Johnny’s Mother/Vinny Character Analysis in Johnny Tremain

Johnny’s mother died just before Johnny was apprenticed to Mr. Lapham, so she never appears in person in the novel. He remembers her as a sickly seamstress who desperately wanted her son to make something of himself—though she was very uninformed about what an artisan’s life would be like. Regardless, Johnny remembers his mother fondly and recognizes how much she loved and cared for him. It was she who gave Johnny a silver cup with the Lyte family crest on it; she told him he was a Lyte, but that he should only go to the Lytes for help if he could go nowhere else. In fact, Johnny’s mother is one of many Lavinia Lytes, though she went by Vinny in her youth. Miss Lavinia, her cousin, later describes young Vinny to Johnny as the most beautiful and headstrong woman in Boston. She married a Catholic surgeon against their family’s wishes and became estranged from the Lytes after this. Johnny was born in a French convent a few months after his father’s death and then returned to Maine with his mother.

Johnny’s Mother/Vinny Quotes in Johnny Tremain

The Johnny Tremain quotes below are all either spoken by Johnny’s Mother/Vinny or refer to Johnny’s Mother/Vinny. 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:

‘It’s no good to me. We’ve… moved on to other things.’

‘But it isn’t stealing to take back what Mr. Lyte stole from you.’

‘I don’t want it.’

‘What?’

‘No. I’m better off without it. I want nothing of them. Neither their blood nor their silver… I’ll carry that hamper for you, Cil. Mr. Lyte can have the old cup.

‘But your mother?’

‘She didn’t like it either.’

Related Characters: Johnny Tremain (speaker), Cilla Lapham (speaker), Merchant Lyte, Johnny’s Mother/Vinny

Related Symbols: Johnny’s Cup

Page Number and Citation: 188

Explanation and Analysis:

He took one of [the smocks] from his sea chest in the attic. It was a fine light blue. He had never noticed before how beautiful was the stitching, and it hurt him to think he had been too proud to wear them, for now he was old enough to appreciate the love that had gone into their making. How little his mother had known of the working world to make smocks for a boy who she knew was to become a silversmith! She hadn’t known anything, really, of day labor, the life of apprentices. She had been frail, cast off, sick, and yet she had fought up to the very end for something. That something was himself, and he felt humbled and ashamed.

Related Characters: Johnny Tremain, Johnny’s Mother/Vinny, Pumpkin

Related Symbols: Johnny’s Cup

Page Number and Citation: 229

Explanation and Analysis:

Johnny put his hands to his face. It was wet and his hands were shaking. He thought of that blue smock his mother had made him, now torn by bullets. Pumpkin had wanted so little out of life. A farm. Cows. True, Rab had got the musket he craved, but Pumpkin wasn’t going to get his farm. Nothing more than a few feet by a few feet at the foot of Boston Common. That much Yankee land he’d hold to Judgement Day.

Related Characters: Johnny Tremain, Rab, Johnny’s Mother/Vinny, Pumpkin

Page Number and Citation: 234

Explanation and Analysis:

Johnny’s Mother/Vinny Character Timeline in Johnny Tremain

The timeline below shows where the character Johnny’s Mother/Vinny appears in Johnny Tremain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...drink pearls and servants sweep up silver and gold. Then, Johnny tells Cilla about his mother, who died a week before Johnny was apprenticed to Mr. Lapham. He adored his mother,... (full context)

Patriotism and the Revolutionary War Theme Icon

...about Johnny’s Sabbath-breaking. But today, he reminds Johnny that he struck a contract with Johnny’s mother, and since she’s dead, the contract is now between him and Johnny. Mr. Lapham says... (full context)

...sits in an orchard and then, in the middle of the night, he finds his mother’s unmarked grave. Flinging himself down on it, Johnny sobs. His mother would be so sorry... (full context)

...Tremain, which elicits no reaction. His voice shaking, Johnny starts to say something about his mother—but Mr. Lyte says he knows the story. She told Johnny he was related to Mr.... (full context)

With Mr. Quincy’s prodding, Johnny tells the story of how his mother gave him the cup and what she told him about the Lytes. He describes his... (full context)

...buy the blankets, boots, and warm clothes he’ll need. So, Johnny decides to disobey his mother and sell his cup to Mr. Lyte. (full context)

Johnny follows the family tree down through several Lavinias, none of them his mother. Finally, he finds a Lavinia born in 1740 scratched out. She married a Doctor Charles... (full context)

Now, the house feels haunted by the Lytes, including Johnny’s mother. Johnny knows he heard her voice that night in the graveyard. He returns to Cilla,... (full context)

...in exchange for his musket. Pumpkin agrees. That evening, Johnny pulls out the smocks his mother made him. She had no idea that silversmiths don’t wear smocks—she was so naïve, but... (full context)

...tells him to be quiet and listen. Merchant Lyte had no idea that his niece, Vinny Lyte, had a child; she married a French Catholic naval surgeon against her family’s wishes... (full context)

...also wants Johnny to know that he didn’t try to cheat Johnny; the cup was Vinny’s. He’s promised to write everything out so that after the war, Johnny can try to... (full context)