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Ana
Wendell is an older white man and one of the novel’s narrators. He works as a janitor at a local school. Wendell is unhappy and cantankerous, as in the few years before the novel begins, he lost his son to a shootout and his wife to a car accident. He feels like he spends all week at work being bossed around and can’t control anything in his life. However, he keeps an eye out for Ana, who lives four floors above him—and it’s their friendship that leads Wendell to the garden. Though Wendell is annoyed when Ana awakens him with a phone call to ask him what’s wrong with Kim’s lima bean seeds down in the lot below—and then tasks him with watering the wilting bean sprouts—he ultimately comes to see the sprouting beans as a sign of hope. As he explains to Ana, Kim planted the seeds too early in the season; most beans wouldn’t have survived. But against all odds, Kim’s seeds did sprout. Wendell decides to take this as a sign that he should stop dwelling on all the things he can’t change and instead, dedicate himself to making a little bit of the world better. He’s the second person to start a plot in the community garden.
Wendell Quotes in Seedfolks
The Seedfolks quotes below are all either spoken by Wendell or refer to Wendell. 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: Wendell
Quotes
“What are they?” she asked.
“Some kind of beans.” I grew up on a little farm in Kentucky. “But she planted ‘em way too early. She’s lucky those seeds even came up.”
“But they did,” said Ana. And it’s up to us to save them.”
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Out of nowhere the words from the Bible came into my head: “And a little child shall lead them.” I didn’t know why at first. Then I did. There’s plenty about my life I can’t change. Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth. [...] But a patch of ground in this trashy lot—I can change that. Change it big.
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Chapter 12: Amir
Quotes
In India we have many vast cities, just as in America. There, too, you are one among millions. But there at least you know your neighbors. Here, one cannot say that. The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends. Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.
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Wendell Quotes in Seedfolks
The Seedfolks quotes below are all either spoken by Wendell or refer to Wendell. 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: Wendell
Quotes
“What are they?” she asked.
“Some kind of beans.” I grew up on a little farm in Kentucky. “But she planted ‘em way too early. She’s lucky those seeds even came up.”
“But they did,” said Ana. And it’s up to us to save them.”
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Out of nowhere the words from the Bible came into my head: “And a little child shall lead them.” I didn’t know why at first. Then I did. There’s plenty about my life I can’t change. Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth. [...] But a patch of ground in this trashy lot—I can change that. Change it big.
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Chapter 12: Amir
Quotes
In India we have many vast cities, just as in America. There, too, you are one among millions. But there at least you know your neighbors. Here, one cannot say that. The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends. Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.
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