Abstract: Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by American writer Harry Beecher Stowe in 1852. The novel told us a story about two slaves who had different actions and experiences when they were oppressed by slavery, and it had a great impact on the abolition movement at that time. The novel reflected that the mainstream of American Society oppressed black slaves and had the sense of racial discrimination, which aroused the anger and resistance of people to slavery. This paper makes a comparative study of the characters of Tom and George and comes to a conclusion: a person’s character determines his fate. Helpful and resigned Tom goes to death, while smart and resistance George became free. Their different characters were formed by social background, family background and personal experience. This paper also states clearly that George’s character is appreciated because of his struggling for his rights. Although Tom’s experience was sympathetic, his tragic fate was the result of development of his characters, and resigned characters are not worth advocating.
Key Words: character; fate; Tom; George

摘要：《汤姆叔叔的小屋》是美国著名作家哈里耶特•比彻•斯托夫人于1852年发表的一部小说。这部小说以废奴运动为主题讲述了两个黑奴在奴隶制度下受到压迫时不同的行动和遭遇，对当时的废奴运动产生了很大的影响。小说反映了当时美国主流社会对黑奴的压迫和种族歧视，激发了人们对奴隶制度的愤怒和反抗。本文通过对比书中人物汤姆和乔治的性格，得出一个结论：性格决定命运。乐于助人却逆来顺受的汤姆最终走向了死亡，而机智勇敢敢于反抗的乔治却最终获得了自由。他们的性格差异是由社会背景，家庭背景和个人经历等因素综合作用形成的结果。本文对不同的性格差异也表明了自己的态度，那就是赞赏乔治通过抗争争取自己权利的想法和行动。汤姆的遭遇尽管值得同情，但是其人生的悲剧性结局却也是其性格发展的必然结果，逆来顺受的性格并不值得提倡。
关键字：性格；命运；汤姆；乔治