God Help the Child

by

Toni Morrison

Sofia Huxley Character Analysis

Sofia Huxley was a kindergarten teacher when Bride was in second grade. When Bride was eight, Sofia and two other men, including Sofia’s husband, were put on trial for sexually molesting children. Four children, including Bride, testified against Sofia and sent her to prison for a 15-year sentence. Sofia’s release from prison is one of the catalysts that sets the plot of the novel in motion, as her release causes the fight that leads Booker to leave Bride. Bride feels profound guilt for testifying against Sofia because she lied on the stand to please her mother. At the end of the novel, when Bride tells Booker about her false testimony, she also tells Booker that Sofia “was innocent” and she “didn’t do any of that,” meaning Sophia didn’t commit the sexual assaults she was convicted of. Though the novel seems to want the reader to believe Bride when she says that Sofia is innocent, it is unclear how Bride could know this with certainty. Even if her testimony was false, there is nothing in the book that shows that the testimony of the other children during the trial was false or anything that suggests that Bride would have insight into the veracity of their testimony.

Sofia Huxley Quotes in God Help the Child

The God Help the Child quotes below are all either spoken by Sofia Huxley or refer to Sofia Huxley. 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:
Inherited Trauma Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 2: Bride Quotes

Decagon Women’s Correctional Center, right outside Norristown, owned by a private company, is worshipped by the locals for the work it provides: serving visitors, guards, clerical staff, cafeteria workers, health care folks and most of all construction laborers repairing the road and fences and adding wing after wing to house the increasing flood of violent, sinful women committing bloody female crimes. Lucky for the state, crime does pay.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell, Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 3: Brooklyn Quotes

How can she persuade women to improve their looks with products that can’t improve her own? There isn’t enough YOU, GIRL foundation in the world to hide eye scars, a broken nose and facial skin scraped down to pink hypodermis. Assuming much of the damage fades, she will still need plastic surgery, which means weeks and weeks of idleness, hiding behind glasses and floppy hats. I might be asked to take over. Temporarily, of course.

Related Characters: Brooklyn (speaker), Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell, Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 4: Bride Quotes

Nothing announced her attack on me. I’ll never forget it, and even if I tried to, the scars, let alone the shame, wouldn’t let me.

Memory is the worst thing about healing.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell (speaker), Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:

As we walked down the courthouse steps she held my hand, my hand. She never did that before and it surprised me as much as it pleased me because I always knew she didn’t like touching me. I could tell. Distaste was all over her face when I was little and she had to bathe me. Rinse me, actually, after a halfhearted rub with a soapy washcloth. I used to pray she would slap my face or spank me just to feel her touch.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell (speaker), Sweetness, Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 9: Sofia Quotes

In the taxicab on the first day of my parole I felt like a little kid seeing the world for the first time—houses surrounded by grass so green it hurt my eyes. The flowers seemed to be painted because I didn’t remember roses that shade of lavender or sunflowers so blindingly bright. Everything seemed not just remodeled but brand-new. When I rolled down the window to smell the fresh air, the wind caught my hair—whipping it backward and sideways. That’s when I knew I was free.

Related Characters: Sofia Huxley (speaker)
Page Number: 68-69
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 2 Quotes

Having confessed, Lula Ann’s sins she felt newly born. No longer forced to relive, no, outlive the disdain of her mother and the abandonment of her father.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell, Sweetness, Sofia Huxley, Louis
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
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God Help the Child PDF

Sofia Huxley Quotes in God Help the Child

The God Help the Child quotes below are all either spoken by Sofia Huxley or refer to Sofia Huxley. 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:
Inherited Trauma Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 2: Bride Quotes

Decagon Women’s Correctional Center, right outside Norristown, owned by a private company, is worshipped by the locals for the work it provides: serving visitors, guards, clerical staff, cafeteria workers, health care folks and most of all construction laborers repairing the road and fences and adding wing after wing to house the increasing flood of violent, sinful women committing bloody female crimes. Lucky for the state, crime does pay.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell, Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 3: Brooklyn Quotes

How can she persuade women to improve their looks with products that can’t improve her own? There isn’t enough YOU, GIRL foundation in the world to hide eye scars, a broken nose and facial skin scraped down to pink hypodermis. Assuming much of the damage fades, she will still need plastic surgery, which means weeks and weeks of idleness, hiding behind glasses and floppy hats. I might be asked to take over. Temporarily, of course.

Related Characters: Brooklyn (speaker), Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell, Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 4: Bride Quotes

Nothing announced her attack on me. I’ll never forget it, and even if I tried to, the scars, let alone the shame, wouldn’t let me.

Memory is the worst thing about healing.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell (speaker), Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:

As we walked down the courthouse steps she held my hand, my hand. She never did that before and it surprised me as much as it pleased me because I always knew she didn’t like touching me. I could tell. Distaste was all over her face when I was little and she had to bathe me. Rinse me, actually, after a halfhearted rub with a soapy washcloth. I used to pray she would slap my face or spank me just to feel her touch.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell (speaker), Sweetness, Sofia Huxley
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 9: Sofia Quotes

In the taxicab on the first day of my parole I felt like a little kid seeing the world for the first time—houses surrounded by grass so green it hurt my eyes. The flowers seemed to be painted because I didn’t remember roses that shade of lavender or sunflowers so blindingly bright. Everything seemed not just remodeled but brand-new. When I rolled down the window to smell the fresh air, the wind caught my hair—whipping it backward and sideways. That’s when I knew I was free.

Related Characters: Sofia Huxley (speaker)
Page Number: 68-69
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 2 Quotes

Having confessed, Lula Ann’s sins she felt newly born. No longer forced to relive, no, outlive the disdain of her mother and the abandonment of her father.

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell, Sweetness, Sofia Huxley, Louis
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis: