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Cecile Thornton is a white woman of French and American heritage who lives in Lewiston, Maine. After she retired, she was bored and isolated until she befriended a group of French-speaking African immigrants. Her story offers an inspiring example of how immigration and demographic change can enrich native-born white Americans’ lives.
Cecile Thornton Quotes in The Sum of Us
The The Sum of Us quotes below are all either spoken by Cecile Thornton or refer to Cecile Thornton . 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 10
Quotes
“I didn’t even know at the time that we had Africans in the city who spoke French. I had no clue, none.” The first man she spoke with, Edho, had just followed his wife and children to Lewiston from Congo. After a timid “Bonjour” from Cecile, she and Edho launched into the longest French conversation Cecile had had since her childhood, with Edho helping her recall long-gone words and phrases. By the end of the first session, she was exhausted but thrilled. “Just as an interested and curious person, when I was meeting these people, I just fell in love with them.” She laughs, knowing what that sounds like. “Not that I really fell in love with them, but I felt like I belonged with them.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Cecile Thornton Quotes in The Sum of Us
The The Sum of Us quotes below are all either spoken by Cecile Thornton or refer to Cecile Thornton . 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 10
Quotes
“I didn’t even know at the time that we had Africans in the city who spoke French. I had no clue, none.” The first man she spoke with, Edho, had just followed his wife and children to Lewiston from Congo. After a timid “Bonjour” from Cecile, she and Edho launched into the longest French conversation Cecile had had since her childhood, with Edho helping her recall long-gone words and phrases. By the end of the first session, she was exhausted but thrilled. “Just as an interested and curious person, when I was meeting these people, I just fell in love with them.” She laughs, knowing what that sounds like. “Not that I really fell in love with them, but I felt like I belonged with them.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
