There are two characters who resemble Jesus in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tom and Eva. Like Jesus in Christian scriptures, Tom and Eva make the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to save others. While Jesus is said to have died for humanity's sins, Tom's death helps Emmeline and Cassy escape and leads to all of the slaves on Shelby Farm in Kentucky being freed. Both Tom and Jesus are beaten and endure tremendous pain and suffering in the process.
Eva is a rich woman who gives money to the poor, reflecting Jesus's teaching about loving thy neighbor as thyself. She literally fulfills the third verse of the Sermon on the Mount (and the beatitude which states "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth") by providing for their material needs.
Like Jesus, Tom has doubt about his faith. Tom and Jesus express their doubt when they are being either beaten or crucified, respectively, and in their dying moments.
In addition to Tom and Eva, the Quakers are also Christlike figures in Uncle Tom's Cabin. They uphold the values of pacifism and compassion, and they are vehemently opposed to slavery as an institution because it gives human beings absolute power over others and allows them free rein to abuse those they "own." As a result, the Quakers view slavery as incompatible with the Christian messages of brotherhood and selfless love.
The Quaker couple Rachel and Simeon Halliday agree to help out Eliza when she runs away from her owners, even though it is not legal in the eyes of the state to do so. Their civil disobedience puts their necks on the block as well, and this willingness to risk punishment for the sake of other people makes them Christlike.
Uncle Tom and Eva are the two main Christ-like figures in the novel. Through them, Stowe shows that true Christians sacrifice themselves for the good of others. Slavery, in contrast, sacrifices the good of others (the slaves) for the convenience of the slave owners. Slavery, therefore, is an evil, un-Christian institution.
Uncle Tom underscores a Christian ethic by continually sacrificing himself for other people. He doesn't try to run away when he is about to be sold at the beginning of the novel, even though he is deeply grieved by the news. Being sold will separate him from his wife and children. It will leave him open to being purchased by a cruel master. Nevertheless, he knows Mr. Shelby is selling him because of the high price he will bring. This will save Mr. Shelby from having to sell many of his ––or even break up the plantation––to settle his debts. Tom sacrifices himself to protect the other slaves. He knows that Shelbys are kind masters and that the slaves there are in a good situation. Likewise, at the end of the book, Tom allows himself to be beaten to death rather than violate his conscience and turn on his fellow slaves. He dies to protect them, the ultimate Christ-like sacrifice.
Like Uncle Tom, the angelic little Eva has a moral compass different from that of the society around her. She is not old enough to free the slaves or do anything as bold and courageous as Tom does in defying Simon Legree, but she puts the needs of others ahead of herself. She treats the slaves with great kindness, dignity, and love. The slaves all love her in return. When she is dying, she extorts everyone in the room, slave and free, to be good Christians and love and serve one other.
If more people behaved like the true Christians Tom and Eva, Stowe believed, putting the needs of others first, there would be no slavery.
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