History Literature / UncleTomsCabin

* TheMessiah: Tom models his life on Jesus, and does it well enough to shake the lifelong beliefs and habitual cruelties of almost every character he meets. Even Simon Legree, although that one only leads to an IgnoredEpiphany.

* TheMessiah: Tom models his life on Jesus, and does it well enough to shake the lifelong beliefs and habitual cruelties of almost every character he meets. Even Simon Legree, although that one only leads to an IgnoredEpiphany.

TropeNamer for the trope UncleTomFoolery

* BrainlessBeauty: Mary St. Clare.

* ShelteredAristocrat: George and Alfred. St. Clare is a more cynical version.

* TalkToTheFist: Simon Legree presses George Shelby's BerserkButton by mocking Shelby for "all this fuss, about" [[spoiler:Tom's murder]].

''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' is a classic anti-slavery work written by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1853, a few years before the AmericanCivilWar.

* TheOjou: Evangeline, Miss Ophelia, Mrs. Alice Shelby, Mrs. Bird.

* TheMessiah: Uncle Tom and Evangeline.

* DastardlyWhiplash: Simon Legree is considered the TropeMaker, although he's a much more shaded, three dimensional character in the book than any of the whiplashes inspired by him.

* DastardlyWhiplash: Simon Legree is the TropeMaker, although he's more shaded in the book than any of the whiplashes inspired by him.

Then Mr. Shelby gets into debt gambling, and he has to split up the establishment to pay the bills. Uncle Tom is sold to a slave trader who will then sell him "down the river[[hottip:*:slang for being sold to masters further in the South, where conditions were generally harsher]]," and goes along with it because if he were to run, he'd just leave many of the other slaves to be sold instead. Harry is also considered for sale as a young and beautiful boy; rather than let literally unspeakable things happen to her child, Eliza scoops him up and makes a run for freedom, going so far as to cross the Ohio river from ice floe to ice floe. This dissuades her pursuers, since they think NoOneCouldSurviveThat. George eventually follows her, escaping from his own owner who treats him ''real'' bad, and years ago separated him from his older sister Emily. Unfortunately, this is after the Fugitive Slave Act, so they have to run for the northern border ''and'' find each other...

Augustine resolves to set Tom free in the aftermath of Eva's death. Unfortunately, [[DiabolusExMachina his evil wife refuses to be made aware of this]] after [[spoiler:Augustine is suddenly and meaninglessly killed in a tavern]]; she sells all the slaves that aren't her own property. (Yes, there were debts.) Tom ends up in the hands of the vicious sadist Simon Legree, who soon becomes determined to break Tom's Christian spirit or kill him in the attempt.

Then Mr. Shelby gets into debt gambling, and he has to split up the establishment to pay the bills. Uncle Tom is sold to a slave trader who will then sell him "down the river[[hottip:*:slang for being sold to masters further in the South, where conditions were generally harsher]]," and goes along with it because if he were to run, he'd just leave many of the other slaves to be sold instead. Harry is also considered for sale as a young and beautiful boy; rather than let literally unspeakable things happen to her child, Eliza scoops him up and makes a run for freedom, going so far as to cross the Ohio river from ice floe to ice floe. This dissuades her pursuers, since they think NoOneCouldSurviveThat. George eventually follows her, escaping from his own owner who treats him ''real'' bad, and years ago separated him from his older sister Emily. Unfortunately, this is after the Dred Scott decision, so they have to run for the northern border ''and'' find each other...

* DeadLittleSister: George has a missing older sister, Emily, who was sold many years before the story happens. [[spoiler: They find each other much later]].

* TheWhitePrince: George and Alfred. St. Clare is a more cynical version.

* FairForItsDay