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Kiki
Monty Kipps is a British professor of Trinidadian heritage who is known for his contrarian, conservative opinions, leading to his years-long rivalry with fellow Rembrandt scholar Howard. His wife is Carlene, and his children are Michael and Victoria. Monty believes that family is a Caribbean value, and so he tries to encourage his family to be closer by eating meals together and going to church together. While some people, like their visitor Jerome, are impressed by how close the Kipps family seems, Monty is often unaware of what other family members are going through, not realizing that Carlene has an aggressive form of cancer or that Victoria has no interest in remaining chaste until marriage. And while Monty maintains a public image of moral superiority, his moral, self-made image shatters at the end of the book when it comes out that Monty has been having sex with an intern named Chantelle. Monty’s life illustrates how outward moral superiority can conceal immorality and hypocrisy. Despite Monty’s many academic successes, in the end, he proves that he’s little different from Howard when it comes to actually living by the values he espouses.
Monty Quotes in On Beauty
The On Beauty quotes below are all either spoken by Monty or refer to Monty. 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 1
Quotes
Hey, Dad – basically I’m just going to keep on keeping on with these mails – I’m no longer expecting you to reply, but I’m still hoping you will, if that makes sense.
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Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 2
Quotes
Kiki slapped the table. ‘Oh, God, this isn’t 1910 – Jerome can marry who the hell he wants to marry – or are we going to start making up visiting cards and asking him to meet only the daughters of academics that you happen to –’
‘Might the address be in the green moleskin?’
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 4
Quotes
‘It’s about trying,’ said Michael keenly – the topic seemed to animate him. ‘It’s like, if you put the effort in. And I spose my mum’s always been at home, which makes a lot of difference, I think. Having the mother figure and all that. Nurturing. It’s like a Caribbean ideal – a lot of people lose sight of it.’
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 12
Quotes
‘Tell them to calm themselves. It’s only hip-hop. It won’t kill them.’
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The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 5
Quotes
‘She’s fabulous,’ replied Kiki, only now taking the time to look at her properly. In the centre of the frame there was a tall, naked black woman wearing only a red bandanna and standing in a fantastical white space, surrounded all about by tropical branches and kaleidoscopic fruit and flowers. Four pink birds, one green parrot. Three humming birds. Many brown butterflies. It was painted in a primitive, childlike style, everything flat on the canvas. No perspective, no depth.
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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 5
Quotes
Monty put his hands on each side of his own belly. ‘Really, Dr Belsey, this is too stupid to answer. Surely a man can write a piece of prose without “intending” any particular reaction, or at least he can and will write without presuming every end or consequence of that piece of prose.’
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 7
Quotes
For the first time it occurred to Howard that this gorgeous, single nineteen-year-old giving her attention to a 57-year-old married man (albeit with a full head of hair) might have other motives besides pure animal passion. Was he – as Levi would put it – being played?
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.
Monty Quotes in On Beauty
The On Beauty quotes below are all either spoken by Monty or refer to Monty. 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 1
Quotes
Hey, Dad – basically I’m just going to keep on keeping on with these mails – I’m no longer expecting you to reply, but I’m still hoping you will, if that makes sense.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 2
Quotes
Kiki slapped the table. ‘Oh, God, this isn’t 1910 – Jerome can marry who the hell he wants to marry – or are we going to start making up visiting cards and asking him to meet only the daughters of academics that you happen to –’
‘Might the address be in the green moleskin?’
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 4
Quotes
‘It’s about trying,’ said Michael keenly – the topic seemed to animate him. ‘It’s like, if you put the effort in. And I spose my mum’s always been at home, which makes a lot of difference, I think. Having the mother figure and all that. Nurturing. It’s like a Caribbean ideal – a lot of people lose sight of it.’
Kipps and Belsey: Chapter 12
Quotes
‘Tell them to calm themselves. It’s only hip-hop. It won’t kill them.’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The Anatomy Lesson: Chapter 5
Quotes
‘She’s fabulous,’ replied Kiki, only now taking the time to look at her properly. In the centre of the frame there was a tall, naked black woman wearing only a red bandanna and standing in a fantastical white space, surrounded all about by tropical branches and kaleidoscopic fruit and flowers. Four pink birds, one green parrot. Three humming birds. Many brown butterflies. It was painted in a primitive, childlike style, everything flat on the canvas. No perspective, no depth.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 5
Quotes
Monty put his hands on each side of his own belly. ‘Really, Dr Belsey, this is too stupid to answer. Surely a man can write a piece of prose without “intending” any particular reaction, or at least he can and will write without presuming every end or consequence of that piece of prose.’
On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 7
Quotes
For the first time it occurred to Howard that this gorgeous, single nineteen-year-old giving her attention to a 57-year-old married man (albeit with a full head of hair) might have other motives besides pure animal passion. Was he – as Levi would put it – being played?
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?”
