Tell Me Three Things

by

Julie Buxbaum

Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman Character Analysis

Ethan is a boy in Jessie’s grade and her love interest. He’s tall with dark hair and piercing blue eyes, and he wears the same Batman T-shirt every day (hence Jessie referring to him as “the Batman” before she learns his name). Though Jessie doesn’t discover the truth until the end of the novel, Ethan messages her at the beginning of the school year, posing as the anonymous Somebody Nobody, to offer help, advice, and friendship as Jessie navigates Wood Valley High School. As SN, Ethan is intently interested in hearing what Jessie has to say and in getting to know her. Their virtual relationship quickly transforms from one that focuses on navigating high school to a much deeper and more intimate relationship when SN admits that his sister died about a year ago—and like Jessie does, he counts the days since she died. In actuality, it was Ethan’s older brother Xander who died, but since Xander’s death was extremely public and shook the entire Wood Valley community, Ethan felt he had to change this detail to keep Jessie from finding out his identity. He spends much of his time caring for his mother, who abuses prescription drugs and is largely absent from his life, and many people suspect that since Xander died of a heroin overdose, Ethan must also use hard drugs. Jessie briefly wonders if this is true, especially since Ethan is still a part of Orgasmville, the semi-famous high school band that Xander led until his death. While Ethan loves music, he doesn’t enjoy the fame as much as his bandmates do. Though Ethan is initially brisk and somewhat rude to Jessie, they end up partnered for an English project and grow closer and more open with each other as time goes on. He reads novels and poetry for fun, and he eventually admits that he memorized The Waste Land, the subject of their school project, in order to impress Jessie. Jessie is thrilled to discover that Ethan is SN—both of his personas make her feel comfortable and seen.

Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman Quotes in Tell Me Three Things

The Tell Me Three Things quotes below are all either spoken by Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman or refer to Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman. 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:
Blended Families Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

And only later, when I got to my actual homeroom and had to stand up and do the whole summer vacation thing all over again in front of another twenty-five kids—and utter the words “Smoothie King” for the second time to an equally appalled audience—did I realize I had a large clump of grass stuck to my ass.

On reflection, the number of people who may have sensed my desperation? At least fifty, and I’m estimating on the low side just to make myself feel better.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Liam Sandler, Caleb
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Spelled out in black-and-white: Reason #4,657 why I don’t fit in here. My dad’s not a film marketing mogul, whatever the hell that is; he’s a pharmacist. Back home we were far from poor. We were what I knew as normal. But no one had their own credit cards. I shopped at Target or Goodwill with saved-up cash, and we wouldn’t just buy a five-dollar coffee without first doing the unfortunate math and realizing that the drink cost almost an hour’s worth of after-school pay.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

This is intimate, and not in the way it was at dinner, when Rachel put her hand on my dad’s, a gesture that on reflection seemed more for Theo’s and my benefit. Now, they are bent together, forehead to forehead, and there’s a photo album I’ve never seen before open on their laps. Must be Rachel’s. Is she showing my dad her before pictures? Her dead husband?

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad, Theo, Rachel/Dad’s New Wife
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

Will I, one day, be able to sleep with a guy and not feel horribly awkward and tortured and not wonder what it all means? I assume so. But right now, the thought of that sort of exposure seems unimaginable, and mostly, if I’m totally honest, nothing short of terrifying.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Scarlett, Adrianna Sanchez/Dri
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

SN: how long ago?

Me: 765 days, five hours, twenty-two minutes. You?

SN: 196 days, one hour, three minutes.

Me: You count too?

SN: I count too.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman (speaker), Jessie’s Mom, Xander
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

For a moment, I think it would be preferable to listen to them have sex. This is somehow more intimate, more raw. Even worse than witnessing her midnight tears.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad, Theo, Rachel/Dad’s New Wife
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

I turn off my phone. Run up the stairs to the small bathroom. Throw up my DeLucci’s pizza and six cans of beer and don’t even feel the tiniest bit of nostalgic relief when I see Scar’s map of the world shower curtain or even the Cat in the Hat soap dispenser that has been there for as long as I can remember.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Scarlett
Page Number: 257
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

And as stupid as it is, I admit I think about SN that way too. Not Caleb, not the real-life version of SN, but the one on my screen. The one who is always there for me.

He’s not real, of course. We’re all better versions of ourselves when we get that extra time to craft the perfect message. The SN I know and obsess about can’t translate into real life. He’s a virtual soul mate, not a real one. I do realize that.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Scarlett, Caleb, Adam Kravitz
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:

“I think he’s Liam.”

“No way,” I say.

“It explains why he would dump Gem for you.”

I smile at Scar but not because any part of me hopes SN is Liam. [...]

