Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been called one of the causes of the war between the states. How do her presentations of Uncle Tom and Eva compare and contrast the images most readers would have of Southern slaves and plantation owners' children?

Uncle Tom is a strong, dignified, intelligent, hardworking, honest, and moral Christian man. This presents a strong contrast to ideas at the time the novel was written that slaves were childlike, silly, unintelligent, lazy, dishonest, and immoral. Uncle Tom sacrifices himself to be sold, rather than try to run away from the Shelby's home, because he doesn't want the other slaves to suffer and be sold to settle Mr. Shelby's debts. He expresses to Augustine how much he would like to be free, but when Augustine's widow sells him, he accepts that his body can be sold. However, he dies rather than compromise his soul. Through him, Stowe shows the humanity and worthiness of black people.
Little Eva is much like Tom in her goodness, compassion, and Christian values. She is nearly a saint. This is surprising, because one might expect a slaveowner's child to be depicted as cruel and arrogant to the slaves, just as Augustine's nephew is. Eva, however, sees and treats the slaves as human beings and children of God. She loves them and wants what is best for them. Through Eva, Stowe is showing how a real Christian should behave to black people. We know that if Eva could, she would free the slaves.