At St. Clare’s death, the servants are all terrified, because they are well acquainted with Marie, who now has complete control over their lives. Their terror is justified, as Rosa soon finds, when she talks back to Marie and is ordered to go to a whipping-establishment. Rosa pleads with Ophelia to intervene with Marie on her behalf, for she and Ophelia both know that young women sent to one of these places will be raped. Ophelia tries to make Marie change her mind, but Marie will not. A few days later, Marie decides to sell the New Orleans house, furniture, and slaves, and return to her parents’ house. At Tom’s request, Ophelia asks Marie to give him his freedom, as St. Clare had promised, but to no avail. The next day, Tom, Adolph, and several others are taken to a slave warehouse to await their sale.
In Chapter XXX, Tom, Adolph, and a number of other slaves await sale in a warehouse. A large slave tries to bully Tom without success; he does better with Adolph, whom he calls a “white nigger.” Adolph tries to fight this man, and the white keeper parts them. In the women’s quarters, two of the female slaves are Susan and Emmeline, mother and daughter. The mother, Susan, fears that 15-year-old Emmeline will be sold as a sex slave and tells her to comb her hair back and try to look as plain as possible.
The next morning, the sale commences. Adolph is sold to a young man who wants a valet and has said he will teach Adolph his place. Tom and Emmeline (separated from her mother) are sold to a revolting man who had earlier inspected them, as are two other men. They now belong to a Mr. Legree, the owner of a cotton plantation.
In Chapter XXXI, as they travel to the Legree plantation, Tom realizes that he is in the worst of hands. Legree throws some of Tom’s belongings (including his hymnal) into the river and then sells Tom’s trunk and its contents to the boat-hands. Legree paws Emmeline, telling her she’d better be pleasant when he talks to her. Then he shows his new slaves his fist, saying it got so hard from knocking down slaves. Later, in the boat’s bar, he brags to the other white men about his treatment of slaves, saying he feels it is cheaper in the long run to use them up and buy more than it is to take care of them with good food, medicine, and so on.
In Chapter XXXII, the journey to Legree’s plantation continues, through rough country, in a wagon. Legree orders the slaves to sing, but when Tom starts a hymn, he tells him to shut up. Another man begins a foolish, meaningless song, and the others join in. The narrator tells us that it is the only way these men can express their sorrow or pray, for the master hears only what he thinks is noisy good humor. Legree is drinking, and he paws the frightened Emmeline, obviously anxious to get home with her.
They get to the plantation house, once a fine, well-kept mansion but now a wreck among ruined grounds. Two black men, Sambo and Quimbo, Legree’s overseers, come to greet the wagon with several dogs, and Legree tells the newcomers they had better behave, for the dogs would be happy to eat them. Legree presents Sambo with the older woman he has just acquired, saying he has promised to bring him a woman; when Lucy (as her name is) protests that she has a husband, Legree tells her to shut up. He takes Emmeline into the house, and Tom sees a woman’s face at the window and hears an angry voice, with Legree responding that he’ll do as he likes. Tom is taken to a crude shanty without furniture, and Sambo tells him he may sleep there, not in private, as Tom had hoped, but with many others.
Late in the evening, the slaves return from the fields and must grind, mix, and bake their dried corn over an open fire for their supper. The strongest go first, for these slaves are so desperate that they show no regard for each other. Sambo tries to make Lucy grind his corn and cook his supper, and she says she would rather die than live as his woman. Tom waits until very late to get access to a mill, and then he grinds corn and builds up the fire for two weary women. After their meager meal, the women go to their huts, and Tom sits by the fire; he feels his faith tested by his hardships. He goes back then to his hut and finds that the floor is covered with sleeping men. He is cold and tired, so he wraps himself with a ragged blanket and sleeps. He dreams that Eva is reading to him from the Bible, and he wakes comforted.
