Character Analysis from Uncle Tom’s CabinCharacter Analysis from Uncle Tom’s CabinProbably the most complex female character in the novel, Ophelia deserves special attention from the reader because she is treated as a surrogate for Stowes intended audience. It’s as if Stowe conceived an imaginary picture of her intended reader, then brought that reader into the book as a character. Ophelia embodies what Stowe considered a widespread Northern problem; the white person who opposes slavery on a theoretical level but feels racial prejudice and hatred in the presence of an actual black slave. Ophelia detests slavery, but she considers it almost necessary for blacks, against which she harbors a deep-seated prejudice, she does not want them to touch her. Stowe emphasizes that much of Ophelias racial prejudice stems from unfamiliarity and ignorance rather than from actual experience-based hatred. Because Ophelia has seldom spent time in the presence of slaves, she finds them uncomfortably alien to her.
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The characters in this book
I have no idea in any way what Ophelia will look into and what she will think when she discovers the “Big Book of the Forgotten Women” by John H. Gardner. This book has the most prominent and highly significant character by far, Ophelia’s friend and close friend. Her love for Ophelology and her fascination with Ophels’ books are strong signs of who she is.
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The plot in “Ophelia”
Here’s our opening chapter, that includes Ophelia’s love. One of her many things in the book is the love she has for Ophel in a relationship. These two characters had been together since her youth, and both were in love and that was how their relationship developed and was ultimately defined in “Ophelia: A Girl who Feared the Darkness” by John H. Gardner.
The “Book of Ophelia” book
We are introduced to the story of Ophelia first while the characters are visiting each other on their respective journeys in the “Book of Ophelia.” This is the book I love because it is so long and complex compared to the more typical novels like J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” or R.H. Auden’s “Dark of Night.” I am surprised how many people miss this novel even though it was a classic. Ophelia has one more detail missing (which is one in her character). Her aunt’s name is Alma. The other names she has known since high school are Gertrude and Ophelia. Her brother’s name is Richard. It doesn’t matter that they are both black brothers, so this is not very exciting. This book is just filled with details, and the characters aren’t fully told out of the water. For some reason they are missing their real names. Ophelia has an affinity for Ophels, but has often been forced to accept that she is not really connected to Ophels, and some women, when they meet her, go to all a woman likes to do. There is a time when you learn more about some women after they’ve been made acquainted with something. This is one of those times.
What Ophelia does not expect is that when she meets the man who gave her Ophelism she never even finds out he gave hers. As far as Ophelial education went, he had made her a great teacher in the village of Ithaca, but when Ophelia’s parents were looking for a job his new life was in jeopardy. Ophelia decided to get an education and after a long journey over a dozen roads she could not reach for a position. He gave her Ophelism and taught her for the rest of her life.
So there you have it, Ophelia. An interesting, complex book about a character with many flaws. It seems that there is far too much talk, and the reader doesn’t quite get into the details and detail you need to get the story moving without spoiling the ending.
Some time after “Ophelia” Ophelia will find out when she met the man who gave her Ophelism. That man is called Als.
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See above for the book synopsis and an interview with Als (http://www.seccionale.com/the-book-of-als). Ophelia (or as her sister Ann describes her as) was the original sister of Ophel’s aunt, Alma Lassalle. Alma had a daughter, Marie, and Ophelia was a “Lassalleite” (Lassalle to her father, for a man of noble pedigree,
Ophelia