Eli Character Analysis in Gem of the Ocean

Eli oversees Aunt Ester’s day-to-day life as a spiritual advisor. When Citizen comes to see Aunt Ester, for instance, Eli tells him to come back on a different day, not wanting to wake Ester because she’s old and needs her rest. Eli is also close friends with Solly, having worked with him on the Underground Railroad to help people escape enslavement. When Caesar comes to arrest Aunt Ester for harboring Solly after he burned down the mill, Eli points a shotgun at Caesar and tells him to leave. But Aunt Ester instructs him to lower the weapon, so he obliges—a sign of how loyal he is (and how closely he listens) to the people he loves.

Eli Quotes in Gem of the Ocean

The Gem of the Ocean quotes below are all either spoken by Eli or refer to Eli. 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:

They gonna have some more the way Caesar keep evicting people. He put out two more families yesterday. He charging by the week. They get one week behind and he put them out. He don’t ask no questions. He just gather up what little bit of stuff they got and sit it out on the street. Then he arrest them for being out there.

Related Characters: Eli (speaker), Caesar Wilks

Page Number and Citation: 10

Explanation and Analysis:

After Eli tells Citizen Barlow to come back on Tuesday, Citizen stands outside Aunt Ester’s house and waits. Looking out the window, Eli and Black Mary talk about how he’ll probably take shelter soon under a nearby bridge, where many people have recently been flocking because they have nowhere else to go. Eli points out that this increase in the number houseless people is due to Caesar’s strict and unfair practices as a landlord at the local boarding house. Caesar doesn’t show any patience or empathy when his tenants get behind on rent. Instead of helping his fellow community members Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro per

ELI: Freedom is what you make it.

SOLLY: That’s what I’m saying. You got to fight to make it mean something. All it mean is you got a long row to hoe and ain’t got no plow. Ain’t got no seed. Ain’t got no mule. What good is freedom if you can’t do nothing with it? I seen many a man die for freedom but he didn’t know what he was getting. If he had known he might have thought twice about it.

Related Characters: Solly Two Kings (speaker), Eli (speaker), Citizen Barlow

Page Number and Citation: 28

Explanation and Analysis:

In a conversation with Citizen Barlow, both Eli and Solly suggest that legal freedom isn’t necessarily meaningful or valuable in and of itself. They believe that “freedom is what you make it,” indicating that people have to actively work toward true liberty even when they’re already “free” from enslavement. Solly presents a metaphor that compares legal freedom to trying to farm without any equipment or seeds. Of course, being able to own land as a Black American is significant in and of itself, since such a thing was unheard of during slavery. But there’s not much point in owning farmland Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis con

SOLLY: […] It’s dangerous out here. People walking around hunting each other. If you ain’t careful you could lose your eye or your arm. I seen that. I seen a man grab hold to a fellow and cut off his arm. Cut it off at the shoulder. He had to work at it a while…but he cut it clean off. The man looked down saw his arm gone and started crying. After that he more dangerous with that one arm than the other man is with two. He got less to lose. There’s a lot of one-arm men walking around.

ELI: That’s what Caesar can’t understand. He can’t see the people ain’t got nothing to lose.

Related Characters: Solly Two Kings (speaker), Eli (speaker), Caesar Wilks

Page Number and Citation: 60

Explanation and Analysis:

Solly and Eli talk to Citizen about how difficult it is for Black people to live in the oppressive conditions of American society. When Solly tells the story about seeing a man cut of another man’s arm, he illustrates two things. First, the story shows Citizen that difficult economic circumstances push people into ruthless competition, suddenly pitting community members against each other as if they’re “walking around hunting each other.” Second, his story sheds light on how desperation creates a sense of reckless abandon. When people have “less to lose,” they become even more likely to behave dangerously. Therefore, it’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi ne

SOLLY: […] I knew all them guns wasn’t on account of me. I figured they was fighting for themselves. And if that would help them that would help us.

ELI: They never said they was gonna help us. They said the war was gonna help us. After that it be every man for himself.

SOLLY: I told them you get what’s in it for you and I’ll get what’s in it for me. You get yours and I’ll get mine and we’ll settle the difference later. We still settling it.

Related Characters: Solly Two Kings (speaker), Eli (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 61

Explanation and Analysis:

Discussing the Civil War, Solly and Eli agree that the Union Army didn’t just fight the Confederacy to free the many enslaved Black people in the South. Although that was one of the matters at stake in the war, there was also the issue of the Confederacy wanting to secede from the Union, meaning that there were political reasons for the Union to fight in the Civil War. Still, Solly accepted that the Union’s specific motivations didn’t necessarily matter in the moment, as long as the end result was the abolition of slavery. At the same time, though, he recognized Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque

They laid him low. Put him in the cold ground. David and Solomon. Two kings in the cold ground. Solly never did find his freedom. He always believed he was gonna find it. The battlefield is always bloody. Blood here. Blood there. Blood over yonder. Everybody bleeding. Everybody been cut and most of them don’t even know it. But they bleeding just the same. It’s all you can do sometime just to stand up. Solly stood up and walked.

