Who Uncle Tom is
Uncle Tom lives on Mr. Shelby's Kentucky farm with his wife Chloe and their children. His cabin is a warm family home, where he leads prayer meetings and learns to read and write from George Shelby.
Mr. Shelby trusts him with money and the farm, but debts lead Shelby to sell him. Tom's separation from his family shows how little protection affection offers when the law treats people as property.
What Uncle Tom wants
Tom wants to remain faithful to his beliefs without causing harm to others. He accepts being sold rather than see everyone held on the farm scattered to pay Shelby's debt.
As he travels south, he prays, comforts others and refuses a chance to escape because he will not betray trust. Stowe presents his gentleness as a deliberate moral choice, not an absence of conviction.
Uncle Tom and the others in the story
Chloe prepares Tom's clothes for his departure, while young George Shelby promises to bring him home. These ties keep his family and the life he leaves behind close to the reader.
On the steamboat, Tom meets Eva St. Clare, whose father buys him and takes him to New Orleans. Tom and Eva become friends, reading the Bible together and talking about heaven.
Questions
Who is Uncle Tom?
Uncle Tom is an enslaved husband and father whose journey south forms one of the novel's central stories.
Why does Uncle Tom accept being sold?
He believes his sale can spare the other people on Shelby's farm from being sold apart.
Why is Uncle Tom's name used as an insult?
Stage versions and later popular use turn his name into an insult for someone too eager to please others. The novel instead presents him as a man guided by firm conscience.