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Cora Lee
Lorraine is a tall, skinny woman who moves into Brewster Place with her girlfriend Theresa. Shy, kind Lorraine is originally from Detroit. When her father kicked her out of the house after discovering a letter from Lorraine’s girlfriend, Lorraine worked her way through college and became a schoolteacher, a job she loved. Unfortunately, Lorraine lost her teaching job in Detroit after someone wrote a letter to the principal about her sexuality. Subsequently, Lorraine met Theresa, whom she thought understood her. Yet after Lorraine suggests moving each time their neighbors figure out she and Theresa are a couple, not roommates, Theresa becomes frustrated with Lorraine’s skittishness and desire for social approval. When Lorraine attends one of Kiswana’s tenants’ association meetings to ingratiate herself with the community, her homophobic neighbor Sophie verbally abuses her in front of everyone. Unexpectedly, Brewster Place’s alcoholic janitor Ben jumps to Lorraine’s defense. After Lorraine flees the meeting, Ben follows Lorraine, invites her to his apartment for tea, and explains that she reminds him of his long-lost daughter. The two become good friends. Yet one night, as Lorraine and Theresa’s relationship is deteriorating, Lorraine walks down the alley created by the wall north of Brewster Place to visit Ben, and her young neighbor C.C. Baker and his friends ambush and brutally rape her in a homophobic hate crime. When Ben finds Lorraine the next morning, she is so disoriented and traumatized that she hits him over the head with a brick, killing him.
Lorraine Quotes in The Women of Brewster Place
The The Women of Brewster Place quotes below are all either spoken by Lorraine or refer to Lorraine. 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:
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7. The Two
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“The Good Book says them things is an abomination against the Lord. We shouldn’t be havin’ that here on Brewster and the association should do something about it.”
“My Bible also says in First Peter not to be a busybody in other people’s matters, Sophie. And the way I see it, if they ain’t bothering what goes on in my place, why should I bother ‘bout what goes on in theirs?”
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“They love each other like you’d love a man or a man would love you—I guess.”
“But I’ve loved some women deeper than I ever loved any man,” Mattie was pondering. “And there been some women who loved me more and did more for me than any man ever did.”
So Lorraine found herself, on her knees, surrounded by the most dangerous species in existence—human males with an erection to validate in a world that was only six feet wide.
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8. The Block Party
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“Oh, I don’t know, one of those crazy things that get all mixed up in your head. Something about that wall and Ben. And there was a woman who was supposed to be me, I guess. She didn’t look exactly like me, but inside I felt it was me. You know how silly dreams are.”
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“Woman, you still in bed? Don’t you know what day it is? We’re gonna have a party.”
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Get the entire The Women of Brewster Place LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lorraine Quotes in The Women of Brewster Place
The The Women of Brewster Place quotes below are all either spoken by Lorraine or refer to Lorraine. 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:
).
7. The Two
Quotes
“The Good Book says them things is an abomination against the Lord. We shouldn’t be havin’ that here on Brewster and the association should do something about it.”
“My Bible also says in First Peter not to be a busybody in other people’s matters, Sophie. And the way I see it, if they ain’t bothering what goes on in my place, why should I bother ‘bout what goes on in theirs?”
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“They love each other like you’d love a man or a man would love you—I guess.”
“But I’ve loved some women deeper than I ever loved any man,” Mattie was pondering. “And there been some women who loved me more and did more for me than any man ever did.”
So Lorraine found herself, on her knees, surrounded by the most dangerous species in existence—human males with an erection to validate in a world that was only six feet wide.
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8. The Block Party
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“Oh, I don’t know, one of those crazy things that get all mixed up in your head. Something about that wall and Ben. And there was a woman who was supposed to be me, I guess. She didn’t look exactly like me, but inside I felt it was me. You know how silly dreams are.”
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“Woman, you still in bed? Don’t you know what day it is? We’re gonna have a party.”
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