I Looks Like Gwine To Heaven

In the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe tells the story of two slaves, Tom and Eliza, who use different methods to contend with their situations. Eliza chooses to escape to freedom in Canada with her son, but Tom endures being sold several times to cruel owners while comforting his fellow slaves through his Christian faith. Stowe wrote the book as a way to show white Americans that the treatment that slaves received was wrong. One of the major themes in the book was the idea that slavery was an immoral practice and that Christians should not support it. A quote that clearly demonstrated this theme was “I looks like gwine to heaven…an’t thar where white folks is gwine? S’pose they’d have me thar? I’d rather go to torment, and get away from Mas’r and Missis.” (18.216) Prue, a …show more content…
This is demonstrated by a quote given by Tom toward the end of the story: “Mas’r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I’d give ye my heart’s blood; and, if taking every drop of blood in this poor old body would save your precious soul, I’d give ’em freely, as the Lord gave his for me… my troubles’ll be over soon; but, if ye don’t repent, yours won’t never end!” (40.410) Tom says this to Simon Legree, his final owner, who eventually has him killed for letting two other slaves escape. Before Tom is whipped to death he tries to warn Legree that his actions will lead him to hell after his death if he does not repent and save his soul. Through Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe wanted to shock white people into understanding how badly slaves were treated, whether or not they personally owned slaves. She used dramatic scenes, personal experiences, and stories told to her by former slaves to write the book and develop the themes shown in these quotes. Tom’s story influenced abolitionists after its publication and is still used to discuss the anti-slavery movement