44 pages • 1-hour read
Ophie's Ghosts
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and racism.
Curiosity and Exploration as Survival Tactics
Ophie’s Ghosts is a coming-of-age novel that traces Ophie’s journey toward self-actualization. At 12 years old, she finds her world upturned when her father is killed and she and her mother are forced to relocate to Pennsylvania. These tragedies and changes challenge Ophie as she tries to find a new home and a sense of stability and belonging amid the injustices of the Jim Crow era. In Pittsburgh, she lives with her difficult extended family, is forced to drop out of school to help her mother earn a living, and has no friends her age. Although Ophie’s circumstances impede her independence, Ophie finds ways to explore her world and activate her curious mind. In particular, Ophie’s interest in the ghosts at Daffodil Manor (where she works) help her to withstand her entrapment.
Ophie’s investment in solving the mystery of the ghost Clara’s murder ignites her childlike wonder and curiosity and offers her a sense of purpose. Her internal monologues throughout the narrative convey her attachment to Clara’s fate; as the narrative asserts, “She couldn’t shake the feeling that untangling the truth around what had happened to Clara was important. […] Perhaps it was murder, perhaps it was an accident, but […] it linked directly the two people who had the most power over Ophie’s life: Mrs. Caruthers and Richard Caruthers” (124). At this point, Ophie doesn’t yet know how much her life will change when she solves this mystery; she simply believes that Clara deserves justice, and she feels that finding and exposing the murderer is a way to engage with the world on her own terms. She explores Daffodil Manor independently, traversing the recesses of the house and conversing with its many ghosts. She finds hunting for clues purposeful and diverting, and her efforts lead her to a deeper understanding about the people she lives with and works for. Although Richard and Mrs. Caruthers hold considerable power over her circumstances, she essentially seizes control of their authority by bringing their secrets and crimes to light. Her detective work gives her a sense of agency, autonomy, and mental stimulation. Without this private project, Ophie’s life would otherwise be governed solely by Mrs. Caruthers’s demands and Richard’s orders. The more risks she takes to solve Clara’s murder, the more alive she feels.
Ophie’s detective work teaches her that she can use her mind and heart to help others. In the context of Daffodil Manor and the Jim Crow era, Ophie has been taught to remain silent and follow orders. Her detective project teaches her to speak her mind and follow her instincts, and she revels in this form of rebellion, self-discovery, and personal empowerment.
The Importance of Addressing Past Injustices
The recurring images of ghosts are an extended metaphor for buried, erased, or forgotten histories. After Ophie’s father dies, she starts to see ghosts wherever she goes and wonders “if maybe her brain [i]s sick and she [i]s just imagining the people no one else c[an] see” (31). However, she eventually confirms that these sightings are in fact specters of once-living people. With the help of Aunt Rose, she learns how to communicate with and understand the ghosts, all of whom want something from the living. As Rose explains, most have been unable to move on because they have unfinished business on earth.
The ghosts whom Ophie befriends want her help because they fear that their stories and lives will be forgotten. Throughout the novel, the titled interlude chapters reveal how attuned the ghosts of Pittsburgh are to Ophie. On the trolley, in the streets, at the cinema, and throughout Daffodil Manor, the ghosts become “more alert than they ha[ve] been in a very long time” (48). They wake up to Ophie’s presence, hopeful that she will be able to bring them justice. The ghosts collectively symbolize lost personal histories, and because Ophie is sensitive to how the past impacts the present, she becomes determined to assist the ghosts in their transition to the afterlife.
The death of Ophie’s father informs her relationship with ghosts, spirits, and hauntings. Throughout the majority of the novel, Ophie compartmentalizes her sorrow over Daddy’s death. She pushes her grief away, afraid to confess her feelings to her mother or confront her loss. The longer she avoids this emotional reckoning, however, the more her sorrow intensifies. The same dynamic is true of the ghosts’ histories. The more the living ignore them, the more dangerous the ghosts become. Clara, for example, turns violent when she is unable to avenge herself, tell her story, and move on. When Ophie finally sheds light on her fate, she offers Clara a much-needed measure of peace and understanding. The narrative thus implies that attending to and learning about the past is essential to promoting a peaceful present and future. Ophie also applies these lessons to her own life and relationships. At the end of the novel, she and her mother discuss Daddy’s death and Ophie’s experience of seeing his ghost, and as they process their past together, mother and daughter finally find a way to move forward.
Work as a Pathway to Agency and Exploitation
Ophie and Mama’s experiences at Daffodil Manor convey the fact that vocational opportunities during the Jim Crow era could simultaneously offer opportunities for independence and expose individuals to abuse. When Ophie first starts working for the Caruthers family, for example, she resents having to leave school to help support herself and her mother. At the same time, she understands that working is the only way for her and Mama to someday afford their own home and create a better life for themselves. As the narrative states, “Mama was concerned about charity, about earning what she got by pulling her own weight [and] not making a fuss” (63). Ophie knows not to complain about working as Mrs. Caruthers’s caretaker, but she often struggles under the injustice of her circumstances.
Mrs. Caruthers’s unkindness and emotional abuse also expose Ophie to racism and exploitation, threatening to rob her of her innocence. Ophie knows that “she should be happy” with her circumstances because “she and Mama both ha[ve] positions with one of the richest families in Pittsburgh, and before they kn[o]w it, they w[ill] be able to afford to move into their own little place” (45). However, Ophie cannot help but feel miserable. At just 12 years old, she is forced to work an adult’s job and assume an adult workload, and she is well aware that at this young age, she “shouldn’t have to worry about things like rent and recommendations from rich people and keeping a good name for herself” (192). Ophie’s job effectively ushers her out of her childhood before she is ready. Instead of making friends, “reading fairy tales and taking her nickels to the sweet shop” (192), she is beholden to the cruel Mrs. Caruthers’s constant demands. When she isn’t working, she often lies awake, worrying about her mother’s mental health and the family’s economic security. Ophie is eager to give Mama a new life, but she has little power to do so because she is just a child.
Ophie’s and Mama’s jobs at Daffodil Manor underscore the difficulties that Black people had in providing for themselves in the wake of emancipation. Although Ophie and Mama were never enslaved, they are trapped by a system that continues to disenfranchise their people. Their constant fear of being fired, hurt, or pushed out onto the street captures the insecurity of their world. Despite Ophie and Mama’s constant endeavors to work hard and show respect to their employers, who have done very little to earn it, they meet constant challenges. Work is the only way they know to change their lives and claim agency over their futures.
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