Uncle Tom's Cabin Chapter 14 Summary

  • Tom begins to observe a child, Eva St. Clare, on board the ship, noticing how angelic she is. One day, Tom and little Eva become friends, and Eva says she wants her papa to buy him.
  • At just that moment, the boat pulls up to a small landing and Eva runs away to see her father. For some reason, she loses her balance and falls overboard.
  • Her father almost jumps overboard to catch her but people stop him because Tom has already jumped in and is saving her.
  • The next day, Augustine St. Clare negotiates with Haley to buy Tom. We see that St. Clare is a kind and good-humored man who wants to make his daughter happy. Besides, Tom saved Eva’s life.
  • St. Clare dickers with Haley over the price, but it’s a good-natured bargaining and it’s clear that he’s going to buy Tom one way or another.
  • Haley tries to up the price because he sees that St. Clare really wants Tom, claiming the high price is because Tom is truly pious.
  • After buying Tom, St. Clare muses what the man would be worth if he were divided up and inventoried. How much for his legs, how much for his forehead, etc.
  • St. Clare says he’ll put Tom in charge of driving the coaches, so Tom has to be careful not to drink and drive. Tom says he never drinks. St. Clare doesn’t believe him, saying he’s heard that plenty of times before.
  • Eva tells Tom that "Papa" is good to everybody, even if he laughs at them.