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Sagastis
Bella is Kenny’s mother. After the authorities take Kenny away to the mission school, she tries her hardest to get him back, stopping only when Father Levesque threatens to have her arrested. After this, she succumbs to depression and despair and becomes an alcoholic. Although she tries to change her ways when Kenny comes home, too much of her spirit has already died, and she’s unable to fully stop drinking or be fully present as Kenny’s mother.
Bella Quotes in Five Little Indians
The Five Little Indians quotes below are all either spoken by Bella or refer to Bella. 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:
).
Chapter 1: Kenny
Quotes
They fell into an easy routine, tending the smokehouse, carefully preserving the half-smoked salmon, managing a simple life. On Sundays, they would stay home all day with the curtains closed, just in case the visiting priest got wind of Kenny’s return. Neither of them spoke of their years apart, and over time the truth of their separation grew between them, like a silent wound, untended and festering. Kenny started spending more time at the docks, visiting the fishermen and making friends […], Bella started spending less time at the smokehouse and more time at the kitchen table, smoking and gazing out the window. Sometimes she wouldn’t even hear Kenny when he came in from a day of wandering. He would slip into the chair beside her and marvel at the two-inch ash at the end of her smoke.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: Maisie
Quotes
[Dad] smelled of woodsmoke and fish, and that primal smell tumbled me back in time to a thin memory of me and my mom meeting him at the dock, him tossing me in the air, me laughing so hard my belly hurt. He would carry me home like I weighed nothing, my face in the crook of his neck, rough sea salt rubbing off on my face. They told me that after I was taken, no one told them where I was. They still didn’t know which school I’d been sent to. I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d tried to find out. They must have. But the angry question kept rising in my anyway, and their constant affection began to disgust me.
I lasted a month. No matter how hard I tried, […] these people, though kind and loving, were like strangers pretending to be family.
Get the entire Five Little Indians LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bella Quotes in Five Little Indians
The Five Little Indians quotes below are all either spoken by Bella or refer to Bella. 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:
).
Chapter 1: Kenny
Quotes
They fell into an easy routine, tending the smokehouse, carefully preserving the half-smoked salmon, managing a simple life. On Sundays, they would stay home all day with the curtains closed, just in case the visiting priest got wind of Kenny’s return. Neither of them spoke of their years apart, and over time the truth of their separation grew between them, like a silent wound, untended and festering. Kenny started spending more time at the docks, visiting the fishermen and making friends […], Bella started spending less time at the smokehouse and more time at the kitchen table, smoking and gazing out the window. Sometimes she wouldn’t even hear Kenny when he came in from a day of wandering. He would slip into the chair beside her and marvel at the two-inch ash at the end of her smoke.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: Maisie
Quotes
[Dad] smelled of woodsmoke and fish, and that primal smell tumbled me back in time to a thin memory of me and my mom meeting him at the dock, him tossing me in the air, me laughing so hard my belly hurt. He would carry me home like I weighed nothing, my face in the crook of his neck, rough sea salt rubbing off on my face. They told me that after I was taken, no one told them where I was. They still didn’t know which school I’d been sent to. I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d tried to find out. They must have. But the angry question kept rising in my anyway, and their constant affection began to disgust me.
I lasted a month. No matter how hard I tried, […] these people, though kind and loving, were like strangers pretending to be family.
