Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an American anti-slavery novel that is believed to have helped lay the foundation for the Civil War and fuel the abolitionist movement. A native of Connecticut, Stowe was an abolitionist herself. She wrote this novel to show the reality, brutality, and horrors of slavery in America at the time. Not only that, she also proved that Christian faith and love can overcome anything, even human slavery.

In chapter 18, Uncle Tom tries to get the abused and enslaved Prue to become a Christian and believe in God, for doing so will reward her with a place in heaven. Prue responds by saying, “‘I looks like gwine to heaven,’ said the woman; ‘an’t thar where white folks is gwine? S’pose they’d have me thar? I’d rather go to torment, and get away from Mas’r and Missis’” (Stowe, 225). From Prue’s perspective, slavery and racism were inevitable and unalterable truths about life, as she was seemingly programmed to comply with it by her master and his wife. Because of this, Prue thinks that if she accepts Christianity and reaches heaven, she will be a slave there as well. She unintentionally states that she would rather go to torment (hell) than be a slave in the eternal afterlife. Directing the novel at a primarily Christian audience, Stowe wrote these lines in particular to make the reader aware of just how miserable it was to be a slave during that time period.