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Edward Ames
Della is Jack Boughton’s wife. A young Black woman and prominent minister’s daughter, she used to be a teacher in St. Louis, where she and Jack met by chance one day and befriended each other. Della’s family doesn’t approve of her relationship with Jack, especially her father, who believes that most white men are atheists. Nevertheless, she and Jack try to build a life together in St. Louis, flouting Missouri’s laws against interracial marriage. It’s incredibly difficult, and in the end, she chooses to let Jack go and to stay in Memphis with their son Robert and her family.
Della Miles Quotes in Gilead
The Gilead quotes below are all either spoken by Della Miles or refer to Della Miles. 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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Pages 217-232 Quotes
“We are married in the eyes of God, as they say. Who does not provide a certificate, but who also does not enforce anti-miscegenation laws. The Deus Absconditus at His most benign. Sorry.” He smiled. “In the eyes of God we have been man and wife for about eight years. We have lived as man and wife a total of seventeen months, two weeks, and a day.”
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Della Miles Character Timeline in Gilead
The timeline below shows where the character Della Miles appears in Gilead. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 217-232
...doesn’t want to ask his wife to break from her parents. And the main thing Della’s father has against Jack is that he’s an atheist. (Her father believes that all white...
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Della was a teacher. One day Jack saw her walking home from school in a rainstorm...
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...to live as a family, answering her parents’ biggest objections to him, then he believes Della would marry him. He explains that he met Della at a low point in his...
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Later—Jack isn’t sure how it happened—Della invited him to Thanksgiving dinner. Jack was nervous about it and had a few drinks...
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Jack tracked down Della’s family; they were easy to find, since her father was the minister of a well-known...
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...her father told him that if his intentions were truly honorable, he wouldn’t have befriended Della. Seeing that Della had a good life with her family, Jack immediately returned to St....
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Della’s family disowned her at this point, and when she got pregnant, her school fired her....
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Eventually, Della’s father and brothers came to see Jack. Her father said Jack should be thankful that...
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When Jack finally got to Memphis, the baby was a few days old. When Della’s father got home, he said that he understood that Jack was a descendant of John...
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Della’s father knew his name because it turned out that Della wanted to name the baby...
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...then, they have gone back and forth. Whenever things become too difficult in St. Louis, Della and their little boy go back to Memphis for a while. The little boy, Robert...
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...That night, the police came by and warned them about the cohabiting law. Jack put Della and their son on a bus to Memphis, rented out the house, and came back...
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...bit about being “the object of scandal,” having made an “unconventional marriage” himself. Then again, Della is an educated woman. Immediately, John is struck by Jack’s characteristic meanness. There was no...
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Pages 232-237
...Memphis, but Jack said he was going “anywhere else.” He’s received the long-awaited letter from Della. John’s heart felt heavy. He tried to make small talk with the family, but Jack...
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