54 pages • 1 hour read
Pauline Elizabeth HopkinsOf One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1902A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Reuel Briggs
Reuel Briggs is the protagonist of the story. He is a man with mental gifts and “superior physical endowments” (2). His body is well-built and strong, and he has light-colored skin suggesting “olive” that indicates his biracial identity. While Reuel is an excellent medical student, he struggles financially and supports himself by writing scientific articles. As he denies his African American identity to avoid racial discrimination, Reuel is often distressed and melancholic. He is interested in mysticism and spiritualism and often experiences disturbing visions. The narrative reveals Reuel’s traumatic family history, which presents the legacy of enslavement as the source of the Black character’s distress and suffering. Reuel is friends with Aubrey Livingston, a fellow medical student, who is a Southern white man. Their relationship is patronizing, as Aubrey has gained Reuel’s devotion by helping him financially. Reuel also explores alternative forms of medical practices like mesmerism and animal magnetism.
Reuel falls in love with Dianthe Lusk, whom he first sees in a vision. Later, he revives her after a train accident leaves her unconscious. He marries her the same day he leaves for his African expedition, suggesting that the relationship is not physically consummated. Reuel’s trip to Africa becomes a journey of self-discovery. Reuel discovers the hidden city of Telassar and the people hail him as the expected king Ergamenes, who will restore the ancient glory of Ethiopians. Reuel learns that his ancestors were Ethiopian royalty and realizes his rich cultural heritage before his people were enslaved and transported to America due to European colonialism. Reuel understands that his spirituality is “the shadow of Ethiopia’s power” (117). Reuel bears the birthmark of a lotus-lily, a sign of his royal ancestry. He begins to develop his consciousness as he remembers how Mira and their people preserved the story of their royal ancestors. While in America, racism repressed Reuel’s identity and freedom, making him ashamed of his origins. In Africa, he reconnects with his cultural heritage and embraces his identity. The inhabitants of Telassar do not pay attention to Aubrey’s skin color, as the Black color is diverse. The people in Telassar “ranged in complexion from a creamy tint to purest ebony” (104). Reuel ultimately discovers his “hidden self,” but the traumatic past remains haunting.
Although Reuel connects with his own identity, he cannot save Dianthe from death. Finally, Reuel returns to Africa to find peace. Even if he assumes the role of the king and savior of the Ethiopian race, the question of racism and Black suffering in America remains unsolved.
Dianthe Lusk
Dianthe is Reuel’s and Aubrey’s half-sister, daughter of Mira and a gifted soprano. Dianthe’s skin color is similar to Reuel’s, and she does not resemble “the preconceived idea of a Negro” (11). Reuel and Aubrey first see her as a singer in a group of Black jubilee singers. Her voice has “unimaginable beauty, soaring heavenward in mighty intervals” (11). Song becomes Dianthe’s means of expression through which she demonstrates “the outpoured anguish of a suffering soul” and “the horror, the degradation from which [her] race had been delivered” (12). Dianthe also displays mystical powers. Throughout the story she appears as a spirit to Reuel. Like him, she also has visions of their mother, Mira. After the train accident, Dianthe loses her memory and identity and becomes dependent on Reuel and Aubrey. Throughout the story, Dianthe asks Reuel’s help for deliverance from her suffering. She is constantly haunted by memories of the past, and her eyes convey “unutterable emotion” (56). When Reuel is forced to leave for Africa, she becomes “a puppet” in Aubrey’s hands with no “will-power” (62).
