God Help the Child

by

Toni Morrison

Steve Character Analysis

Steve is the man Rain brings to help after Bride crashes her Jaguar. At first, Bride is afraid that Steve might kill her, but she gradually learns that Steve is an activist who helps her simply because he believes it is right. Steve serves as a foil to Bride’s mother, and he makes Bride question what she had thought was important in life. Though Steve is not successful in a material sense, he and his wife, Evelyn, have built a life founded on mutual respect and unconditional love. Seeing Steve and Evelyn’s happiness leads Bride to reassess her priorities and reconsider how important her job and career success are to her.

Steve Quotes in God Help the Child

The God Help the Child quotes below are all either spoken by Steve or refer to Steve. 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 2, Chapter 1 Quotes

Finally in Mexico they agreed to stop meeting that way […] so they got married and “moved to California to live a real life.”

Bride’s envy watching them was infantile but she couldn’t stop herself. “By ‘real’ you mean poor?” She smiled to hide the sneer.

“What does ‘poor’ mean? No television?” Steve raised his eyebrows.

“It means no money,” said Bride.

“Same thing,” he answered. “No money, no television.”

“Means no washing machine, no fridge, no bathroom, no money!”

“Money get you out of that Jaguar? Money save your ass?”

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell (speaker), Steve (speaker)
Related Symbols: Jaguar
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
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God Help the Child PDF

Steve Quotes in God Help the Child

The God Help the Child quotes below are all either spoken by Steve or refer to Steve. 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 2, Chapter 1 Quotes

Finally in Mexico they agreed to stop meeting that way […] so they got married and “moved to California to live a real life.”

Bride’s envy watching them was infantile but she couldn’t stop herself. “By ‘real’ you mean poor?” She smiled to hide the sneer.

“What does ‘poor’ mean? No television?” Steve raised his eyebrows.

“It means no money,” said Bride.

“Same thing,” he answered. “No money, no television.”

“Means no washing machine, no fridge, no bathroom, no money!”

“Money get you out of that Jaguar? Money save your ass?”

Related Characters: Lula Ann “Bride” Bridewell (speaker), Steve (speaker)
Related Symbols: Jaguar
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis: