tom that makes him exemplary. “[Uncle Tom] was overlooked by young Mas’r George, a smart, bright boy of thirteen, who appeared fully to realize the dignity of his position as instructor. ‘Not that way, Uncle Tom, --not that way,’ said he, briskly, as Uncle Tom laboriously brought up the tail of his g the wrong side out; ‘that makes a q, you see’”(Stowe 18). Stowe implants this beginning scene of George to show that he is already educating those who are less fortunate. From the beginning, he is the person who executes all the positive action.
George doesn’t only educate in reading and writing, but also in religion. After Aunt Chloe made dinner, George is revered for his talent as a reader. The slaves love to listen to him read. “Mas’r George is such a beautiful reader, now, I know he’ll stay to read for us,. . . pears like’t will be so much more interestin’”(Stowe 24). The whole room watches and listens to him reading. Stowe does this to show that he is capable of action. It also shows that George has the ability to make others more involved as well because while he is reading the whole house gets involved. George is truly loved by all his slaves because he treats them like people.
The next instance where George’s ability for action and humane nature is apparent is when Uncle Tom is being taken away. Stowe puts Mas’r George in a situation to try and help Tom right as he is being taken down south. George reacts with emotion to the idea of his friend being put in a dangerous situation. George says to Tom in tears, “If I was a man, they shouldn’t do it, -- they should not, so!”(Stowe 86). This line is foreshadowing the future events. Stowe shows George as a boy who has the ability to see beyond his father’s and he knows that when the responsibility is his, he will do what he knows is right. As the slave trader is taking Uncle Tom away, George says, “I’m ashamed, this day, that I’m a Kentuckian. I always was proud before”(Stowe 86). These two statements are the essence of who George is and who he wants to be.
Master George appears once more before he resurfaces as a man. He writes to Uncle Tom, telling him of his daily activities and continues to reassure him that one day things will be better. His letter is the constant reassurance to Tom that somebody always cares. So much that he keeps George’s letter on the wall. “He was never tired of looking at it, an and even held a council with Eva on the expediency of getting it framed, to hang up in his room”(Stowe 224). This scene is put into the story to show the kind of hope that George has become the symbol of for Tom and to all the slaves in general.
Toward the end, George is a grown man who has a mission and is ready to fulfill every promise he has ever made to Tom. He actively searches to find out who currently owns Tom so that he could purchase him and bring him home to his family. George’s real purpose for Stowe comes at this latter part. She has set him up to be the man of action and it is at the moment when George sees Tom for the first time again, that he knows what has to be done. Mas’r George is Tom’s savior. When Uncle Tom knows that George hasn’t forgotten him, he can die in peace. George is deeply saddened and angered by the manner in which his dear friend has passed. “Something in the dying scene had checked the natural fierceness of youthful passion. The presence of the man was simply loathsome to George; and he felt only an impulse to get away from him, with as few words as possible” (Stowe 362). George has a fierce passion that agrees with the fact that he will get things done for the better.
After George buries Tom, the liberation begins. First, he helps Cassy escape and find Eliza because “he was heartily disposed to sympathize with any one who had escaped from Legree’s plantation”(Stowe 368). George then returns home and does what he has wanted to do since he was thirteen years old. He frees all his slaves and offers them paying jobs. This is his sole purpose for being in the novel. Stowe creates George for this moment. “My good friends, there’ll be no need for you to leave me. The place wants as many hands to work it was it did before. We need the same about the house that we did before. But, you are now free men and free women. I shall pay you wages for your work, such as we shall agree on. The advantage is, that in case of my getting in debt, or dying, -- things that might happen,-- you cannot now be taken up and sold”(Stowe 379). George is covering all bases even the ones his father neglected when he was a boy.
Master George’s role in the novel is of great importance. He is the man with the main action and last word. He does what Stowe wishes all slave owners would do. She preaches through George and shows that it is possible for people to be genuine and compassionate. Mas’r George grew up knowing what he was supposed to do and the novel ends with him fulfilling that purpose.
Answer in your writer's sourcebook:
What is this analysis trying to prove?
How well does it do it?
What support does the author use to prove her point?
What information is included in the introductory and concluding paragraphs? Are they the same?
What does the reader come away understanding at the end of the essay?
Overall, what does this author do well?
What can use improvement?
What does this help you understand for your own paper?
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