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Carlene
Carl is a 16-year-old poetry prodigy who crosses paths with the Belsey family several times, particularly Levi and Zora. Levi admires Carl for his authentic street smarts while Zora admires him for his natural poetic sensibilities (as well as his athletic body). Carl himself struggles to figure out where he belongs, excelling as a student in Claire’s poetry class but always feeling like an outsider, particularly since he isn’t even officially enrolled at Wellington College. While Carl can inspire audiences with his hip-hop-inflected spoken word performances, he shows little interest in chasing greatness and is instead more interested in beautiful girls like Victoria. Carl becomes an outlet for various characters in the book to project their own expectations onto, and his refusal to mold himself to fit these expectations shows how Black identity is complex and not subject to others’ expectations.
Carl Quotes in On Beauty
The On Beauty quotes below are all either spoken by Carl or refer to Carl. 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:
).
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 7
Quotes
The young man stepped forward cautiously, with one hand up as if to show he meant no harm. He turned the Discman over in her hand and showed her the sticky patch. He lifted his hoodie and the T-shirt beneath it to reveal a well-defined pelvic bone and drew a second Discman from his waistband. ‘This one’s yours.’
‘They’re exactly the same.’
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The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 1
Quotes
Last year, when Zora was a freshman, sophomores had seemed altogether a different kind of human: so very definite in their tastes and opinions, in their loves and ideas. Zora woke up this morning hopeful that a transformation of this kind might have visited her in the night, but, finding it hadn’t, she did what girls generally do when they don’t feel the part: she dressed it instead.
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 8
Quotes
‘Are you interested in refining what you have?’
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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 9
Quotes
Zora Belsey’s real talent was not for poetry but persistence.
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 12
Quotes
‘Well, my God. What a tricky bastard. Moral majority my arse. Well, you’ve got him. My God! You should go in there and spit-roast him. Destroy him!’
Zora forced her fake nails, left over from the party, into the underside of the table top. ‘That’s your advice?”
Get the entire On Beauty LitChart as a printable PDF.
Carl Quotes in On Beauty
The On Beauty quotes below are all either spoken by Carl or refer to Carl. 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:
).
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 7
Quotes
The young man stepped forward cautiously, with one hand up as if to show he meant no harm. He turned the Discman over in her hand and showed her the sticky patch. He lifted his hoodie and the T-shirt beneath it to reveal a well-defined pelvic bone and drew a second Discman from his waistband. ‘This one’s yours.’
‘They’re exactly the same.’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 1
Quotes
Last year, when Zora was a freshman, sophomores had seemed altogether a different kind of human: so very definite in their tastes and opinions, in their loves and ideas. Zora woke up this morning hopeful that a transformation of this kind might have visited her in the night, but, finding it hadn’t, she did what girls generally do when they don’t feel the part: she dressed it instead.
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 8
Quotes
‘Are you interested in refining what you have?’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 9
Quotes
Zora Belsey’s real talent was not for poetry but persistence.
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 12
Quotes
‘Well, my God. What a tricky bastard. Moral majority my arse. Well, you’ve got him. My God! You should go in there and spit-roast him. Destroy him!’
Zora forced her fake nails, left over from the party, into the underside of the table top. ‘That’s your advice?”
