A fair-skinned black woman, Cassy has lived a life of misfortune, moving from one man to another but managing to learn to read and write, to speak French, and to gain knowledge of the Christian faith. She is sold to Simon Legree and exercises a great deal of control over his estate. She comes to care for Tom, who inspires her, by his spiritual strength, to attempt an escape with Emmeline.
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Cassy Character Timeline in Uncle Tom's Cabin
The timeline below shows where the character Cassy appears in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 33: Cassy
...wouldn’t help his fellow slave. Sambo seeks to whip her but, realizing that it is Cassy, he goes away sheepishly. Sambo has seen Tom aiding Luce, and Legree resolves that the...
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Chapter 34: The Quadroon’s Story
Tom lies back in his quarters, bloodied and in pain. Cassy arrives with water and tends to Tom, moving him onto cool, wet sheets. Cassy tells...
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Cassy reads to Tom the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion. Tom says that the Lord challenges us...
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...that marriage between them was legally impossible, but that they could live as though married. Cassy believed him and they had two children, Henry and Elise. But her lover met a...
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After witnessing her new owner treating Henry harshly, Cassy “snaps” and falls into a swoon. When she awakes she finds she has been sold...
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Chapter 35: The Tokens
...is complaining of the complications introduced by Uncle Tom’s refusal to cooperate with his demands. Cassy comes into the room and Legree believes she has returned to live with him, but...
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Cassy reveals that she has come to see Legree to argue with him over Tom’s treatment....
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...hymn in another room and grows scared, asking Sambo and Quimbo to keep him company. Cassy leaves the three of them, carousing together, and heads to Emmeline’s room.
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Chapter 36: Emmeline and Cassy
Cassy enters to find a scared Emmeline, who thought Cassy might have been Legree. Emmeline asks...
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...He has a dream where the locks of hair are following him, “whispering” to him. Cassy appears in the dream, as does an image of his mother removing a veil. The...
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...cannot take Tom’s soul. Tom says he will have Jesus’ help. Legree strikes Tom but Cassy interferes, saying that beating him would make him useless in the fields. Legree tells Tom...
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Chapter 38: The Victory
Cassy comes to Tom later and tells him that she has drugged Legree via his brandy—they...
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Chapter 39: The Stratagem
Cassy works out an escape plan. Legree’s house has a “garret,” or attic area, consisting of...
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...the most superstitious. Later, after turning over the garret’s haunting in his mind, Legree asks Cassy if she believes in spirits, and she answers, cunningly, that “it doesn’t matter” what she...
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Cassy takes a trip with Legree to another town near the Red River, memorizing routes she...
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Chapter 40: The Martyr
Legree is incensed at Emmeline and Cassy’s disappearance, and he takes his anger out on Tom, who is overjoyed at the news....
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Legree tells Quimbo to beat Tom until he reveals any knowledge of Emmeline and Cassy’s escape. Tom knows where they are hiding but vows silently never to give up their...
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Chapter 41: The Young Master
Cassy sneaks out from the garret, briefly, to hear about Tom and breaks down crying—her faith...
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Chapter 42: An Authentic Ghost Story
...is driven slowly crazy by the noises from the garret and begins drinking more heavily. Cassy puts on Legree’s mother’s shroud and visits Legree in the night, scaring him even more....
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Cassy and Emmeline get onto a steamship heading upriver, and while on it run into George...
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Chapter 43: Results
...pastor arrives with two women, and de Thoux reveals that she is Emily, George’s sister. Cassy then reveals she is Eliza’s mother. All pray and sob together. Over the next several...
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...a Christian and eventually serves as a missionary in Africa. Madame de Thoux also finds Cassy’s long-lost son, years later, who joins Cassy Emmeline, and the Harrises in Africa.
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