Previous
Cody
Though Bompie physically appears in the novel only for a short amount of time, he is present throughout The Wanderer’s entire journey in Sophie’s thoughts and the stories she tells of him. When Bompie became Sophie’s adoptive grandfather, he began sending her letters, first welcoming her to the family, and then telling her stories about his life. Bompie’s letters fascinate Sophie, and she grows to become very fond of him, saying that he always understands how she’s feeling. Bompie plays a pivotal role in the novel not only through his stories, but also when he meets Sophie in person for the first time. When Sophie retells all the stories he’d sent her in his letters, she adds one which he doesn’t recognize—when his parents died in an accident at sea. Bompie tells Sophie: “That’s your story, honey,” and Sophie breaks down and cries. Before this, Bompie had served as a way for Sophie to distance herself from her past. While she greatly identified with Bompie, this was perhaps due to the fact that she had transferred her own history onto Bompie. Sophie’s changed relationship with Bompie—when she realizes that the story about the accident at sea is her own—therefore begins to change her own sense of identity. Bompie, then, serves partly as a vehicle for Sophie to achieve a truer relationship with her past.
Bompie Quotes in The Wanderer
The The Wanderer quotes below are all either spoken by Bompie or refer to Bompie. 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:
).
V. Wind and Waves
Quotes
It seems a hundred years ago that we were lobstering and clamming on Grand Manan and trekking around Wood Island, and it seems a hundred years ago that we were eager to get under way, oblivious to what lay in wait for us. I feel as if I have to start to love sailing again, because I don’t love it now. I just want to get to Bompie and forget about the ocean for a while.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I am thinking about Bompie. At last I will see Bompie. Why am I scared?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Everyone is talking about reaching Ireland, but I feel weird, as if we’re not really going to get there, or as if I’m not ready to be there. And what will happen with Sophie when we do reach Bompie? Maybe that’s part of the reason I don’t want to get there. I’m afraid for Sophie.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
VI. Land
Quotes
I reached across the bed and touched her hand. “Sophie,” I said. “Maybe that’s not Bompie’s story. Maybe that’s your story.”
Bompie whispered, “Sophie, he’s right. That’s your story, honey.”
Sophie stared at me and then at Bompie. She looked so scared and so little sitting there beside Bompie. And then she put her head down on Bompie’s chest and she cried and cried and cried.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
It was strange reading the ones about the car in the river, and leaping off the train tracks, and Bompie’s baptism, and Bompie in the swimming hole, and Bompie at the ocean. Most of what Sophie had told us was pretty much the way he had told it to her in his letters, except for the parts about struggling in the water. He was in the water all those times, but he hadn’t written about struggling in it.
Those parts had come from Sophie.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I’m not in dreamland or earthland or mule-land. I’m just right here, right now. When I close my eyes, I can still smell the sea, but I feel as if I’ve been dunked in the clear cool water and I’ve come out all clean and new.
Bye-bye, Bompie. Bye-bye, sea.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Wanderer LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bompie Quotes in The Wanderer
The The Wanderer quotes below are all either spoken by Bompie or refer to Bompie. 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:
).
V. Wind and Waves
Quotes
It seems a hundred years ago that we were lobstering and clamming on Grand Manan and trekking around Wood Island, and it seems a hundred years ago that we were eager to get under way, oblivious to what lay in wait for us. I feel as if I have to start to love sailing again, because I don’t love it now. I just want to get to Bompie and forget about the ocean for a while.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I am thinking about Bompie. At last I will see Bompie. Why am I scared?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Everyone is talking about reaching Ireland, but I feel weird, as if we’re not really going to get there, or as if I’m not ready to be there. And what will happen with Sophie when we do reach Bompie? Maybe that’s part of the reason I don’t want to get there. I’m afraid for Sophie.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
VI. Land
Quotes
I reached across the bed and touched her hand. “Sophie,” I said. “Maybe that’s not Bompie’s story. Maybe that’s your story.”
Bompie whispered, “Sophie, he’s right. That’s your story, honey.”
Sophie stared at me and then at Bompie. She looked so scared and so little sitting there beside Bompie. And then she put her head down on Bompie’s chest and she cried and cried and cried.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
It was strange reading the ones about the car in the river, and leaping off the train tracks, and Bompie’s baptism, and Bompie in the swimming hole, and Bompie at the ocean. Most of what Sophie had told us was pretty much the way he had told it to her in his letters, except for the parts about struggling in the water. He was in the water all those times, but he hadn’t written about struggling in it.
Those parts had come from Sophie.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I’m not in dreamland or earthland or mule-land. I’m just right here, right now. When I close my eyes, I can still smell the sea, but I feel as if I’ve been dunked in the clear cool water and I’ve come out all clean and new.
Bye-bye, Bompie. Bye-bye, sea.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
