The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Mark Twain

BEECHER STOWE

"Tom had often caught glimpses of this little girl, - for she was one of those busy, tripping creatures, that can be no more contained in one place than a sunbeam..."
(Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin)

I think that the quote's meaning is self explanatory, just describing Eva and maybe a bit of her personality. It says that Eva is a good natured, curious and a little bumbling girl with lots of energy.

TWAIN

The reason I bring it up, may also be pretty obvious, especially given the illustrations I found. I realize that Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is generally about something entirely different than Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin these two sets of characters - Stowe's Eva and Tom and Twain's Huck and Jim are astoundingly similar. They are almost the exact same with two exceptions; Eva and Tom are essentially more "good" than Huck and Jim and Eva and Huck are the opposite sex to one another. I say that Eva and Tom are "good" because Tom is obediently with his owner and Eva is adventurous but doesn't misbehave the way Huck does.

The fundamentals are there though! Both are a benevolent relationship between an adult slave and a well meaning child. Both slave men play a guardianship role in the child's life but are also their friends and in a way they are set as their peers in the sense that as they are slaves are "beneath" the white adults and are paid attention to as much as one would a child. Both sets of characters are even traveling down the Mississippi River!

I think this speaks to the level of influence that Beecher Stowe had on Twain. I say Stowe influenced Twain because Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1851 and Twain didn't publish The Adventure's of Huckleberry Finn until 1884, a full 33 years later! Though I wonder if it wasn't more of a tribute or nod from Twain to Beecher Stowe, especially in light of the similarities between the two sets of characters.


Side note: it's annoying to find yet another example of how women get a raw deal with this sort of thing. Everyone and their dog knows Huck and Jim, but outside of academics, I bet you couldn't find 10 people on the street who know who the heck Eva and Tom are.