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Aunt Ester is an old woman who is widely respected as a “spiritual advisor” in the Black community of Pittsburgh’s Hill District. She was formerly enslaved, though she seems to have escaped. She tells her protégé, Black Mary, that she’s 285 years old—a fact that suggests she possesses spiritual or supernatural powers, though she implies at one point that she mainly helps people by helping them make peace with themselves, which doesn’t necessarily require supernatural intervention. Still, people in the Hill District say she’s capable of “washing” souls (or cleansing people who aren’t “right” with themselves). Citizen Barlow seeks her out for this reason, hoping she’ll be able to help him feel better about letting Garret Brown take the blame for stealing a bucket of nails. Although her overseer, Eli, is skeptical of Citizen at first, Aunt Ester takes him in and gives him a place to sleep, thus demonstrating her kindness and willingness to help people in need. In order to “wash” his soul, she tells him that she’ll show him how to reach the City of Bones, a metropolis in the middle of the ocean inhabited by the many enslaved Africans who didn’t make it across the Atlantic on the slave ships. The entire ceremony of “washing” Citizen’s soul blends metaphor with a kind of magical realism, playing with the idea of Aunt Ester’s powers by further blurring the distinction between mystical abilities and a simple understanding of human nature. Either way, she gives Citizen the chance to experience the shared suffering of his enslaved ancestors, thus putting him in touch with his roots and showing him that he’s not alone in his anguish. She also helps Solly escape from Caesar after he burns the mill, once again demonstrating her eagerness to help people in need.
Aunt Ester Quotes in Gem of the Ocean
The Gem of the Ocean quotes below are all either spoken by Aunt Ester or refer to Aunt Ester. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 2
Quotes
CITIZEN: He could have come out the river.
AUNT ESTER: That’s the only way he had to say he was innocent. It must have meant an awful lot for him to say that. He was willing to die to say that.
CITIZEN: I was standing there. I seen him. I thought he was gonna come out. I told myself he was gonna come out. […]
AUNT ESTER: Jesus Christ was falsely accused. He died a bitter death on the cross. This man was like Jesus. He say he would rather die innocent than to live guilty.
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Act 1, Scene 5
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I got memories go way back. I’m carrying them for a lot of folk. All the old-timey folks. I’m carrying their memories and I’m carrying my own. If you don’t want it I got to find somebody else. I’m getting old. Going on three hundred years now. That’s what Miss Tyler told me. Two hundred eighty-five by my count.
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He didn’t care if anybody else knew if he did it or not. He knew. He didn’t do it for the people standing around watching. He did it for himself. He say I’d rather die in truth than to live a lie. That way he can say that his life is worth more than a bucket of nails. What is your life worth, Mr. Citizen? That’s what you got to find out. You got to find a way to live in truth.
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BLACK MARY: What’s the two pennies for? Why he got to find two pennies?
AUNT ESTER: That’s only to give him something to do. He think there a power in them two pennies. He think when he find them all his trouble will be over. But he need to think that before he can come face to face with himself. Ain’t nothing special about the two pennies. Only thing special about them is he think they special. He find them two pennies then he think he done something. But, he ain’t done nothing but find two pennies.
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Act 2, Scene 4
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You see, Mr. Caesar, you can put the law on the paper but that don’t make it right. That piece of paper say I was property. Say anybody could buy or sell me. The law say I needed a piece of paper to say I was a free woman. But I didn’t need no piece of paper to tell me that. Do you need a piece of paper, Mr. Caesar?
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These ain’t slavery times no more, Miss Tyler. You living in the past. All that done changed. The law done changed and I’m a custodian of the law. Now you know, Miss Tyler, you got to have rule of law otherwise there’d be chaos. Nobody wants to live in chaos.
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Aunt Ester Quotes in Gem of the Ocean
The Gem of the Ocean quotes below are all either spoken by Aunt Ester or refer to Aunt Ester. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 2
Quotes
CITIZEN: He could have come out the river.
AUNT ESTER: That’s the only way he had to say he was innocent. It must have meant an awful lot for him to say that. He was willing to die to say that.
CITIZEN: I was standing there. I seen him. I thought he was gonna come out. I told myself he was gonna come out. […]
AUNT ESTER: Jesus Christ was falsely accused. He died a bitter death on the cross. This man was like Jesus. He say he would rather die innocent than to live guilty.
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Act 1, Scene 5
Quotes
I got memories go way back. I’m carrying them for a lot of folk. All the old-timey folks. I’m carrying their memories and I’m carrying my own. If you don’t want it I got to find somebody else. I’m getting old. Going on three hundred years now. That’s what Miss Tyler told me. Two hundred eighty-five by my count.
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Explanation and Analysis:
He didn’t care if anybody else knew if he did it or not. He knew. He didn’t do it for the people standing around watching. He did it for himself. He say I’d rather die in truth than to live a lie. That way he can say that his life is worth more than a bucket of nails. What is your life worth, Mr. Citizen? That’s what you got to find out. You got to find a way to live in truth.
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BLACK MARY: What’s the two pennies for? Why he got to find two pennies?
AUNT ESTER: That’s only to give him something to do. He think there a power in them two pennies. He think when he find them all his trouble will be over. But he need to think that before he can come face to face with himself. Ain’t nothing special about the two pennies. Only thing special about them is he think they special. He find them two pennies then he think he done something. But, he ain’t done nothing but find two pennies.
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Act 2, Scene 4
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You see, Mr. Caesar, you can put the law on the paper but that don’t make it right. That piece of paper say I was property. Say anybody could buy or sell me. The law say I needed a piece of paper to say I was a free woman. But I didn’t need no piece of paper to tell me that. Do you need a piece of paper, Mr. Caesar?
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These ain’t slavery times no more, Miss Tyler. You living in the past. All that done changed. The law done changed and I’m a custodian of the law. Now you know, Miss Tyler, you got to have rule of law otherwise there’d be chaos. Nobody wants to live in chaos.
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