He lived in truth and he died in truth. He died on the battlefield. You live right you die right.

Related Characters: Eli (speaker), Solly Two Kings

Page Number and Citation: 83

Explanation and Analysis:

Eli delivers this eulogy after Solly bleeds to death in Aunt Ester’s kitchen. He highlights that Solly fought for freedom for his entire life, always putting himself on the line without any regard for his own physical safety. What Eli says about people bleeding everywhere harkens back to something Solly himself mentioned when he was telling Citizen about his experience on the Underground Railroad—namely, that he didn’t mind getting wounded by attack dogs because he realized it wasn’t such a big deal to bleed. The implication here is that he would rather lose blood than stand idly by while his Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit

Eli Character Timeline in Gem of the Ocean

The timeline below shows where the character Eli appears in Gem of the Ocean. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Eli is in the kitchen of Aunt Ester’s home when a frantic knock sounds at the... (full context)

Eli has just finished eating breakfast in Aunt Ester’s kitchen with Black Mary, who is Ester’s... (full context)

A traveling salesman named Selig comes by Aunt Ester’s house to deliver some stones to Eli and to sell a frying pan to Black Mary. He mentions that the town’s mill... (full context)

Before Selig takes his leave, Eli thanks him for the stones he brought. He then asks Solly to help him build... (full context)

...and starting to feel his age, so he knows he needs someone to accompany him. Eli would gladly join him, but he has to stay to care for Aunt Ester, who... (full context)

...getting old. After he tells Aunt Ester about his impending trip to Alabama, he and Eli leave for Garret Brown’s funeral, though Ester tells him to come back afterwards to eat... (full context)

...make up a bed for Citizen, who will be staying with them while he helps Eli build the wall. (full context)

Black Mary and Eli sit in the kitchen talking about Citizen. Eli wants to know how he got into... (full context)

...to experience it. Solly is technically free, but he doesn’t really know what that means. Eli chimes in and notes that freedom is simply “what you make it.” (full context)

Caesar knocks on the door. When Eli answers it, he reminds Caesar that this is a peaceful house. Rushing inside, Caesar complains... (full context)

...want his charity. When Citizen goes back outside to work on the wall, Caesar tells Eli and Black Mary to keep an eye on him. (full context)

Once Solly leaves, Eli joins Citizen outside to work on the wall, leaving Caesar alone with his sister. He... (full context)

...if he’s going to “come face to face with himself.” Right as she finishes talking, Eli rushes in and announces that the mill is on fire. (full context)

...he would gladly fight another Civil War to make it happen. When Aunt Ester and Eli come in, they all talk about the fire and how it’s still burning. Selig then... (full context)

While Citizen and Aunt Ester prepare themselves for the City of Bones, Eli and Black Mary wait in the kitchen. Solly arrives to say goodbye before heading south,... (full context)

...has 62 notches on it—one for each person he freed. He used to work with Eli to help people come north. The workers on the Underground Railroad were responsible for their... (full context)

...got used to that idea, which helped him fight off the dogs. As Solly and Eli talk about the Underground Railroad, Eli pours them all some whiskey, saying that Citizen deserves... (full context)

Solly and Eli agree that white people fought the Civil War for their own reasons. Although the Union... (full context)

...agrees to help Citizen before he leaves. He won’t be the only one helping Citizen; Eli, Black Mary, and Aunt Ester will also be there to guide him as he travels... (full context)

...in a dark hold, where he can hear people singing about going to a graveyard (Eli, Solly, and Black Mary sing these words in the background of the scene). The song... (full context)

...rocked back and forth by a storm. Before he can pick it up, Solly and Eli grab him and whip him (it feels real to him, but they just pantomime the... (full context)

Eli and Solly throw Citizen into the hull and slam the hatch shut. He begs for... (full context)

...to try to flee to Alabama undetected. Citizen decides to go with him; Solly and Eli praise him for making the decision, saying that he’s one of them now. Before they... (full context)

...the hiding of Solly, a wanted criminal. For that reason, he has to arrest her. Eli steps out with a shotgun aimed at Caesar, but Aunt Ester tells him to put... (full context)

...home after posting bail, she goes straight to her room to lie down. Just as Eli sits down to take a moment to himself, Citizen rushes through the upstairs window and... (full context)

...was because he didn’t have his lucky chain link, which he’d lent to Citizen. But Eli says he knows Solly will pull through, since he’s so tough. And yet, Solly passes... (full context)

Citizen puts his two pennies in Solly’s lifeless hands. Eli says a few words about his life, noting that he never found the freedom he... (full context)

Once Caesar is gone, Citizen comes back out. Aunt Ester, Eli, and Black Mary sing a burial song as Citizen puts on Solly’s coat and grabs... (full context)

Eli Character Analysis

Eli Quotes in Gem of the Ocean

Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 2 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 5 Quotes

Eli Character Timeline in Gem of the Ocean