Thus Eliza's northward adventures get underway before Tom's journey southward has begun, and the novel's two plot lines separate, a separation that will make for reader interest as we are taken from one setting, group of characters, and often suspenseful action to another, a strategy that must have been especially good for magazine sales when the story first appeared in serial form.
The Eliza plot involves numerous characters, mostly minor, who help Eliza and her family to escape. The first of these are Sam, a wily Shelby farmhand, aided by the servant Andy; Chloe and her helpers in the kitchen; and Mrs. Shelby herself, who sees what these characters are doing and does not openly encourage them but does her best to assist in slowing down the search. Eliza's first helper on the northern side of the Ohio is a sympathetic Kentuckian who admires her courage. We should remember that, although escaped slaves who had crossed into a "free" state could have been captured and returned to the south in previous years, only after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act (which took effect in 1851) were citizens of the free states forbidden by law to help these fugitives, a development that not only led many Northerners to break the law but also forced escapees to travel farther, all the way to Canada, if they wanted to be sure of their freedom.
The portrayal of characters in these chapters bears some examination. Chloe, in her bitter reaction to Eliza's news, demonstrates that her clowning in Chapter 4 was only an act. She is prepared to flatter her owners, to play the game as expected and teach it to her children, but she is not able nor does she try to hide her anger and grief at Tom's sale. Moreover, the exchange between Chloe and Tom in the kitchen, as she prepares to serve lunch, illustrates the specific character of Tom's Christian fortitude. Chloe meets Tom's suggestion (that they ought to pray for the trader rather than curse him) with the retort that praying for Haley does not seem to be in her nature. It is not natural, Tom tells her; but we are required by Christianity to overcome nature, which we can do with Christ's grace. Tom's statement here, one of the first we hear him make, clearly expresses not only his strongest character trait but also one of the book's chief themes.