Through Dianthe’s character, Hopkins demonstrates the ongoing oppression of Black women. Aubrey’s obsessive control and power over her defines her life and restricts her freedom. After Reuel’s departure and Aubrey’s murder of Molly, Dianthe is confined in Aubrey’s family home, a Southern plantation. Dianthe is also a descendant of the royal family of ancient Ethiopia, but unlike Reuel, she does not have the chance to reconnect with her cultural heritage and identity. Dianthe learns the truth about her family through her grandmother, Aunt Hannah, a former enslaved Black woman who lives on the margins of the Livingston estate. Aunt Hannah explains the trauma of their family and the incestuous relationship as the devastating aftermath of the enslavement. While Aubrey rediscovers his culture, Dianthe remains oppressed and endures her suffering alone. Death becomes her only chance for freedom. In her final moments, Dianthe feels her ancestors calling her home through songs: “It was the welcome of ancient Ethiopia to her dying daughter of the royal line” (174). Her death posits a question about Black people’s freedom in America and shows that her journey contrasts with Reuel’s, who finally manages to claim his freedom.
Aubrey Livingston
Aubrey is the antagonist of the story and the half-brother of Reuel and Dianthe. He is a wealthy white Southerner and medical student who resembles a “Greek God” (5) with “fair hair and blue eyes” (13). Aubrey’s father and grandfather enslaved African Americans on their Maryland plantation. At first, Aubrey seems to support Reuel by helping him financially, assuming the role of his patron. Although it is not stated directly in the narrative, it is reasonable to surmise that Aubrey knows that Reuel is his half-brother. His materialistic and “more worldly” disposition contrasts with Reuel’s spiritual character (32). Aubrey develops an obsession for Dianthe, which reveals his nefarious instincts. He proves to be a “false friend” to her and Reuel (62). He plots the murder of Reuel while sending him to Africa and plans a staged boat trip to let Molly drown. Aubrey professes his love to Dianthe, but his ultimate goal is to possess her. Aubrey reveals his intentions while trying to manipulate Dianthe: “Without you my ambition is destroyed, my hope for the future—my life is ruined” (64).
Despite not being an enslaver, Aubrey carries on his father’s legacy as a white landowner who expects to exert power over others. The story reveals that Reuel and Dianthe’s mother, Mira, was enslaved and sexually abused by Aubrey’s father. The Livingston family’s legacy of abuse and oppression of Black people connects Aubrey to Reuel and Dianthe. As a villain, Aubrey is punished by the end of the story. His doom does not come through the law, but from the Ethiopian tradition and spiritual powers of Ai, who convinces him to kill himself. His death, however, does not signify the end of racial prejudice or Black people’s deliverance from suffering.
Ai
Ai is the prime minister of Telassar. He becomes Reuel’s spiritual guide, unfolds the history of the Ethiopian city, and helps Reuel reconnect with his African identity and cultural heritage. Ai informs Reuel that he is a descendant of Ethiopia’s royal family and pronounces him the savior of the race. Ai is characterized by cultural and racial pride. He learns about racial discrimination in America from Reuel and responds that Ethiopia is the source of “all the arts and cunning inventions that make your modern glory” (121). Ai also presents an African worldview comprising spiritual beliefs and contrasting a materialistic and rational approach to life. He explains that Ethiopians believe in reincarnation and the inner self, the “soul Ego,” which survives the body and “can never be destroyed” (123). Ai notes that “a sense of the supernatural” always characterizes the Ethiopian worldview as a way of understanding the world (134). Ai’s mystical powers help Reuel uncover Aubrey’s conspiracy and murder of Molly. He is the first to enlighten Reuel, showing him the irrefutable truth about Aubrey’s conspiracy. His disk and water vessel reflect the reality of the past, the present, and the future, revealing to Reuel that Dianthe is alive. In his meeting with Charlie, Ai criticizes racism and America’s materialism, presenting his humanistic perspective. He characterizes white men as “worshippers of Mammon” and proclaims that their power is over (145). Ai proclaims that people of all races are “of one blood” and “descended from one common father,” God (145).
Ai accompanies Reuel to America to bring justice and punish Aubrey. As American law fails to condemn Aubrey of murder, Ai employs his mystical power following the traditions of Ethiopia, leading Aubrey to his fate. He hypnotizes the guilty man and orders him to kill himself, as murderers do according to the laws of Telassar. Ultimately, Ai proclaims that “[j]ustice will be done” (180).