“You’ve been listening,” I say, and feel so grateful she’s still my friend, that she will be, hopefully forever.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Scarlett (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Gem, Liam Sandler
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

I think about the life I’ve built here. SN and Ethan, or maybe SN/Ethan, Dri and Agnes, even Theo. Liam too, I guess. How my new English teacher said I’m one of her brightest students, which is a huge compliment, considering I go to a school that sends five kids to Harvard each year. How Wood Valley may be filled with rich brats, but it also has a beautiful library, and I get to work in a bookstore, and I’m reading college-level poetry with a boy who can recite it back to me. In a strange way, thanks to Rachel, LA has turned out to be nerd heaven.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad, Liam Sandler, Theo, Rachel/Dad’s New Wife, Adrianna Sanchez/Dri, Agnes, Mrs. Pollack
Page Number: 304
Explanation and Analysis:
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Tell Me Three Things PDF

Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman Quotes in Tell Me Three Things

The Tell Me Three Things quotes below are all either spoken by Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman or refer to Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman. 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:
Blended Families Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

And only later, when I got to my actual homeroom and had to stand up and do the whole summer vacation thing all over again in front of another twenty-five kids—and utter the words “Smoothie King” for the second time to an equally appalled audience—did I realize I had a large clump of grass stuck to my ass.

On reflection, the number of people who may have sensed my desperation? At least fifty, and I’m estimating on the low side just to make myself feel better.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Liam Sandler, Caleb
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Spelled out in black-and-white: Reason #4,657 why I don’t fit in here. My dad’s not a film marketing mogul, whatever the hell that is; he’s a pharmacist. Back home we were far from poor. We were what I knew as normal. But no one had their own credit cards. I shopped at Target or Goodwill with saved-up cash, and we wouldn’t just buy a five-dollar coffee without first doing the unfortunate math and realizing that the drink cost almost an hour’s worth of after-school pay.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

This is intimate, and not in the way it was at dinner, when Rachel put her hand on my dad’s, a gesture that on reflection seemed more for Theo’s and my benefit. Now, they are bent together, forehead to forehead, and there’s a photo album I’ve never seen before open on their laps. Must be Rachel’s. Is she showing my dad her before pictures? Her dead husband?

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad, Theo, Rachel/Dad’s New Wife
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

Will I, one day, be able to sleep with a guy and not feel horribly awkward and tortured and not wonder what it all means? I assume so. But right now, the thought of that sort of exposure seems unimaginable, and mostly, if I’m totally honest, nothing short of terrifying.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Scarlett, Adrianna Sanchez/Dri
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

SN: how long ago?

Me: 765 days, five hours, twenty-two minutes. You?

SN: 196 days, one hour, three minutes.

Me: You count too?

SN: I count too.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman (speaker), Jessie’s Mom, Xander
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

For a moment, I think it would be preferable to listen to them have sex. This is somehow more intimate, more raw. Even worse than witnessing her midnight tears.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad, Theo, Rachel/Dad’s New Wife
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

I turn off my phone. Run up the stairs to the small bathroom. Throw up my DeLucci’s pizza and six cans of beer and don’t even feel the tiniest bit of nostalgic relief when I see Scar’s map of the world shower curtain or even the Cat in the Hat soap dispenser that has been there for as long as I can remember.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Scarlett
Page Number: 257
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

And as stupid as it is, I admit I think about SN that way too. Not Caleb, not the real-life version of SN, but the one on my screen. The one who is always there for me.

He’s not real, of course. We’re all better versions of ourselves when we get that extra time to craft the perfect message. The SN I know and obsess about can’t translate into real life. He’s a virtual soul mate, not a real one. I do realize that.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Scarlett, Caleb, Adam Kravitz
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:

“I think he’s Liam.”

“No way,” I say.

“It explains why he would dump Gem for you.”

I smile at Scar but not because any part of me hopes SN is Liam. [...]

“You’ve been listening,” I say, and feel so grateful she’s still my friend, that she will be, hopefully forever.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Scarlett (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Gem, Liam Sandler
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

I think about the life I’ve built here. SN and Ethan, or maybe SN/Ethan, Dri and Agnes, even Theo. Liam too, I guess. How my new English teacher said I’m one of her brightest students, which is a huge compliment, considering I go to a school that sends five kids to Harvard each year. How Wood Valley may be filled with rich brats, but it also has a beautiful library, and I get to work in a bookstore, and I’m reading college-level poetry with a boy who can recite it back to me. In a strange way, thanks to Rachel, LA has turned out to be nerd heaven.

Related Characters: Jessie Holmes (speaker), Ethan/Somebody Nobody/The Batman, Jessie’s Dad, Liam Sandler, Theo, Rachel/Dad’s New Wife, Adrianna Sanchez/Dri, Agnes, Mrs. Pollack
Page Number: 304
Explanation and Analysis: