At the end of the story, we once again run into Nehemiah. His personality has changed a great deal. He seems crazy, losing his mind for relentlessly searching for Dessa. He is determined to get her caught so that her sentence can be carried out. Nehemiah even claims to have been fooled by Dessa. "'Evil, madam,' Nemi say. 'Oh, she pull the wool over your eyes; she pulled it on mines too-at first....Sing and laugh, and all the time plotting.'"(pg 227) It seems as though he had somewhat enjoyed their talks during her captivity at the farm but because of her escape believes that she tricked him into thinking she was kind and honest, which made him lower his guard by allowing other slaves to tend to her.
Dessa had a dislike of Ruth for she was jealous of her for having sex with Nathan. Though to go along with their plan to escape to the West, Dessa stayed with her, pretending to be her servant. When confronted by Nemi, Ruth stands up for Dessa and protects her from the law. When they leave, Dessa addresses her formally and is interrupted by Ruth who tells her to address her by her actual name. Both of them realize now that they aren't very different from each other. Thus begins their friendship. It shows us that there were some that were against slavery and willingly to stand on equal ground with those of different races.
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