The Passion

by

Jeanette Winterson

Domino Character Analysis

A former circus performer with dwarfism, Domino is recruited as Napoleon Bonaparte’s groom on the recommendation of Napoleon’s wife Joséphine, whom Domino once saved from being trampled by a runaway horse. He retains the position because he is the only groom able to stay on Napoleon’s massive, murderous warhorse. He becomes friends with new recruit Henri and Irish lookout Patrick in Napoleon’s army camp at Boulogne sometime in 1804. When Henri starts a journal to chronicle his feelings about his army experiences, Domino criticizes him, arguing that focusing on the past or future is pointless because only the present exists. At some point during Napoleon’s disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia, Domino survives a terrible facial injury that leaves him unable to speak. Henri asks Domino to desert the army with him. Domino refuses to leave Napoleon’s horses, but he gives Henri a golden necklace he used to wear, which is frozen inside a fantastically cold icicle. Henri carries the icicle with him all the way to Venice, unmelted. When it finally does melt during Henri’s incarceration in the San Servelo asylum, Henri realizes that Domino has died—though Domino’s ghost doesn’t visit Henri as other ghosts do.

Domino Quotes in The Passion

The The Passion quotes below are all either spoken by Domino or refer to Domino. 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:
Passion Theme Icon
).
Part 1: The Emperor Quotes

“What makes you think you can see anything clearly? What gives you the right to make a notebook and shake it at me in thirty years, if we’re still alive, and say you’ve got the truth?”

“I don’t care about the facts, Domino, I care about how I feel. How I feel will change. I want to remember that.”

Related Characters: Henri (speaker), Domino (speaker), Napoleon Bonaparte
Page Number: 30
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: The Zero Winter Quotes

Future. Crossed Out.

That’s what war does.

Related Characters: Henri (speaker), Napoleon Bonaparte, Domino
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
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Domino Quotes in The Passion

The The Passion quotes below are all either spoken by Domino or refer to Domino. 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:
Passion Theme Icon
).
Part 1: The Emperor Quotes

“What makes you think you can see anything clearly? What gives you the right to make a notebook and shake it at me in thirty years, if we’re still alive, and say you’ve got the truth?”

“I don’t care about the facts, Domino, I care about how I feel. How I feel will change. I want to remember that.”

Related Characters: Henri (speaker), Domino (speaker), Napoleon Bonaparte
Page Number: 30
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: The Zero Winter Quotes

Future. Crossed Out.

That’s what war does.

Related Characters: Henri (speaker), Napoleon Bonaparte, Domino
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis: