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Winnie Kettle
Joe is Tom and June’s late son. Tom describes him as having been a rambunctious and sometimes troublesome child, in contrast to the more upbeat and innocent Winnie. Joe was gay, which was a source of confusion for the old-fashioned Tom, but this did not make Tom love his son any less. After June’s death, Joe found it difficult to stay in Ireland and immigrated to the United States, where he worked as a doctor on a Zuni reservation. Unfortunately, he was murdered by a father on the reservation who blamed Joe for his son’s death; the father immediately regretted his actions and turned himself into the police. Tom finds Joe’s death agonizing and frustrating because, as a father and as the person who abetted June’s murder of Matthews, he cannot entirely blame Joe’s murderer for his actions.
Joseph “Joe” Kettle Quotes in Old God’s Time
The Old God’s Time quotes below are all either spoken by Joseph “Joe” Kettle or refer to Joseph “Joe” Kettle. 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 3
Quotes
[Neutrinos] passed through [Tom’s] vulnerable soul, itself an item so large it was not there either, at least to a neutrino. But did it speak of the unimportance of Tom Kettle that he was not really there to a neutrino? Maybe God saw him? What of the butterflies, what of the mother spider, what of the mites, striving for life and generations in the old carpet? True, true, in human affairs everything is hastiness and farewell. But there was a sort of proof in this that Tom Kettle was loved, even though he could not see it, as he passed through the world. He had no idea how much June had loved him, nor Winnie, nor Joe. Maybe his sleeping self knew more, intuitive, less complicated by waking thought.
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Chapter 16
Quotes
Even the man highest up thought he should take early retirement, but something deep in him needed to go on to the end. Then the little party and the sombre words and the happy words. Then his niche in Queenstown Castle. His wicker chair, the characterful sea, and the stolid island. And then, those quiet nine months not only of new silence, but also—what could he call it? A sort of blossoming sense of relief, maybe, that the wretched Fates had done with him. Had noticed his great happiness long ago, and emblem by emblem taken it away from him. Then the day that Wilson and O’Casey came to him like Mormons, with the old rhododendron aflame at their backs. The screeching of the door and the whole thing cranked up again, like a Model T Ford.
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Joseph “Joe” Kettle Quotes in Old God’s Time
The Old God’s Time quotes below are all either spoken by Joseph “Joe” Kettle or refer to Joseph “Joe” Kettle. 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 3
Quotes
[Neutrinos] passed through [Tom’s] vulnerable soul, itself an item so large it was not there either, at least to a neutrino. But did it speak of the unimportance of Tom Kettle that he was not really there to a neutrino? Maybe God saw him? What of the butterflies, what of the mother spider, what of the mites, striving for life and generations in the old carpet? True, true, in human affairs everything is hastiness and farewell. But there was a sort of proof in this that Tom Kettle was loved, even though he could not see it, as he passed through the world. He had no idea how much June had loved him, nor Winnie, nor Joe. Maybe his sleeping self knew more, intuitive, less complicated by waking thought.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16
Quotes
Even the man highest up thought he should take early retirement, but something deep in him needed to go on to the end. Then the little party and the sombre words and the happy words. Then his niche in Queenstown Castle. His wicker chair, the characterful sea, and the stolid island. And then, those quiet nine months not only of new silence, but also—what could he call it? A sort of blossoming sense of relief, maybe, that the wretched Fates had done with him. Had noticed his great happiness long ago, and emblem by emblem taken it away from him. Then the day that Wilson and O’Casey came to him like Mormons, with the old rhododendron aflame at their backs. The screeching of the door and the whole thing cranked up again, like a Model T Ford.
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