Uncle Tom's Cabin

Why does Marie want to send unruly slaves to the calaboose?

chapter 16

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Marie believes that her servants are spoiled and "have their own way." She thinks that they should be sent away and whipped until they've been taught a lesson. She's complaining that their slaves are disciplined at home, unlike other slaveowners who send their slaves away to be broken.

"So, you just see," she continued, "what you've got to manage. A household without any rule; where servants have it all their own way, do what they please, and have what they please, except so far as I, with my feeble health, have kept up government. I keep my cowhide about, and sometimes I do lay it on; but the exertion is always too much for me. If St. Clare would only have this thing done as others do -- "

"And how's that?"

"Why, send them to the calaboose, or some of the other places to be flogged. That's the only way. If I wasn't such a poor, feeble piece, I believe I should manage with twice the energy that St. Clare does."

Source(s)

Uncle Tom's Cabin/ Chapter 16