"I 'spect I Growed"

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“Have you ever heard anything about God, Topsy?”
The child looked bewildered, but grinned, as usual.
“Do you know who made you?”
“Nobody as I knows on,” said the child, with a short laugh.
The idea appeared to amuse her considerably; for her eyes twinkled, and she added.
“I’spect I grow’d. Don’t think nobody never made me.”

Within these lines, Topsy, a young enslaved girl, encapsulates the tragic neglect and lack of identity inflicted by slavery. Her response to Miss Ophelia's question reveals more than a mere absence of religious education; it underscores a deep-seated dismissal of her own humanity. Her belief that she "grow'd" spontaneously rather than being created by anyone suggests that she has been denied the affirmation of her value and worth as a person. Topsy's words become a poignant reflection of the dehumanizing effects of slavery, where one's origins and identity are obscured or entirely disregarded. This moment in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" starkly contrasts the innocence of childhood's natural curiosity and the harsh realities imposed by societal structures, provoking readers to consider the broader moral and ethical implications of slavery.

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