An Overflowing Vessel

Post # 3 – Uncle Tom Week 1

In this week’s reading, I was most struck with Topsy being referred to as “an empty vessel” in which Ophelia could pour values and education. This is particularly resonant in Stowe’s version, but appears in Aiken and Burnot’s adaptations to a certain extent as well.

St. Clare tells Opheila in Stowe’s Chapter XX “Topsy,” “You find virgin soil there, Cousin; put in your own ideas, – you won’t find many to pull up.” (Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Chapter XX, p 38) This reference to “virgin soil” made me think about colonizers who often said the land they “discovered” – which was fully inhabited by indigenous people – was “empty” before they arrived. Topsy is not empty, her personality and opinions have been formed by years of abuse, deprivation of love, and degradation – as well as her exploitation and identity as a slave. Later on Topsy tells Eva, “Couldn’t never be nothin’ but a nigger, if I was ever so good. If I could be skinned, and come white, I’d try then.” (Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Chapter XXV, p 93) A lifetime of slavery is clearly not enough of an incentive to “be good” for a fierce and intelligent girl such as Topsy.

This brings me to the juxtaposition between Eva and Topsy. Stowe puts them opposite each other in every way, from skin/hair color to religion to behavior. Eva is literally described as an angel, “a ray of heavenly love.” Stowe’s characters are complicated, and she definitely portrays Topsy as more sympathetic than Aiken or Burnot, despite the frequency of negative depictions of Topsy. The contrast is clear though – Eva is a white, beautiful child raised with God, love, family, and care. Topsy is a dark, ugly child raised without religion, love, family or care. The indifference that Ophelia, Rosa, Jane, and even St. Clare show to this contrast is remarkable. Not that they don’t notice the difference between Eva and Topsy (that may be all they see), but that they don’t see how the system of slavery – that they all support, in one way or another – has produced a child like Topsy.