Uncle Tom’s Cabin · Chapter
Eliza's Escape explained
Eliza makes a desperate escape across the icy Ohio River, pursued by Haley, who then meets with slave catchers Tom Loker and Marks to plan her recapture.
What happens
Eliza makes a desperate escape across the icy Ohio River, pursued by Haley, who then meets with slave catchers Tom Loker and Marks to plan her recapture. Sam returns to the Shelby plantation and recounts the miraculous crossing to Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, who are relieved that Eliza is alive.
Themes in this chapter
Freedom and Escape
Eliza's dramatic crossing of the icy river symbolizes the perilous journey to freedom and the desperate measures enslaved people took to escape bondage.
Hypocrisy of American Society
The slave catchers' casual discussion of capturing and selling Eliza highlights the moral corruption and legal hypocrisy that treated human beings as property.
Resistance and Agency
Eliza's bold escape and Sam's clever misdirection of Haley demonstrate acts of resistance against the slave system.
Characters to notice
- Eliza Harris
Makes a desperate escape across the icy Ohio River with her child.
- Haley
Pursues Eliza but is thwarted by the river; later negotiates with slave catchers.
- Tom Loker
A brutal slave catcher who agrees to help Haley recapture Eliza and Harry.
- Marks
A cunning, deceitful slave catcher who partners with Loker to capture Eliza.
- Sam
Returns to the Shelby plantation and recounts Eliza's escape, claiming divine providence.
- Mrs. Shelby
Listens to Sam's account with relief and gratitude that Eliza is safe.
Key passages
“Eliza made her desperate retreat across the river just in the dusk of twilight. The gray mist of evening, rising slowly from the river, enveloped her as she disappeared up the bank, and the swollen current and floundering masses of ice presented a hopeless barrier between her and her pursuer.”
Eliza fled across the river at dusk, hidden by the rising mist, while the icy, rushing water blocked her pursuer from following.
Highlights the danger and desperation of Eliza's escape.
“I do b'lieve that ar's Tom Loker.”
I believe that's Tom Loker.
Haley recognizes a fellow slave catcher.
“We'll do a business here on our own account;—we does the catchin'; the boy, of course, goes to Mr. Haley—we takes the gal to Orleans to speculate on.”
We'll handle the capture ourselves; the boy goes to Haley, but we'll take the woman to New Orleans to sell for profit.
Marks proposes a scheme to profit from capturing Eliza.
“De Lord will pervide... These yer's all providences.”
The Lord will provide... These are all acts of divine providence.
Sam attributes the events to God's will, justifying his actions.