| Quote #4 "Why, which do you like the best, – to live as they do at your uncle's, up in Vermont, or to have a house-full of servants, as we do?" |
Eva does not see a house full of servants or slaves; she sees a house full of members of the family, people who love her and whom she can love. Eva’s unconditional, universal love, extended to everyone around her, reminds us that she has a Christ-like nature.
| Quote #5 "What does make you so bad, Topsy? Why won't you try and be good? Don't you love anybody, Topsy?" |
Eva points the reader to the cause of Topsy’s bad behavior and, the passage implies, of all sinful activity: not loving anyone, which is, in turn, caused by not being loved to begin with. Because Topsy has only learned about punishment and suffering, she has nothing on which to base morality or affection. Her experience has taught her, tragically, that blacks can’t be loved, especially by whites.
| Quote #6 "O, Topsy, poor child, I love you!" said Eva, with a sudden burst of feeling, and laying her little thin, white hand on Topsy's shoulder; "I love you, because you haven't had any father, or mother, or friends; – because you've been a poor, abused child! I love you, and I want you to be good. I am very unwell, Topsy, and I think I shan't live a great while; and it really grieves me, to have you be so naughty. I wish you would try to be good, for my sake; – it's only a little while I shall be with you." |
Through love, Eva converts Topsy to Christianity and transforms her nature. Observing the scene, St. Clare compares Eva to Jesus Christ – she is willing to touch and love the lowly and despised, the cast out, the ones the rest of society scorned. Eva doesn’t just tell Topsy about religious principles, she demonstrates them, actively giving love without expecting anything in return.