But the chapter title may have a second, deeper meaning, and may reveal a fourth (and deeper) form of irony. Shelby, as he is described, really is a "man of humanity" — or would be, were it not that slavery forces him and everyone who willingly participates in it to behave as inhumanely (and inhumanly) as Haley himself. Is Shelby a good man and Haley a bad one? This is a question the novel will ask, in various forms, again and again, and Stowe's answer is always that, whatever the intent, an action that promotes or supports slavery (and finally even inaction, the failure to take action against slavery) is bad. The irony here is situational irony and is implicit in the whole situation, the whole fact of slavery. We expect an obvious gentleman like Shelby to behave in moral and admirable ways, while an obvious boor like Haley will display behavior immoral and reprehensible. Ironically, however, Shelby himself is as bad as Haley or worse, for he has the advantages of education and cultivation that should allow him to make better decisions.
Throughout the book, Stowe will employ these forms of irony alone and in combination. The narrator's voice, especially, is ironic and usually understated — as when, in a later chapter, she tells of a slave weeping because he has been sold without having a chance even to tell his wife: "Poor John! — the tears that fell, as he spoke, came as naturally as if he had been a white man." This sentence must be heard in the narrator's characteristic tone of deadpan sarcasm if it is not to be read as the remark of an imbecile.
