Uncle Tom's Cabin

How are Miss Ophelia's views of blacks more complicated than the racial views of other whites we havemet so far?

How are Miss Ophelia's views of blacks more complicated than the racial views of other whites we have met so far?

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Miss Ophelia is Augustine St. Clare's middleaged, unmarried cousin from Vermont whom he brings back to New Orleans to help look after Eva. Ophelia, a Christian, is a product of her orderly, quiet, precise New England home, and in her eyes the greatest sin is "shiftlessness." She loves her cousin Augustine in spite of his lackadaisical ways and the fact that he is not a Christian, and she often debates the issues of slavery and race relations with him. Although she deplores the practice of slaveholding, she holds prejudices against black people and would prefer to have little to do with them. Here we find a juxtaposition not found in any of the other characters.