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Cate
Grandpa is Grandma’s husband, Cate’s father, and the narrator’s grandfather. Unlike the narrator’s Dad, Grandpa prides himself on rational calm; Grandpa likes to say that “everything will be fine until it’s not. Then we can worry.” After years of living with his wife in a bucolic country town, Grandpa’s liberalism leads him to move to the city, away from the increasing conservativism of rural areas. Grandpa’s worldly past stands in contrast to his elderly life, where (having lost his driver’s license) he is homebound and alone, caring for Grandma in the late stages of her dementia. The narrator is often struck by Grandpa’s deep love for Grandma, and by the youthful rebelliousness—deciding to run away, participating in an RV heist, and cursing at passers-by—that overtakes Grandpa on the family’s quick, illegal jaunt to the country. After Grandma briefly gains and then loses her lucidity, both grandparents overdose on pills, Grandpa’s quiet protest against what both his world and his marriage have become.
Grandpa Quotes in Things We Didn’t See Coming
The Things We Didn’t See Coming quotes below are all either spoken by Grandpa or refer to Grandpa. 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:
).
What We Know Now
Quotes
What is he so worried about? It's always been the end of the world. What did we have this century? World War I, the influenza, the depression, World War II, concentration camps, the atomic bomb. Now he's scared about a computer glitch? A blackout? Let's go about our business. We'll enjoy our hot chocolate with Baileys. He knows what he's missing and can come in here whenever he likes.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The Theft That Got Me Here
Quotes
“I worked for the state, back when the state took care of its own. Like you, I had grand and noble responsibilities to all, but I still had to deal with individuals. I'm sure you know the difficulty. Sometimes those two things can be at cross purposes, say, when one child is a bit behind, maybe keeping the others from moving on. What should you do? Ignore the child? I found that I had no choice in the matter as soon as I started seeing the class as more important than the student, the children were lost, I was lost. Nothing was grand, nothing was noble. Do you understand what I'm saying? […] Anything named Central doesn't even know what you look like. I do, and I'm watching you to see that you make the right decision here.”
He waved us through.
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Grandpa Quotes in Things We Didn’t See Coming
The Things We Didn’t See Coming quotes below are all either spoken by Grandpa or refer to Grandpa. 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:
).
What We Know Now
Quotes
What is he so worried about? It's always been the end of the world. What did we have this century? World War I, the influenza, the depression, World War II, concentration camps, the atomic bomb. Now he's scared about a computer glitch? A blackout? Let's go about our business. We'll enjoy our hot chocolate with Baileys. He knows what he's missing and can come in here whenever he likes.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The Theft That Got Me Here
Quotes
“I worked for the state, back when the state took care of its own. Like you, I had grand and noble responsibilities to all, but I still had to deal with individuals. I'm sure you know the difficulty. Sometimes those two things can be at cross purposes, say, when one child is a bit behind, maybe keeping the others from moving on. What should you do? Ignore the child? I found that I had no choice in the matter as soon as I started seeing the class as more important than the student, the children were lost, I was lost. Nothing was grand, nothing was noble. Do you understand what I'm saying? […] Anything named Central doesn't even know what you look like. I do, and I'm watching you to see that you make the right decision here.”
He waved us through.
