54 pages • 1 hour read
Of One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self
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Themes
Addressing the Traumatic Historical Past
One of the central themes Hopkins explores is the history and aftermath of enslavement in America. This period has a lasting impact on the characters and defines their course in the story. The narration unfolds in the post-emancipation period that the narrator notes signaled “a new era in the life of the nation” and spread a feeling of hope and “absolute content” in the country (9). From the start, though, Hopkins delineates the persistence of racism and the Black characters’ suffering. Reuel hides his biracial identity and lets people speculate on his origin. His inner distress is exacerbated by his marginalization, as he is lonely and struggles financially. Despite his light-colored skin and his refusal to address the racial debate, Reuel considers himself part of the oppressed: “I have a horror of discussing the woes of unfortunates, tramps, stray dogs and cats and Negroes – probably because I am an unfortunate myself” (8). Dianthe expresses her inner turmoil through music. Her songs reveal “the outpoured anguish of a suffering soul” (12). As a spirit in Reuel’s visions, Dianthe pleads for freedom and deliverance. Racial discrimination becomes an underlying issue in the characters’ lives about which they remain silent. The ghost of Mira, however, appears to warn Reuel and Dianthe that the dark secrets of the past will be revealed.
Hopkins uses incest as a plot device and key thematic element to emphasize the social construction of race and explore the traumatic legacy of enslavement. The story follows the troubling relationships of Reuel, Dianthe, and Aubrey to reveal that they are siblings. Aunt Hannah’s narration explains the long history of oppression and sexual exploitation of Black women by their white enslavers. Mira was sexually abused by Aubrey’s father, a white Southern planter, giving birth to Reuel and Dianthe. Aunt Hannah tells Dianthe: “Dese things jes’ got to happen in slavery” (163). White enslavers often destroyed information about Black people’s identity and lineage so that the enslaved lost any knowledge of their relatives. The narrative underscores the dehumanization of Black people during enslavement, the dismantling of familial relations, and the total loss of identity and self. The blood connection between Reuel, Dianthe, and Aubrey complicates the racial divide and challenges racism by exploring biracial identity and interracial relations. For Hopkins, the legacy of enslavement is a traumatic historical moment that bound white and Black people forever. The incestuous relationship shows that the racial divide is a construct, as “[n]o man can draw the dividing line between the two races” (165), and white men would have sex with (rape) Black women despite believing the enslaved were inferior. However, through the characters’ common blood, Hopkins supports her overarching argument of humanity. Despite racial differences, all people are equal as human beings, and all races “of one blood” (165). By exploring the legacy of enslavement, Hopkins demonstrates the necessity of addressing the dark moments in history to heal from past traumas and move forward.
Decolonizing African American Identity
Hopkins’s novel is innovative in exploring the decolonization of African American identity in the context of the early 20th century. Reuel’s identity crisis exacerbates his inner distress as he hides his cultural heritage from his social environment. Because of his light skin color, Reuel passes for either Italian or Japanese. Reuel also struggles in terms of class despite being an excellent student in medicine. His financial troubles intertwine with his identity crisis as he feels that his hard work finds no reward: “To what use all this persistent hard work for a place in the world—clothes, food, a roof? […] he asked himself with tormenting persistency” (1). Reuel desires a sense of belonging that he cannot find in American society. His interest in mysticism and spirituality signifies his will to discover and heal his inner self. When his economic troubles and Aubrey’s conspiracy force him to separate from Dianthe and leave home, Reuel starts a journey to self-discovery. While Aubrey believes sending Reuel to exile in Africa will ensure his demise, Reuel’s trip away from America helps him reconnect with his cultural heritage and decolonize the view of his identity.
