Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin -- Character Analysis

Eva St. Claire, also known as Little Eva, is an important character in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She enters the life of Uncle Tom, the main character who is a slave, when he saves her from drowning in the Mississippi River. Eva convinces her father to buy Tom and he heads back to the St. Claire plantation, where holds the role of head coachman. Eva is important to the story because she is the character that Tom befriends at the plantation.

From the beginning of the story, it is easy to see why everyone is so enamored with Eva -- she is angelic in nature. Although she is a young girl, she is wise beyond her years and demonstrates an unfailing good nature. She is always talking about God and love and forgiveness. Her influence is most apparent when she convinces a bitter slave girl named Topsy that love exists. Through Eva's eyes, Topsy learns that even a slave girl like herself deserves to be loved.

Her family and the slaves that live on the plantation adore Eva. She spends a great deal of time trying to convince her family that the slaves are good people who deserve to be free. In her lifetime, this does not occur. It is discovered that Eva is terminally ill -- a discovery that impacts the entire household. Seeing how the people in Eva's life react to her illness is testament to the genuineness of her character. Eva is a person that positively impacts everyone around her and there is not a dry eye in the household when her illness is revealed.

On her deathbed, Eva asks her aunt to cut her curls from her hair and gather the slaves. She gives each slave a lock of her hair to remember her by, preaching the whole time about love and Christianity. When they leave, she tells her father that he must be a good Christian. She is unrelenting in her wishes for Tom and the slaves to be free. She eventually manages to convince her father to free Tom -- a promise that never actually comes to fruition.

Eva dies in the presence of her parents and her aunt. When her father asks her to tell them what she sees, she says, "Oh! love, -- joy, -- peace!" Again, the reader is reminded of her angelic nature. To her parents, she is the perfect child. She is undeniably a moral person and a model Christian. To the slaves, she is a true friend and someone who looks out for them. Eva genuinely hates the idea of slavery and has no conception of why blacks are seen as different from whites. She is wise beyond her years in that everyone is equal to her, regardless of color or race. For a young girl who is raised by a family that owns slaves, this is a major realization for her to have come to on her own. It is innate within her to be a good and moral person.