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.
Chapters 10-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
Meanwhile, the expedition begins its trek. Reuel immediately distinguishes himself as a leader and a doctor. The work helps him bury regrets about leaving Dianthe. Despite his suffering, he soon feels at peace, realizing that he is not in control of his own fate. Thinking of Dianthe and his “soul-communion” with her soothes him. When the expedition arrives in Tripoli—their first stop in Africa—Reuel receives two letters from Dianthe.
Jim Titus has proved valuable as well. Although he is a Black man, he is a firm believer in the so-called superiority of white people. Occasionally, Reuel sees Jim watching him, but he assumes that Jim is simply following Aubrey’s orders to protect him. No further letters arrive from America during the month it takes to organize a caravan to cross the desert.
On the journey across the Sahara, the guides, including a driver named Ababdis, sing to break up the monotony, and Reuel thrills to the sound. Later, he explores a ruined castle with Jim, in spite of the risk of lions. Reuel is daydreaming about the riches he will bring home when he is cornered by a leopard on a high ledge. Knowing that he will be unable to escape on his own, he calls to Jim but gets no answer. At the last minute, Charlie Vance appears and hands Reuel a revolver to shoot the leopard. Neither Charlie nor Reuel can understand how Jim Titus was able to sleep through the noise.
Chapter 11 Summary
When the caravan stops for the night near Meroe, the expedition leader, Professor Stone, visits Reuel and Charlie’s tent to lay out his theories about the city. Because Meroe was once an international trading center, Stone speculates that “vast treasures” must be buried there. Reuel says that if Stone is right, it would prove that Black Africans—even more so than Egyptians—should be considered the source of art and science. He wonders whether white people could ever accept this. Stone expresses a faith in the ability of facts to overcome prejudice and goes on to assert that Ethiopians might be the “primal race” of all humanity. Charlie is skeptical, and Reuel cuts off further discussion.
Later that night, Reuel has a vision of Mira, the same woman who had appeared to Dianthe. He is then shown a vision of Jim Titus reading a letter from Aubrey that directs him to destroy the letters sent to Reuel and Charlie. Realizing that “mesmeric forces” have disclosed a plot against him, he goes over Jim’s actions on the journey and realizes Jim has been working against him the entire time. He wakes from a fitful sleep to the cry of “Reuel, save me!” (81). He wakes up Charlie and tells him that something must have happened to Dianthe. Soon after, Charlie also hears a voice saying, “brother, save me!” (82). Reuel enters a hypnotic trance and, under the spell, recounts to Charlie the details of the boating accident. However, while Reuel can see Molly, he cannot see Dianthe. When he comes out of the trance he and Charlie decide to go to Meroe, then return to America as soon as they can.
Chapter 12 Summary
The caravan camps at one of the outposts of the island of Meroe. Charlie, waiting restlessly for the mail to arrive from Cairo, contemplates the ruins along the Nile and is struck by the desolation of the landscape, “the monotony of past centuries dead and forgotten” (85). While sleeping, he dreams of Molly and home.
Professor Stone tells stories of the ancient city of Meroe and presents his plans for its discovery. He translates for his fellow travelers a parchment that describes a hidden city near the mines of Meroe, containing treasures beyond human comprehension. The parchment also describes a secret entrance to the hidden city underneath one of the pyramids. It warns of a sacred crocodile and sacred serpents that guard the treasure.
The group is perplexed by the document, but Stone is confident, and Reuel affirms his view and his determination to locate the hidden city. Stone once again discourses on the crucial contributions that Ethiopians—the descendants of Noah’s grandson, Cush—have made to world civilization. For Stone, the Biblical tradition confirms the connection between the Ethiopians, Libyans, Canaanites, and Egyptians. Some of Stone’s listeners, including Charlie, are surprised that African Americans could be related to these ancient sages, but Stone refuses to be dissuaded. He reveals that he obtained the paper from an African camel driver who believed the Ethiopian civilization preceded the Egyptian, and that a descendent of the ancient royal line would return to restore the hidden city to its former glory. The man said that every royal descendant has a lotus-lily as a birthmark. Reuel appears to be startled by this information.
Chapter 13 Summary
The expedition begins exploring the ruins of Meroe, and the participants soon realize that much of Stone’s talk has been true: Meroe was clearly the center of a once-great civilization.
Reuel and Charlie, now distrusting Jim Titus, send someone else for the mail. Without news of his wife, Reuel is transforming into a “misanthrope.” Charlie is also upset but hides his agony to support Reuel. The landscape distracts the men from their troubling thoughts until the mail arrives.
