Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Chapter 2 summary
Chapter 2 of 45 · 5 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 2, George Harris’s master removes him from factory work because his skill and confidence provoke resentment, then refuses his employer’s efforts to recover him. The account of George’s marriage to Eliza and their children shows how the master’s control disrupts a family’s fragile happiness.
What happens
- Eliza grows up under her mistress’s protection and marries George Harris, an enslaved man working at a nearby factory.
- George invents a hemp-cleaning machine, but his master resents his ability and confident bearing.
- Despite the manufacturer’s protests, the master removes George and assigns him the farm’s lowest work.
- The account returns to Eliza’s wedding, the deaths of two infants, and her renewed happiness after Harry’s birth.
- The manufacturer visits Mr. Harris to request George’s return, but the master refuses.
- The narrator argues that a person can suffer treatment worse than hanging.
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In this chapter
What to notice
The narrator challenges the jurist’s claim about hanging. The closing judgment presents George’s enforced degradation as a form of extreme cruelty.
Quick check
Why does Mr. Harris remove George from the factory?
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