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Laney Thacker
Claudette was the Black housekeeper and caregiver the Murphys, Alix’s parents, hired to do housekeeping and care for Alix and Alix’s younger sister, Betheny. When Alix (then Alex) calls the police on Robbie Cormier and his friends for showing up at the Murphy house uninvited, she claims that she is doing so to protect Claudette and Bethany, but this is only an excuse Alix has created to justify her poor decision. The Murphys made Claudette wear a shirt with “Murphy” stitched across the back, which Kelley sees as evidence that the Murphys felt that Claudette was their property. Although Alix loved (and still loves) Claudette, she fails to understand the extent to which their relationship was founded on problematic power dynamics that always gave Alix, as the daughter of Claudette’s employers, the upper hand. Furthermore, though Alix strives to be more socially conscious than her parents, she ends up repeating the cycle of oppression and systemic racism they began for her, hiring a Black woman (Emira) to care for her own child.
Claudette Quotes in Such a Fun Age
The Such a Fun Age quotes below are all either spoken by Claudette or refer to Claudette. 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 21
Quotes
“You act like what happened to you was worse than what happened to Robbie, even though—let’s not even go there. If you love Emira so much, then let her wear what she wants,” Kelley jeered. “I’m sure I didn’t handle things well back in high school. I was seventeen, I was an idiot. But at least I’m not still requiring a uniform for someone who works for me so I can pretend like I own them.”
“Ohmygod!” Alix formed fists with both hands on the table. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. She asked! I lent her a shirt!”
“You lend her the same shirt? Every day? In the business we call that a uniform.”
“You are so completely out of line.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Such a Fun Age LitChart as a printable PDF.
Claudette Quotes in Such a Fun Age
The Such a Fun Age quotes below are all either spoken by Claudette or refer to Claudette. 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 21
Quotes
“You act like what happened to you was worse than what happened to Robbie, even though—let’s not even go there. If you love Emira so much, then let her wear what she wants,” Kelley jeered. “I’m sure I didn’t handle things well back in high school. I was seventeen, I was an idiot. But at least I’m not still requiring a uniform for someone who works for me so I can pretend like I own them.”
“Ohmygod!” Alix formed fists with both hands on the table. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. She asked! I lent her a shirt!”
“You lend her the same shirt? Every day? In the business we call that a uniform.”
“You are so completely out of line.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
