The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman

by

Louise Erdrich

Walter Vold Character Analysis

Walter Vold is the overseer and supervisor at the jewel bearing plant. He is described as “lurkishly” watching the women work, and he doesn’t allow people to speak while they are working (though they do anyway). When Patrice needs to go to Minneapolis to look for Vera, he tells her she has just three days of leave total; when higher-ups are set to come to the factory to observe, he takes away the workers’ coffee breaks and never reinstates them. Overall, he is an authority figure intent on enforcing rules and maximizing productivity by his standards, with little to no regard for the humanity of the people who work at the plant.

Walter Vold Quotes in The Night Watchman

The The Night Watchman quotes below are all either spoken by Walter Vold or refer to Walter Vold. 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:
Power, Solidarity, and Community Action Theme Icon
).
Lard on Bread Quotes

Mr. Vold forbade speech. Still, they did speak. They hardly remembered what they said, later, but they talked to one another all day.

Related Characters: Patrice “Pixie” Paranteau, Walter Vold
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Valentine’s Days Quotes

Valentine said, “You can have my days.”

“What do you mean?”

“My sick days. Mr. Vold told me that I could give my days to you. Under the circumstances.”

Related Characters: Patrice “Pixie” Paranteau, Valentine Blue, Walter Vold
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Night Watchman PDF

Walter Vold Quotes in The Night Watchman

The The Night Watchman quotes below are all either spoken by Walter Vold or refer to Walter Vold. 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:
Power, Solidarity, and Community Action Theme Icon
).
Lard on Bread Quotes

Mr. Vold forbade speech. Still, they did speak. They hardly remembered what they said, later, but they talked to one another all day.

Related Characters: Patrice “Pixie” Paranteau, Walter Vold
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Valentine’s Days Quotes

Valentine said, “You can have my days.”

“What do you mean?”

“My sick days. Mr. Vold told me that I could give my days to you. Under the circumstances.”

Related Characters: Patrice “Pixie” Paranteau, Valentine Blue, Walter Vold
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis: