Have you ever heard about racism? Even though the situation became better, most black people in the past were treated like an animal and got killed because of the discrimination from white people. To get more sense of the discrimination of the past, I read the book called "The Uncle Tom's Cabin". The main character Uncle Tom is a black man who never lost his good personality in whatever situation he faces. Even though his life ended miserably, his life teaches us many things.
Uncle Tomโs miserable life started with himself being the slave of his master Mr. Shelby. Unfortunately, his master had to sell him and another young slave named Harry to Mr. Haley because he had debts to pay. Harryโs mother Eliza overheard and who got frightened, told Tom so that he can run away with her. On that day, Elizaโs husband George Harris made a plan to run from his own master and he hoped to get reunited in Canada after he makes money enough to buy them. Because Tom wanted to keep faith in his master, he didnโt run away like Eliza. Mr. Haley tried to catch Eliza, but he lost her in front of the river. Eliza, who was so desperate, jumped across the ice to ice. She was able to run away by getting help from many strangers even though Mr. Haley made a contract with his friend to get Eliza and tried to catch her back. Meanwhile, Tom was taken by his new owner Haley. While he was transported by the boat, he saves a little girl named Eva from drowning. Her father named Augustine St. Clare bought Tom for saving his daughter. Eva was a sweet girl who believes slaves shouldnโt be treated badly. Eva and Tom became friendlier and Eva even taught slaves how to read even though her mother thinks it was worth nothing. Unfortunately, she had a disease that was threatening her life. When her tuberculosis got worse and was about to die, she gave each servant her curls to remember. After her death, many people were sad and even St. Clareโs cousin Ms. Opheliaโs servant Topsy (she was a young slave who was naughty at first but then transformed by Eva). Tom tries to transform St. Clare to believe in God and become Christian after Evaโs death. He promised Tom that he will free him but before he could make his promise, he got killed. So Tom was sold again, leaving Eva and everything. The next master was known for being cruel to his slaves and making his slaves work until they die. Tom was honest and faithful even though his master made him work so hard so that he can use Tom as a โplantation overseerโ. He didnโt lose his good behavior even though his master beat him for helping other slaves in the work field. One day, when Tom encouraged the other two slaves to run away from their masterโs house, his master commanded his other two slaves to beat him so hard that he was almost dead. But instead of cursing the ones who beat him, Tom hoped for their forgiveness. When his first masterโs son George Shelby got the letter and came as fast as he can, it was too late; so instead, he buries Tom. Two women who escaped from her masterโs house meet George Shelby. During they were talking, they found out that one woman was the sister of Elizaโs husband, and another woman was the mother of Eliza who was sold long ago. Even though Tomโs life ended miserably, two women were able to go to Canada, to meet their family, joining once again.
You may have found several themes in this story but I think the most important thing was about discrimination. This theme is so important because \each person has human rights just because they are born to be human, especially when we believe in Christianity because we are all Godโs sons and daughters. Itโs a creator who created us equally but we creations are making our own rules and standards to discriminate against other people mainly because they lack power or money. Racism was also created by white people who had power and money compared to black people. If black people had more power than they did, maybe black people were considered superior. Even after slavery and racism were gone and banned, still there are some discriminations that canโt be seen but come out unconsciously between white and black people or between other groups. I guess itโs human instinct characteristics to have the desire to control others. And society was already indirectly teaching people like Tomโs last master that itโs okay to be rude to your servant because every people around him was doing the same and his parents might doing the same thing when he was very young. Maybe it was very natural for him to treat slaves in the ways of treating some kind of animals.
There are lots of ways you can apply this bookโs message: Donโt judge or discriminate against others by their differences. Itโs because the standards that we are making and judging based on that come from creations, who always go against Godโs will. First of all, you might face a lot of foreigners or even black people when it becomes easier to go to other countries. Then, you can help them if they need or treat them fairly even though they are not good at your language or familiar with your culture. Secondly, you can consider and care for the weak person if you have more power than them. Thirdly, in your school, you can prevent any outcast. Most of the outcast in elementary school that I saw happened because of the differences that victim has. Fourth, you can respect the disabled because they donโt have any reasons to be discriminated against. Many disabled say that they feel pain because of the peopleโs eyes with sympathy. It will be better if you can help them if they need your help. Fifth, you can look back at your culture: is that causing any problems with certain kinds of people? For example, racism was almost like a culture in some areas during the past. Unfortunately, many people did not notice anything wrong with that but it was a violation of human rights for black people. So I think itโs necessary to check if am I following any cultures that only have good effect on certain people. Also, the another message that you can apply to your life is to keep your faith, believing that God will lead your life even though you face barriers in front of you. In this book, many slaves who believed in Jesus Christ such as Eliza had hope in their life even though I thought their life was harsh and hopeless because, in the end, they will all going to die from working. Eliza trusted that God is doing the very best for her. I guess the hope does not come from the situation that seems like everything will go well but from trusting God that he will lead my life and he will do the very best for me as Eliza said. Because Eliza had her hope in God and worked hard, she was able to be reunited with her husband. For Tom, he was able to forgive the ones who beat him until he died because he believed in heaven, and he just felt poor for those who probably didnโt believe in Jesus.
After I read this book, I felt that discrimination is one of the most important homework that all citizens of the world have to work out. This book showed us how humans are so cruel when Tom died and how his life ended so miserably just because of the same human with wrong values. On the other hand, it teaches us why we should not discriminate against others and to have faith in God like Tom and other slaves did also. So when you go to school or other places, please think about what you learned through the miserable life of Tom, who was so kind and honest that he didnโt run away but just died from the evil owner. Remember, please do keep your hope of changing the world like Eliza and apply the bookโs message to your life. I hope in one day, there will be no more people suffering like Tom because of discrimination.
Writer: Ellie Kim
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