Chapter 14 Summary
Reuel experiences a physical shock when he learns that Dianthe and Molly are dead. Three weeks pass before he can rejoin the expedition. Other members have located the entrance to the hidden city but cannot get inside. Reuel enters the pyramid on his own to examine its interior of the sepulcher. The place is vast, and he feels “physical terror.” He sees the Ethiopian Sphinx, then loses consciousness.
Reuel awakes four days later, surrounded by a group of men looking at him with “respectful admiration and curiosity” (104). His surroundings are luxurious, with no sign of decay, and the people present a range of dark skin tones and hair types, yet all of them are, to Reuel’s eyes, “perfect.” The leader orders the others to leave and remains alone with Reuel. Speaking in what Reuel recognizes as ancient Arabic, Ai, as the man is called, tells him that he is in the hidden city of Telassar. The people are descendants of the Ethiopian inhabitants of Meroe. They live protected from invasions and expect their future king to restore their race. Though Reuel contests the idea that they are early Ethiopians, Ai insists. He explains that Ethiopia declined due to its pride and idolatry, but they live as believers of the true God and expect to reinstate their glory. Reuel follows Ai into an apartment where he takes a luxurious bath and sleeps to recover.
Chapters 10-14 Analysis
This section centers on Reuel’s pathway to self-discovery. Reuel’s trip to Africa introduces the theme of Decolonizing African American Identity. At first, Reuel is haunted by thoughts of home and wonders if he will be able to return. He misses Dianthe but finds solace in her letters. Hopkins gives a vivid description of the African landscape to illustrate Reuel’s initial contact with the continent. Simultaneously, Aubrey’s conspiracy begins to unfold, as Jim Titus ignores Reuel’s cries for help during his encounter with the leopard. The story further explores the issue of decolonization and race through the expedition to uncover the treasures of Meroe. Hopkins employs Professor Stone’s theories to present an Afrocentric perspective on human history. The professor considers Ethiopians as the original race and the rich ancient culture of Black people as the source knowledge and wisdom of modernity. Reuel feels uncomfortable with the discussion on race and still dismisses his identity. His interest in Ethiopia is strictly ethnological rather than personal.
The motifs of mysticism and the supernatural become crucial when Mira’s shadow appears to Reuel. Mira’s ghost reveals Aubrey’s conspiracy and Jim Titus’s treachery through “mesmeric forces.” The motif extends and connects with the theme of Black Women’s Quest for Liberation as both Reuel and Charlie hear Dianthe’s and Molly’s distant voices crying for help. Reuel and Charlie realize the dangers that the women they left behind confront. Ultimately, the vision of Mira is a turning point in the story as Reuel realizes that Aubrey is his enemy.
As the expedition advances into Meroe, Hopkins contrasts the African landscape with the American. The African desert is characterized by a “monotony of past centuries dead and forgotten,” antithetical to the “modern homeliness” of America (85). Meroe, however, used to be a glorious and wealthy city whose splendor belies colonialist assumptions about African societies. Hopkins continues to challenge Eurocentric views of history by foregrounding “Ethiopian” contributions to world culture, reinforcing the theme of Decolonizing African American Identity. Professor Stone—himself a white man in a position of authority—describes the history and advanced culture of ancient Ethiopia. He tells the group that Ethiopian civilization “manifested great superiority over all the nations among whom they dwelt,” and the later Babylonians and Egyptians are their descendants (90). He adds that African Americans are possible descendants of the Ethiopians and lost knowledge about their ancestry because of their enslavement. Stone’s lecture also introduces the legend of the expected Ethiopian king Ergamenes, who will reinstate the race’s former glory, foreshadowing Reuel’s connection with the Ethiopian culture. Stone’s theories construct Hopkins’s Afrocentric historical arguments.
Life shifts for Reuel after receiving the false news of Dianthe’s death. For Reuel, her loss signifies his disconnection from home and his former life. The protagonist reaches a point of no return when, finding no meaning, he decides to lose himself in the pyramid. When he is discovered by the indigenous inhabitants of the hidden city of Telassar, descendants of the ancient Ethiopian race, his journey takes a new course. With Ai as his guide, Reuel witnesses the glory of Ethiopian culture that remains sheltered from colonial influence. He is hesitant to believe in the power of African culture but Ai convinces him of the power of African culture.