Through Reuel’s journey to Africa, Hopkins unfolds her Afrocentric perspective, which seeks to divest African American identity from colonial views of Black people as socially and culturally inferior. In the hidden city of Telassar, Reuel discovers the glorious history of his ancestors, which was lost after his people were enslaved in America. He meets Ai, who guides him into his Ethiopian heritage and contributes to his uplift. Reuel frees himself from the restraints of racism and identity shame, and learns that he is a descendant from Ethiopia’s royal lineage. Ai and the people of Telassar hail him as the long expected king of the city: “Thou art Ergamenes—the long-looked-for king of Ethiopia, for whose reception this city was built!” (113). His meeting with Queen Candace reflects how life could be without the restraints of racial prejudice. Reuel feels that Telassar can offer him the free life that his country could not. His new responsibility to restore Ethiopia’s former glory indicates Hopkins’s viewpoint that decolonization and a reconnection with African heritage are central to the racial uplift of African Americans.
Ai’s character also challenges dominant American culture and preconceptions of race by representing the African worldview and pride in Black identity. When Reuel explains the history of Black people in America, Ai juxtaposes the history and culture of ancient Ethiopians. His perspective promotes the humanistic take on race, hinged on the equality of all people that parallels Hopkins’s argument that people are “of one blood.” Addressing Charlie, Ai criticizes American racism and challenges the Eurocentric mindset, saying that white people’s power is over: “Fair-haired worshippers of Mammon, do you not know that you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting? That your course is done?” (145). Ai’s personality and his belief in spirituality contrasts the rationalism and materialism of Western culture and reinforces Hopkins’s Afrocentric views. Ultimately, Reuel returns to Africa to find peace. He manages to embrace his African heritage and Black identity, but his thoughts and memories haunt him as the problem of racism remains unsolved.
Black Women’s Quest for Liberation
The narrative centers Reuel’s self-discovery, but the presence of Black women seeking liberation is evident throughout the novel. The story of Mira posits Black women’s oppression within the history of slavery. Mira was enslaved and sexually exploited by Aubrey’s father. She returns as a ghost to symbolize the haunting and untold trauma of African American women. Mira warns the characters of a dark historical past that defines their lives. Her presence as a vision in the story demands the historical acknowledgement of Black people’s suffering. Aunt Hannah describes what Mira endured in life and how white enslavers continually abused Black women, just as she herself was sexually exploited by Aubrey’s grandfather:
As soon as I was growed up, my mistress changed in her treatment of me, for she soon knowed of my relations with massa, an’ she was hurt to de heart, po’ ‘ooman. Mira was de onlies’ child of ten that my massa lef’ me for my comfort; all de res’ were sold away (163).
Aunt Hannah’s story reveals “the accumulation of years of foulest wrongs heaped upon the innocent and defenceless women of a race” (154). Mira’s ghost demands justice and reveals the reality of the past to Reuel and Dianthe.
Dianthe demonstrates how Black women remained oppressed after emancipation and had less freedom than Black men. Throughout the story, Dianthe struggles to find her own voice and finds only an expression in art. Her expression is “full of unutterable emotion,” an indication of her repressed inner self, her unspoken desires and turmoil (56). Art is Dianthe’s only outlet, but after the accident and her memory loss, her voice seized “like an imprisoned song-bird” (49). Dianthe is both a living character and a spirit in the story. While she cannot find a way to express herself while alive and in bodily form, in spirit form she pleads for liberation and deliverance from suffering. She and Reuel are both descendants of Ethiopia’s royal family, and they bear the same birthmark, the lotus lily. However, their journey differs. While Reuel finds a way to freedom by reconnecting with his African heritage, Dianthe remains a captive of a white man’s power. Reuel is unable to realize Dianthe’s suffering and help her find the path to liberation. Ultimately, death becomes Dianthe’s only way to freedom. In her last moments, she feels the spirit of her ancestors welcome her home as their “dying daughter of the royal line” (174). Dianthe’s doom in the story and her contrasting journey with Reuel provides a gendered perspective on racial justice and emphasizes the specific and ongoing struggles that Black women confront. Despite’s Reuel’s transformation in the story, Dianthe’s death leaves the question of racial justice open-ended.
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