The Phantom Tollbooth

by

Norton Juster

The Dodecahedron Character Analysis

The Dodecahedron is the first being to greet Milo, Tock, and the Humbug when they enter Digitopolis. He’s a figure with 12 faces, and each of his faces wears a different expression. So he shows people his happy face if he’s happy, or his confused face if he’s confused. The Dodecahedron acts as Milo’s guide through Digitopolis, showing him first to the number mines and introducing him to the Mathemagician and then escorting the travelers to the foothills of the Mountains of Ignorance.

The Dodecahedron Quotes in The Phantom Tollbooth

The The Phantom Tollbooth quotes below are all either spoken by The Dodecahedron or refer to The Dodecahedron. 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:
Knowledge, Learning, and the Purpose of Education Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14. The Dodecahedron Leads the Way Quotes

“What a shame,” sighed the Dodecahedron. “[Problems are] so very useful. Why, did you know that if a beaver two feet long with a tail a foot and a half long can build a dam twelve feet high and six feet wide in two days, all you would need to build Boulder Dam is a beaver sixty-eight feet long with a fifty-one-foot tail?”

“Where would you find a beaver that big?” grumbled the Humbug as his pencil point snapped.

“I’m sure I don’t know,” he replied, “but if you did, you’d certainly know what to do with him.”

“That’s absurd,” objected Milo (…)

“That may be true,” he acknowledged, “but it’s completely accurate, and as long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong? If you want sense, you’ll have to make it yourself.”

Related Characters: Milo (speaker), The Humbug (speaker), The Dodecahedron (speaker), Tock
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Phantom Tollbooth LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Phantom Tollbooth PDF

The Dodecahedron Quotes in The Phantom Tollbooth

The The Phantom Tollbooth quotes below are all either spoken by The Dodecahedron or refer to The Dodecahedron. 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:
Knowledge, Learning, and the Purpose of Education Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14. The Dodecahedron Leads the Way Quotes

“What a shame,” sighed the Dodecahedron. “[Problems are] so very useful. Why, did you know that if a beaver two feet long with a tail a foot and a half long can build a dam twelve feet high and six feet wide in two days, all you would need to build Boulder Dam is a beaver sixty-eight feet long with a fifty-one-foot tail?”

“Where would you find a beaver that big?” grumbled the Humbug as his pencil point snapped.

“I’m sure I don’t know,” he replied, “but if you did, you’d certainly know what to do with him.”

“That’s absurd,” objected Milo (…)

“That may be true,” he acknowledged, “but it’s completely accurate, and as long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong? If you want sense, you’ll have to make it yourself.”

Related Characters: Milo (speaker), The Humbug (speaker), The Dodecahedron (speaker), Tock
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis: