the simple, hearty, sincere style of his exhortations might have edified even better educated persons. But it was in prayer that he especially excelled.
This shows that, although Tom doesn't have formal education or social power, people respond to him because he is sincere. This challenges hierarchies based on race and class as Stowe shows that moral authority does not belong solely to white or educated people.
It seemed to her as if strength poured into her in electric streams, from every gentle touch and movement of the sleeping, confiding child.
Yet another instance of Eliza drawing her endurance from motherhood. The imagery of "strength pour[ing] into her" is almost divine or spiritual. This portrays motherhood as a source of resilience.
I thought I could gild it over,—I thought, by kindness, and care, and instruction
The phrase "gild it over" suggests covering something ugly with a layer of gold, implying that kindness only disguises injustice and does not fix it. This is an example of Stowe's critique of so-called "benevolent" slaveholding.
This incident shows how it is that slavery makes its victims lying and mean; for which vices it afterwards reproaches them, and uses them as arguments to prove that they deserve no better fate.
Brown shows that slavery doesn't just control bodies, but reshapes behavior as well. Lying becomes a survival response. By naming these traits as products of oppression, he takes away the reader's ability to judge them as personal failures. This line forces responsibility back onto the system instead of the victims of it.
“This is a note to have you whipped, and says that you have a dollar to pay for it.”
Violence is treated as routine and bureaucratic. The whipping is no longer an act of rage, but a service to be paid for. Brown shows just how ingrained cruelty is in this system, and that it isn't only limited to the temperament of individuals.
Some were set to dancing, some to jumping, some to singing, and some to playing cards. This was done to make them appear cheerful and happy. My business was to see that they were placed in those situations before the arrival of the purchasers, and I have often set them to dancing when their cheeks were wet with tears.
This exposes how slavery depends on performance just as much as force. Buyers are shown cheerful, dancing bodies instead of grief and fear, the pain of the enslaved hidden so profit can be made. Brown's involvement in this process shows how enslaved people were often forced into roles that supported their own exploitation.