Study Questions

1. What occupation does George have in Canada?

2. Who are the Harrises’ visitors when they are sitting down for tea?

3. How does Cassy react when she sees her granddaughter Little Eliza?

4. What does George desire when his sister Emily provides him with funds?

5. Although George is a mulatto, his father being white and his mother black, where do his sympathies lie?

6. Why does George opt to help Africans rather that enslaved blacks in America?

7. What makes Mrs. Shelby uneasy when she receives a letter from Master George, who is on his way home?

8. What does Aunt Chloe do with the money she had raised to buy Tom when she finally hears of his death?

9. What does Master George eventually do for his servants?

10. Why does Master George attribute the servants’ freedom to Tom?

Answers

1. He is a machinist.

2. Madame de Thoux and Cassy, along with a missionary, are the Harrises’ visitors.

3. Cassy takes Little Eliza in her arms, saying “Darling, I’m your mother!” She blurts this out because to Cassy, Little Eliza looks like Eliza did when Cassy had last seen her daughter.

4. He desires an education.

5. George states that his sympathies lie with the blacks since they are oppressed.

6. He opts to help Africans because he feels that as an individual he cannot do much in America. But he hopes to gain anti-slavery supporters in Africa and call attention to the plight of slaves in America.

7. Mrs. Shelby becomes uneasy when her son has little to say about Tom in his letter. She comes to believe that something terrible has happened.

8. Chloe says that she never wants to see or hear of the money again.

9. He eventually frees them all so that they will not have to face the uncertainties and horrors of slavery.

10. He attributes the servants’ freedom to Tom because of the self-sacrificing example of his death.