Uncle Tom’s Cabin · Chapter
Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions explained
Tom gains St.
What happens
Tom gains St. Clare's trust and manages household finances with integrity, while Miss Ophelia attempts to impose Northern order on the chaotic Southern household. St. Clare and Miss Ophelia debate the moral hypocrisy of slavery, and the chapter introduces Prue, a broken enslaved woman who drinks to forget her misery.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy of American Society
St. Clare critiques the hypocrisy of both North and South regarding the exploitation of the lower classes, while Miss Ophelia's horror at slavery contrasts with her own complicity.
Christianity and Morality
Tom's Christian faith guides his honesty and his concern for St. Clare's soul, while St. Clare's lack of religious practice is a point of tension.
Class and Power
The chapter explores the power dynamics between masters and slaves, and the ways in which class and race determine one's fate.
Characters to notice
- Uncle Tom
Tom is entrusted with household marketing and finances, demonstrating his honesty and Christian faith; he confronts St. Clare about his drinking.
- Augustine St. Clare
St. Clare debates slavery with Miss Ophelia, acknowledges his own moral failings, and promises Tom to stop drinking.
- Miss Ophelia St. Clare
Miss Ophelia begins reorganizing the household, clashing with the servants and expressing horror at the treatment of slaves like Prue.
- Adolph
Adolph is depicted as careless and extravagant, losing his role in marketing to Tom; he mocks Prue and adopts his master's name.
- Prue
Prue, a broken enslaved woman, delivers bread and reveals she drinks to forget her misery; her back is scarred from beatings.
- Dinah
Dinah is the head cook who resists Miss Ophelia's attempts to impose order in the kitchen.
Key passages
“I’m ’fraid not, Mas’r... I feel very bad, Mas’r. I allays have thought that Mas’r would be good to everybody.”
Tom expresses concern that St. Clare is not being good to himself by drinking excessively.
Tom confronts St. Clare about his drinking, showing his moral concern and fatherly care.
“I’d be out o’ my misery... drink and forget my misery.”
Prue says she drinks to escape her suffering and wishes she were dead.
Prue's despair illustrates the dehumanizing effects of slavery.
“The fact is, that the whole race are pretty generally understood to be turned over to the devil, for our benefit, in this world, however it may turn out in another!”
St. Clare cynically states that society assumes Black people are damned for the benefit of whites.
St. Clare critiques the racist ideology underpinning slavery.