Aunt Chloe in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Who is Aunt Chloe?

Aunt Chloe is Uncle Tom’s wife and the celebrated cook at the Shelby household. She presides over the cabin kitchen with warmth, comic authority, and fierce practical pride, making food, managing children, and keeping domestic order. Chloe wants security for her family and the chance to keep Tom at home; when news arrives that Tom has been sold she alternates between anger, grief, and determined efforts to help. She offers pragmatic solutions—like proposing to earn wages in Louisville to help redeem Tom—and accepts Mrs. Shelby’s assistance while protecting her dignity. Chloe also embodies the emotional center of the cabin: she teases the children, consoles Tom with everyday comforts, and preserves household rituals like weekly “meetin’” nights. After Tom is taken, she continues to act: she prepares for travel to work and later receives and treasures news and tokens from Tom, sustaining faith and domestic continuity until George Shelby returns and secures freedom for the household.

In the book: When we first meet Aunt Chloe, she’s running Tom’s cabin kitchen like a queen, teasing and chatting while turning out delicious food for family and friends. She’s Uncle Tom’s wife and the Shelby plantation’s celebrated cook, warm, practical, and proud of her table. Her presence gives Tom a cheerful home base and shows what he stands to protect.

Personality

Practical

In Volume 2, Chapter 21 Chloe proposes sending Sally to work in Louisville and saving her wages to help redeem Tom.

Proud

In Volume 1, Chapter 4 she boasts about her pound-cake and good cooking, teasing neighbors about others’ kitchen skills.

Loving

In Volume 1, Chapter 10 she ministers to Tom at the breakfast table and weeps with Mrs. Shelby when Tom’s sale becomes certain.

Resilient

After Tom’s removal she readies her household and accepts work in Louisville to raise funds, showing steadiness under loss (Volume 2, Chapter 21).

Witty

In Volume 2, Chapter 44 Chloe playfuly calls poultry 'poetry' and keeps spirits up while preparing for George Shelby’s return.

Character arc

Aunt Chloe first appears as the confident, chatty heart of Tom’s cabin: she rules the kitchen, teases children, and sustains domestic rituals that keep family and neighbors connected. When the sale of Tom is revealed she moves through shock and fury to practical action—urging flight for Eliza, then accepting Tom’s decision to stay, grieving but also mobilizing plans to secure his redemption. Over the ensuing years Chloe moves from local homemaker to wage-earner in hope of saving Tom: she accepts Mrs. Shelby’s plan, prepares to go to Louisville, and cherishes Tom’s letters and tokens. Chloe’s steadfast domestic labor becomes a form of moral agency; she preserves the family’s dignity and faith while others negotiate legally and politically. By the end, when George Shelby returns with news of Tom’s death and brings freedom to the household, Chloe both mourns and receives formal vindication: her care, faith, and sacrifices are recognized as part of the chain of events leading to liberation and communal restoration. Throughout, she refuses despair; her coping transforms private grief into practical steps toward justice for her household.

Relationships

• Uncle Tom Wife who sustains him at home, comforts him, and fights—practically and emotionally—for his safety and eventual redemption.
• George Shelby Affectionate connection: he promises to write and later consoles Chloe; she treasures his support and the papers he brings.
• Mrs. Shelby Ally who weeps with Chloe, makes promises to help redeem Tom, and coordinates efforts like Chloe’s proposed work in Louisville.
• Mose One of the children Chloe teases and tends in the cabin; she manages and corrects him in daily life.
• Sam Fellow servant who travels with Chloe downriver and helps execute plans tied to Tom’s redemption.
• Little Eva Chloe observes Tom’s growing friendship with Eva and treasures the solace Tom receives from Eva’s visits and letters.

Quotes by Aunt Chloe

“Laws! if Missis isn’t too good! I was thinking of dat ar very thing; cause I shouldn’t need no clothes, nor shoes, nor nothin,—I could save every cent.”

Volume 2, Chapter 21Chloe reacts with delighted gratitude when Mrs. Shelby promises to save all her wages to buy back her husband’s freedom.

“Thar,—I set his plate just whar he likes it round by the fire.”

Volume 2, Chapter 44Chloe fusses over the supper arrangements, showing domestic care and her anticipation of George's return.

Why Aunt Chloe matters

Aunt Chloe embodies the novel’s domestic moral center: her cooking, humor, and household authority show what slavery threatens to destroy—family, home, and ordinary human dignity. Through Chloe, Stowe contrasts private love and practical resourcefulness with the public, transactional cruelty of slave-trading. Chloe’s refusal to surrender hope and her readiness to act practically for Tom’s redemption highlight themes of faith, endurance, and the moral economy of care that undergird the book’s critique of slavery. She makes the human cost of sale tangible and ordinary, converting household labor into moral testimony.

Chapters with Aunt Chloe

• Volume 1, Chapter 4
• Volume 1, Chapter 5
• Volume 1, Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Volume 1, Chapter 8
• Volume 1, Chapter 10
• Volume 2, Chapter 21
• Volume 2, Chapter 22
• Chapter 41
• Volume 2, Chapter 44

More Uncle Tom's Cabin characters

• Uncle TomProtagonist
• Augustine St. ClareMajor character
• EmmelineMinor character
• Eliza HarrisMajor character
• Little EvaMajor character
• CassyMajor character
• Marie St. ClareMajor character
• Mr. ShelbyMajor character