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Charlotte is the narrator of the fourth chapter. She is Stanzi’s twin sister, Kip and Annabel’s daughter, and Alec and Libby’s mother. Sitting opposite Stanzi’s cynical realism, Charlotte takes great interest in naturopathic remedies, astrology, and yoga. When she is 24, Charlotte finds out that she is pregnant by her childish boyfriend, Craig. Charlotte knows that Craig will never take on the responsibility of fatherhood, and so is faced with the choice of aborting her pregnancy or keeping it to raise the child alone, forming a modern parallel to Connie’s unexpected pregnancy and abortion. However, Charlotte tends to be indecisive, so she makes the decision by praying to the universe and holding the amethyst pendant Kip gave her above her stomach to see which way it spins. This leads her to keep the pregnancy, even though unlike Stanzi, Charlotte has no career and no achievements, demonstrating the challenges of single motherhood. She also fears that Kip will think her irresponsible for having sex without protection. When the story revisits Charlotte, she has two children, Alec and Libby, both from different men. To help her parent her children, Stanzi moves in and lives as a second mom, a permanent co-parent to Alec and Libby. Kip performs any fatherly duties that arise, demonstrating that unconventional family structures can function just as well as more traditional ones. However, Alec resents Charlotte’s eccentricities and parenting rules until he realizes how fragile life is and how Charlotte will not be in his life forever.
Charlotte Westaway Quotes in Nine Days
The Nine Days quotes below are all either spoken by Charlotte Westaway or refer to Charlotte Westaway. 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:
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Chapter 4: Charlotte
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I remember as a child spending ages every morning choosing which shoes I would wear and then worrying all day about the poor ones left behind in the cupboard, about how dejected they must feel having been passed over. Forsaken.
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“It’s not easy, raising children. It’s an enormous commitment. The most important job in the world.”
[Craig] rolls his eyes. “It’s not curing smallpox. It means you’ve fucked someone.”
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It’d be different if Stanzi was pregnant. Stanzi’s going places. She has a degree. That dingy little office next to the dentist, that’s temporary. She’s only working as a counselor until she saves up enough to do her PhD. She’s going to be a psychoanalyst, the philosophical, Freudian type, unpicking people’s fears from the inside. She has a proper career plan.
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Chapter 8: Alec
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From what [Kip] says, it seems like all kinds of stupid things had to be kept secret back then. When he says that his sister didn’t die from the flu, Stanzi just nods. Charlotte gets on her high horse about ridiculous sexist taboos and lies and nothing to be ashamed of. Grandma [Annabel] smiles. You can’t imagine what it was like back then, she says. So much pain, all covered over.
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Chapter 9: Connie
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It seems that all my life I’ve had nothing I’ve desired and I’ve given up having desires at all. Now I know what it feels like to want and I’ll give anything to have it.
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Get the entire Nine Days LitChart as a printable PDF.
Charlotte Westaway Quotes in Nine Days
The Nine Days quotes below are all either spoken by Charlotte Westaway or refer to Charlotte Westaway. 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 4: Charlotte
Quotes
I remember as a child spending ages every morning choosing which shoes I would wear and then worrying all day about the poor ones left behind in the cupboard, about how dejected they must feel having been passed over. Forsaken.
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Explanation and Analysis:
“It’s not easy, raising children. It’s an enormous commitment. The most important job in the world.”
[Craig] rolls his eyes. “It’s not curing smallpox. It means you’ve fucked someone.”
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It’d be different if Stanzi was pregnant. Stanzi’s going places. She has a degree. That dingy little office next to the dentist, that’s temporary. She’s only working as a counselor until she saves up enough to do her PhD. She’s going to be a psychoanalyst, the philosophical, Freudian type, unpicking people’s fears from the inside. She has a proper career plan.
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Chapter 8: Alec
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From what [Kip] says, it seems like all kinds of stupid things had to be kept secret back then. When he says that his sister didn’t die from the flu, Stanzi just nods. Charlotte gets on her high horse about ridiculous sexist taboos and lies and nothing to be ashamed of. Grandma [Annabel] smiles. You can’t imagine what it was like back then, she says. So much pain, all covered over.
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Chapter 9: Connie
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It seems that all my life I’ve had nothing I’ve desired and I’ve given up having desires at all. Now I know what it feels like to want and I’ll give anything to have it.
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