Uncle Tom's Cabin (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Also known as Uncle Tom

Appears from the start

An enslaved man on the Shelby farm in Kentucky, valued for his honesty, steadiness, and deep Christian faith. Mr. Shelby decides to sell him to settle a debt, even though Tom has long been trusted with responsibility on the estate.

Appears from the start

An enslaved young woman in the Shelby household and the devoted mother of Harry. When she overhears that her son is to be sold, she chooses flight rather than allow him to be taken from her.

Appears from the start

The Kentucky landowner who has treated some enslaved people with relative kindness while continuing to own them. Pressed by debt, he agrees to sell Tom and the child Harry to a trader despite knowing the damage the sale will cause.

Also known as Mr. Haley

Appears from the start

A slave trader bargaining with Arthur Shelby for Tom and Harry. He speaks of people as market goods and presents himself as practical and humane while arranging to separate families for profit.

First appears in chapter 3

Eliza's husband, an intelligent and capable enslaved man hired out to a factory by a different owner. His inventions and competence provoke his owner's resentment, and the threat of being separated permanently from his family drives him toward escape.

Also known as Aunt Chloe

First appears in chapter 4

Tom's wife on the Shelby farm, an accomplished cook and the mother of their children. Her warm household is the center of Tom's family life before the sale threatens to break it apart.

Also known as Eva

First appears in chapter 14

The young daughter of Augustine St. Clare, whom Tom meets aboard a riverboat. Openhearted and intensely compassionate, she quickly befriends him and treats enslaved people with a regard that contrasts with the assumptions of the adults around her.

Also known as St. Clare

First appears in chapter 14

Eva's witty, reflective father, a wealthy New Orleans slaveholder. He recognizes many of slavery's moral contradictions and purchases Tom after Tom saves Eva, though his insight has not yet led him to reject the system that sustains his household.

Also known as Miss Ophelia

First appears in chapter 15

St. Clare's cousin from Vermont, who comes to manage his New Orleans household. Industrious and opposed to slavery in principle, she is forced to confront the prejudice and discomfort that limit her own idea of equality.

First appears in chapter 15

Augustine's self-absorbed and frequently ill-tempered wife. She expects constant attention, dismisses the suffering of the enslaved people who serve her, and resents the sympathy her husband and daughter show them.

First appears in chapter 20

A young enslaved girl whom St. Clare places in Miss Ophelia's care. Lively, defensive, and accustomed to punishment and rejection, she turns every household task into a test of Ophelia's patience and principles.

First appears in chapter 30

A fifteen-year-old enslaved girl placed for sale in a New Orleans warehouse after being separated from her mother. Frightened and vulnerable, she attracts the attention of Simon Legree when he arrives to buy laborers for his plantation.

First appears in chapter 31

A brutal plantation owner who buys Tom and Emmeline at auction. He rules through terror, demands personal obedience, and immediately treats Tom's conscience and faith as challenges to his authority.

First appears in chapter 33

An enslaved woman on Legree's plantation who has survived years of coercion and loss. Intelligent and bitterly realistic about their captor, she tends Tom after his first punishment and urges him to see how dangerous resistance will be.

Also known as Master George

First appears in chapter 10

The Shelbys' son, who has grown up loving and admiring Tom. As a boy he is outraged by the sale and promises that he will one day find Tom and bring him home.