Gem of the Ocean shows that, in the right circumstances, a strong sense of belief has the power to transform a person’s life. As the community’s “spiritual adviser,” Aunt Ester takes it upon herself to “wash souls,” which is to say that she spiritually cleanses people. However, it’s unclear in the play whether or not the impact she has on people is actually related to her supernatural talents. She says that she’s 285 years old and that she crossed the Atlantic Ocean on one of the first slave ships bound for America—a detail that suggests she is, indeed, capable of supernatural or spiritual wonders, given her unheard of age. At the same time, though, it’s quite possible that her greatest power is actually her ability to give other people a sense of meaning in life, which isn’t necessarily magical or supernatural.
For instance, when Aunt Ester agrees to “wash” Citizen’s soul, she tells him to prepare by finding two pennies lying right next to each other. This assignment sounds mysterious and full of meaning, but after Citizen leaves, Aunt Ester admits to Black Mary that the pennies have no purpose in and of themselves; they don’t have any mystical power. “He think there a power in them two pennies,” she says. “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.” In other words, Aunt Ester recognizes that simply believing in something is, in many cases, all that matters. When Citizen comes back with two pennies, he feels like he has accomplished something and that this accomplishment has prepared him for a meaningful change in his life. In reality, nothing is different except for his outlook. But this change in perspective is deeply transformative, enabling him to wholeheartedly invest himself in the rest of Aunt Ester’s “soul washing” process. Whether or not Aunt Ester has supernatural powers is therefore beside the point, since what really matters is her ability to help people believe in themselves and their capacity to change.
Related Themes from Other Texts
The Power of Belief ThemeTracker
The Power of Belief Quotes in Gem of the Ocean
You don’t understand I give the people hope when they ain’t got nothing else. They take that loaf of bread and make it last twice as long. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t pay one and a half times for it. I’m helping people.
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.
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.
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.
