Uncle Tom's Cabin Chapter 32 Summary

  • Simon Legree puts Tom and the other slaves into a wagon.
  • On the trip to Legree’s home, they go through a series of desolate places to reach an even more desolate place.
  • Tom tries to sing a hymn, but Legree roars at him to shut up.
  • Legree looks at Emmeline lustfully (scary). She’s freaked out, but he tells her that he’ll give her some earrings if she’s a good girl.
  • They arrive "home." Legree points out the swamp, the dogs, and the isolation of the property. Basically, he’s pointing out that escape is impossible.
  • Legree deliberately cultivates a dog-eat-dog world on his plantation. He figures, if he makes the lead workers hate each other and the rest of the slaves hate the lead workers, he’ll always know what’s up on his plantation.
  • Legree sends Tom and the other slaves with Sambo. Legree gives Sambo one of the new female slaves to be "his" woman.
  • Then Legree tells Emmeline that she’s coming with him.
  • The rest of the slaves come back from their hard day of work. One of them is curious about Tom’s Bible. Tom reads them the verse, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Well, that sounds pretty good to the tired slaves.
  • As the moon rises and night comes, Tom thinks about whether God is with him in this new place. In case you were wondering, the narrator assures us that God is indeed there.
  • Tom goes to sleep. In his dreams, he hears Eva reading a Bible verse and assuring him that God is with him.
  • When Uncle Tom wakes, he feels better.