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Cora Frost
Vincent DiMarco is the groundskeeper at Lincoln Indian Training School. A cruel man, DiMarco takes pleasure in beating children and is rumored to sexually assault them. Despite the general knowledge of DiMarco’s wrongdoing, Mrs. Brickman allows him to work for her, and only Herman Volz stands up to him. DiMarco admits to murdering young Billy Red Sleeve, and he attempts to murder Odie before Odie kills him by throwing him into the quarry.
Vincent DiMarco Quotes in This Tender Land
The This Tender Land quotes below are all either spoken by Vincent DiMarco or refer to Vincent DiMarco. 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 5
Quotes
“You were talking Indian talk,” DiMarco said.
Which was a terrible transgression at Lincoln School. No kid was allowed to speak his Native tongue. It was a strict tenet of the Indian boarding school philosophy, which was “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Getting caught speaking anything other than English usually resulted, at the very least, in a night in the quiet room. But sometimes, especially when DiMarco did the catching, a strapping was also part of the punishment.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
Albert stopped and turned to me, his face sad and serious. “Listen, Odie, things have happened to you, bad things, and I know I should have done a better job of protecting you. But I don’t want you to turn out like…like…”
“Like Clyde Brickman? Like DiMarco? You think that’s who I am? The hell with you.”
I walked away from his as fast as I could. Not only because I was angry but because I didn’t want him to see how much he’d hurt me.
Chapter 20
Quotes
I’d killed Vincent DiMarco, which had done something to me that could not be undone. But if you asked me, even to this day, I would tell you that I’ve never been sorry he was dead. Jack was different. I knew it wasn’t his fault, the rage inside him. I’d seen a different Jack, a Jack I liked and, who knows, given time and other circumstances, a Jack I might have been happy to call my friend. Shooting him was like shooting an animal with rabies. It had to be done. But when I pulled that trigger, I lost something of myself, something even more significant than when I’d killed DiMarco, something I think of now as a sliver of my soul.
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Vincent DiMarco Quotes in This Tender Land
The This Tender Land quotes below are all either spoken by Vincent DiMarco or refer to Vincent DiMarco. 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 5
Quotes
“You were talking Indian talk,” DiMarco said.
Which was a terrible transgression at Lincoln School. No kid was allowed to speak his Native tongue. It was a strict tenet of the Indian boarding school philosophy, which was “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Getting caught speaking anything other than English usually resulted, at the very least, in a night in the quiet room. But sometimes, especially when DiMarco did the catching, a strapping was also part of the punishment.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
Albert stopped and turned to me, his face sad and serious. “Listen, Odie, things have happened to you, bad things, and I know I should have done a better job of protecting you. But I don’t want you to turn out like…like…”
“Like Clyde Brickman? Like DiMarco? You think that’s who I am? The hell with you.”
I walked away from his as fast as I could. Not only because I was angry but because I didn’t want him to see how much he’d hurt me.
Chapter 20
Quotes
I’d killed Vincent DiMarco, which had done something to me that could not be undone. But if you asked me, even to this day, I would tell you that I’ve never been sorry he was dead. Jack was different. I knew it wasn’t his fault, the rage inside him. I’d seen a different Jack, a Jack I liked and, who knows, given time and other circumstances, a Jack I might have been happy to call my friend. Shooting him was like shooting an animal with rabies. It had to be done. But when I pulled that trigger, I lost something of myself, something even more significant than when I’d killed DiMarco, something I think of now as a sliver of my soul.
