- The narrator reminds us how vulnerable slaves are when they lose kind masters. A child who has lost his father at least has family and friends to look out for him; slaves have no one.
- With St. Clare on his deathbed, the servants in his household begin to panic.
- At first, Tom is at peace because he feels certain St. Clare is going to heaven. But then he realizes that he has been left in slavery. St. Clare never had a chance to free him.
- Marie’s tyrannical nature rises to new heights now that St. Clare isn’t there to soothe her temper tantrums. She has one female servant whipped at a whipping establishment by a man (which is apparently way more humiliating than being whipped by a woman).
- Miss Ophelia tries to intervene, but Marie refuses to listen.
- Adolph tells Tom that they’re all going to be sold. Tom struggles with the news, knowing that he’s now farther than ever from being reunited with his wife and children.
- Tom asks Miss Ophelia to intercede on his behalf. She does ask Marie to give Tom his freedom, given that St. Clare had already drawn up the papers and it was Eva’s dying wish. Marie refuses.
- The next day, all the slaves are taken to a slave warehouse to be sold.