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Domi (the Duchess)
Marie Johnson is a Black first-year student at New York University who is shot and killed by police at an anti-PACT protest while holding a sign that reads “ALL OUR MISSING HEARTS,” a line from Margaret’s poetry collection. Marie’s death catalyzes the anti-PACT movement’s use of art as protest, invoking the phrase “our missing hearts” as a rallying cry referring to the re-placed children. Her parents—Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Johnson—speak with Margaret about their daughter’s passion for keeping families together and the things that made her unique. Through Marie, the novel demonstrates how viewing children as political pawns to be used to either promote or silence agendas flattens them and ignores their significance as individual people.
Marie Johnson Quotes in Our Missing Hearts
The Our Missing Hearts quotes below are all either spoken by Marie Johnson or refer to Marie Johnson. 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:
).
Part 2, Chapter 3
Quotes
The anti-American ideology was clear, which made it all the more dangerous that people were reading these poems—nearly fifty thousand copies sold so far, an unheard-of number for a book of poetry, especially from a miniscule press. […] Regardless, these poems weren’t just un-American, they were inciting rebellion. Endorsing and espousing terrorist activity. Persuading others to support insurrection. Look how many anti-PACT protests were happening.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
You think you know her? he went on. They all think they know her. Everybody thinks they know her, now. You got people wearing my little girl’s face on their chests, who don’t care about her or who she was. Just using her name to justify doing what they want. She’s nothing but a slogan to them. They don’t know the first thing about her. You don’t know the first thing about her either.
Get the entire Our Missing Hearts LitChart as a printable PDF.
Marie Johnson Quotes in Our Missing Hearts
The Our Missing Hearts quotes below are all either spoken by Marie Johnson or refer to Marie Johnson. 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:
).
Part 2, Chapter 3
Quotes
The anti-American ideology was clear, which made it all the more dangerous that people were reading these poems—nearly fifty thousand copies sold so far, an unheard-of number for a book of poetry, especially from a miniscule press. […] Regardless, these poems weren’t just un-American, they were inciting rebellion. Endorsing and espousing terrorist activity. Persuading others to support insurrection. Look how many anti-PACT protests were happening.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
You think you know her? he went on. They all think they know her. Everybody thinks they know her, now. You got people wearing my little girl’s face on their chests, who don’t care about her or who she was. Just using her name to justify doing what they want. She’s nothing but a slogan to them. They don’t know the first thing about her. You don’t know the first thing about her either.
