I am certain that the character you're looking for is Simon Legree,
the villain in "Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life among the Lowly," by
Harriet Beecher Stowe. The name "Simon Legree" has joined the English
language: if you call a man "a Simon Legree," you are saying that he
is a cruel taskmaster.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was an immensely influential book in the mid-19th
Century. Its depiction of the indignities and horrors of enslavement
had a significant impact on the attitudes of Americans toward slavery,
and that change in attitude was one factor that led to the Civil War.
"Published in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of a Christian
slave, Uncle Tom, who is sold by a Kentucky family burdened by debt.
Finally, sold again, he dies under the lash of the henchman of a cruel
overseer, Simon Legree, who wants Uncle Tom to accept him instead of
God as his master. Stowe, a member of a family of prominent
abolitionists and ministers, also recounts the flight of a family of
runaways on the Underground Railroad.
Stowe's book quickly sold 300,000 copies and shocked many Northerners
into a hatred for the slave system. Though few Northerners were
converted to the cause of immediate abolition, Stowe's novel
influenced more and more Northerners to adopt a position against the
expansion of slavery an increasingly contentious sectional issue
during the 1850s. When introduced to Stowe during the Civil War,
President Lincoln is said to have called her the 'little lady who made
this big war.' The novel also affected the American language: 'Uncle
Tom' became an epithet for passive blacks and 'Simon Legree' became a
synonym for cruelty."
Pages of Andrew Howard Pinzler: Uncle Tom's Cabin
http://www.pinzler.com/ushistory/uncletomsupp.html
"Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are
American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher
Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin
was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and
for its presentation of Tom, 'a man of humanity,' as the first black
hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some
contemporary critics, it remains a shocking, controversial, and
powerful work -- exposing the attitudes of white nineteenth-century
society toward 'the peculiar institution' and documenting, in
heartrending detail, the tragic breakup of black Kentucky families
'sold down the river.' An immediate international sensation, Uncle
Tom's Cabin sold 300,000 copies in the first year, was translated into
thirty-seven languages, and has never gone out of print: its political
impact was immense, its emotional influence immeasurable."
Random House: Uncle Tom's Cabin
http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0679443657
"One of the most hated characters in American literature, Simon Legree
is a plantation owner from Louisiana who terrorizes his slaves.
Legree's philosophy is to work his slaves as much as possible until
they die, then replace them. A hard, cruel and embittered man, Legree
is secretly haunted by visions of his dead mother, who implored him on
her death bed to change his ways. Though Legree almost had a change of
heart, he eventually ignored his mother's pleas and continued his
lifestyle. He is tortured by nightmares and plagued by superstition,
and the nightmares become more vivid and frequent when Legree is at
his most cruel. His cruelty reaches new highs after he purchases Uncle
Tom with the hopes of turning him into a brutal overseer. Enraged by
Tom's staunch refusal to participate in acts of violence against other
slaves, Legree beats him so severely that he eventually dies."
BookRags: Uncle Tom's Cabin
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/utc/CHR.htm
The character Simon Legree is one of the most despicable villains in
American literature. Some believe that Simon Legree is based upon
Robert McAlpin, a Louisiana slaveowner:
"[Robert] McAlpin is, according to legend, the model for the character
Simon Legree in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. It
was renamed Little Eva Plantation after the book's heroine."
Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism: Alexandria/Pineville
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/tourism/civilwar/sitealex.htm
You can read the full text of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" online:
South Carolina GenWeb: Uncle Tom's Cabin
http://sciway3.net/clark/civilwar/uncletomoutline.htm
Note that a Google search for "Simon Legris" turns up only one
literary reference: a page written in French that mentions a character
named Simon Legris in a book called "La Case de l'Oncle Tom." "La
Case de l'Oncle Tom" is the French translation of "Uncle Tom's
Cabin.":
"Tom est à présent chez Simon Legris, le propriétaire d'une plantation
de coton sur la rivière Rouge." (In English: Tom is now at the home of
Simon Legris, the owner of a cotton plantation on the Red River.)
Les Maudits Sujets de Réflexion: Les chants de Maldoror
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jp.vermersch/index.htm?topice001.htm&1
Google Web Search: "simon legris"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22simon+legris
Google Web Search: "simon legree"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22simon+legree
I hope this information is helpful. If anything is unclear, or if a
link doesn't work for you, please request clarification; I'll gladly
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
