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The Bill of Sale, which is a record of Aunt Ester’s former enslavement, symbolizes the gap between what’s moral and what’s legal. The Bill of Sale—a legal document—says that Aunt Ester was sold from one enslaver to another for $607, which implies that she is a piece of property, not a person. Of course, this is wrong; Aunt Ester is now a free person, and she always should have been free, which is why she tells Caesar that despite what the law says, has always known that nobody had any right to treat her like property. Unlike Aunt Ester, Caesar has a hard time seeing that what’s legal isn’t always moral, and he enforces racist laws in ways that hurt his family and community. She shows Caesar the Bill of Sale as a way of helping him see that the law isn’t something that he should unquestioningly follow or uphold, since enforcing immoral laws is itself immoral.
The Bill of Sale Quotes in Gem of the Ocean
The Gem of the Ocean quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Bill of Sale. 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:
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Act 2, Scene 4
Quotes
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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The Bill of Sale Symbol Timeline in Gem of the Ocean
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Bill of Sale appears in Gem of the Ocean. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2, Scene 1
As she speaks, Aunt Ester makes a small boat out of a Bill of Sale she has been holding. She tells Citizen that he’s going to take a ride in...
(full context)
Act 2, Scene 2
...to the City of Bones on the small boat Aunt Ester made out of a Bill of Sale . The boat is called the Gem of the Ocean, and Aunt Ester says that...
(full context)
Act 2, Scene 4
...cuts him off, saying that she, too, has a piece of paper. She’s referring to the Bill of Sale that she folded into the shape of a boat. Caesar tries to continue what he...
(full context)
...explains that writing the law on a piece of paper doesn’t make it right. The Bill of Sale says that she’s “property,” but both she and Caesar know that’s not true. Her point...
(full context)
