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Felix Volkbein
Jenny is Robin Vote’s third lover. Jenny is a four-time widow living in a lavish house full of trinkets that she’s stolen from other people. Jenny steals things because she thinks they’re interesting and believes that if she possesses them, then she will be interesting. Jenny badly wants do something interesting but is also afraid of change or doing anything new. As she neared 50 years old, however, she got even more desperate to be a part of something interesting, and that is when she first saw Robin and learned about Nora Flood’s immense love for Robin. Dr. Matthew O’Connor introduces Jenny to Robin (he and Jenny were already friends) at her request and soon after that Jenny and Robin begin a tumultuous relationship. After Nora learns about Robin’s affair with Jenny, they break up and Robin goes to America with Jenny. In America, Robin soon takes to her old habit of wandering around alone at night, but Jenny tries to follow her at a discreet distance. Ultimately, their relationship falls apart and Jenny finds herself alone in their hotel room, pacing the floor and crying.
Jenny Petherbridge Quotes in Nightwood
The Nightwood quotes below are all either spoken by Jenny Petherbridge or refer to Jenny Petherbridge. 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:
).
“The Squatter”
Quotes
She was nervous about the future; it made her indelicate. She was one of the most unimportantly wicked women of her time—because she could not let her time alone, and yet could never be a part of it. She wanted to be the reason for everything and so was the cause of nothing. She had the fluency of tongue and action meted out by divine providence to those who cannot think for themselves.
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When she fell in love it was with a perfect fury of accumulated dishonesty; she became instantly a dealer in second-hand and therefore incalculable emotions. As from the solid archives of usage, she had stolen or appropriated the dignity of speech, so she appropriated the most passionate love that she knew, Nora’s for Robin. She was a “squatter” by instinct.
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Go Down, Matthew
Quotes
“May they all be damned! The people in my life who have made my life miserable, coming to me to learn of degradation and the night. Nora, beating her head against her heart, sprung over, her mind closing her life up like a heel on a fan, rotten to the bone for love of Robin. My God, how that woman hold on to an idea! And that old sandpiper, Jenny! Oh, it’s a grand bad story, and who says I’m a betrayer? I say, tell the story of the world to the world!”
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Jenny Petherbridge Quotes in Nightwood
The Nightwood quotes below are all either spoken by Jenny Petherbridge or refer to Jenny Petherbridge. 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:
).
“The Squatter”
Quotes
She was nervous about the future; it made her indelicate. She was one of the most unimportantly wicked women of her time—because she could not let her time alone, and yet could never be a part of it. She wanted to be the reason for everything and so was the cause of nothing. She had the fluency of tongue and action meted out by divine providence to those who cannot think for themselves.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When she fell in love it was with a perfect fury of accumulated dishonesty; she became instantly a dealer in second-hand and therefore incalculable emotions. As from the solid archives of usage, she had stolen or appropriated the dignity of speech, so she appropriated the most passionate love that she knew, Nora’s for Robin. She was a “squatter” by instinct.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Go Down, Matthew
Quotes
“May they all be damned! The people in my life who have made my life miserable, coming to me to learn of degradation and the night. Nora, beating her head against her heart, sprung over, her mind closing her life up like a heel on a fan, rotten to the bone for love of Robin. My God, how that woman hold on to an idea! And that old sandpiper, Jenny! Oh, it’s a grand bad story, and who says I’m a betrayer? I say, tell the story of the world to the world!”
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