6 Matching Annotations
  1. Last 7 days
    1. “And sure as I am a Christian woman,” said Mrs. Shelby, “you shall be redeemed as soon as I can any way bring together means

      Mrs. Shelby wants to keep Tom with her, vowing to bring him back to be with her and her family. She makes this promise on her religion, which not only shows her love for Tom but also how religious she is.

    2. For a year or two Eliza saw her husband frequently, and there was nothing to interrupt their happiness, except the loss of two infant children, to whom she was passionately attached, and whom she mourned with a grief so intense

      Stowe uses motherhood to have the readers feel empathetic for Eliza. Stowe includes how broken Eliza feels by showing that child loss was one thing that broke her and made her unhappy.

    3. You mean well by ’em, but ’tan’t no real kindness, arter all.

      Haley seems to think that Mr.Shelby's kindness is fake. This could be because Mr. Shelby still partakes in owning slaves or because Haley thinks slaves should have crueler treatment. I think this line is meant to have double meaning.

  2. Jan 2026
    1. Slaveholding and slaveholders must be rendered disreputable and odious. They must be stripped of their respectability and Christian reputation

      During this time period, and after, people hid behind religious beliefs which made them have a good reputation. People saw slaveholders as a good thing because, during this time, they thought that the slaveowners were good people because they were "Christian." But here, it's said that slaveowners should be held accountable for their horrible actions.

    2. He has been behind the curtain. He has visited its secret chambers. Its iron has entered his own soul. The dearest ties of nature have been riven in his own person.

      This suggests William W. Brown is a reliable narrator on the subject of slavery because he has lived through it himself. He understands how cruel slavery is and doesn't have to draw from other peoples experiences. The sentence "The dearest ties of nature have been riven in his own person" means being enslaved is a part of him that won't go away.

    3. At least, a man must be differently constituted from me, who can rise from the perusal of your Narrative without feeling that he understands slavery better, and hates it worse, than he ever did before.

      Edmund Quincy is telling William W. Brown that because Brown's narrative is so raw and honest, everyone should see how awful slavery is. If people don't, they are very different from Edmund Quincy since Brown's narrative is very powerful.