Uncle Tom's Cabin Chapter 42 Summary

Summary

Servants at Simon Legree’s plantation whisper that a ghost in a white sheet walks the house by night, entering locked rooms and passing into the garret. Legree hears the stories carried in secret; they terrify him, drive him to drink, and later he dreams of a white figure and hears a low voice saying, “Come! come! come!” The apparition seems to visit him in sleep; afterward his drinking becomes more reckless and his health declines, with neighbors reporting sightings of two white figures leaving the place the same night.

Meanwhile, Cassy and Emmeline put their escape plan into practice. Cassy dresses as a Creole lady, buys a trunk to support the disguise, and takes a boy to wheel it to the small tavern. George Shelby, who had earlier borne Tom’s body away and whom Cassy had observed from the garret, is staying at the tavern awaiting a boat; noticing Cassy’s demeanor and means, he assists her aboard and later offers her a state-room aboard the steamer Cincinnati. On the river, Cassy gains confidence and, feeling George’s frequent gaze, chooses to reveal her story to him. They are joined by Madame de Thoux and her little daughter; Madame de Thoux, having learned George’s origin, asks about a man named Harris and then reveals that she is seeking a brother—George Harris—sold years before, which surprises George. As George describes the young woman Emily (her presumed sister) whom his family had raised, Cassy hears a name that shocks her: Simmons, the seller on the bill of sale, and she collapses from the emotional weight of the discovery.

Key events

1. Servants report a ghost in a white sheet walking Legree's house and garret at night.
2. Legree experiences a terrifying vision and hears “Come! come! come!” in his room.
3. Cassy and Emmeline enact their escape with Cassy disguised as a Creole lady.
4. George Shelby assists Cassy aboard the steamboat and offers a state-room.
5. Madame de Thoux reveals she seeks her brother George Harris; George describes Emily.
6. Cassy hears the name Simmons on the bill of sale and faints from the shock.

Analysis

This chapter shifts between gothic atmosphere and a pivotal social encounter, weaving supernatural rumor into the plot’s human revelations. The ghost story functions on two levels: as a symbol of conscience and retribution haunting the brutal master, Simon Legree, and as a communal superstition that masks the covert movements of the enslaved. Legree’s visions and growing debility dramatize the moral consequences of cruelty—his inner unrest surfaces as imagined hauntings and the repeated whisper “Come! come! come!” which reads like a summons to judgment. The narrative technique alternates an amused, ironic narrator describing the servants’ ghost-lore with close third-person scenes that probe Legree’s terror, creating tonal contrast between public gossip and private horror.

Structurally, the chapter also advances the escape plot by relocating Cassy and Emmeline to the riverboat and placing them in contact with George Shelby and Madame de Thoux; this sets up recognition motifs and family-reveal dynamics. Cassy’s disguise and composed performance underscore themes of identity, class performance, and subterfuge under slavery. The accidental revelation—Simmons’s name on the bill of sale—introduces a dramatic coincidence that heightens emotional stakes without resolving them here. Overall, the chapter links supernatural imagery to moral accountability while propelling character connections that will shape subsequent reunions and reckonings.

Important quotes

“a tall figure in a white sheet did walk, at the most approved ghostly hours, around the Legree premises,—pass out the doors, glide about the house,—disappear at intervals, and, reappearing, pass up the silent stairway, into that fatal garret;”

NarratorSets up the ghostly rumors among the servants and introduces the recurring white-sheet apparition tied to Legree's house.

“a voice said, three times, in a low, fearful whisper, “Come! come! come!””

NarratorDescribes the terrifying visitation Legree experiences in his bedroom, a moment that intensifies his dread and foreshadows moral reckoning.

“Do you know the names of the people he bought her of?”

Madame de ThouxMadame de Thoux asks this question that prompts Cassy’s collapse after hearing the name Simmons on the bill of sale.

Characters in Chapter 42

• Simon Legree
• Cassy
• Emmeline
• George Shelby
• George Harris
• Uncle Tom
• Madame de Thoux