A Complicated Kindness

by

Miriam Toews

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on A Complicated Kindness makes teaching easy.

Ray Nickel Character Analysis

Nomi’s father, a mild-mannered teacher and devout Mennonite. Unlike many members of the community, Ray is highly educated, encouraging Nomi to read widely and develop opinions on scientific and philosophical topics, and he’s a fairly progressive man, deferring all decisions to his wife Trudie and rarely punishing or opposing his daughters even as they transgress community norms. Yet, characterized by his omnipresent suit and tie (traditional attire of Mennonite men), devotion to hard work, and humble demeanor, he’s also deeply motivated by religious belief and committed to the Mennonite way of life. Nomi admires her father’s simple faith, which shapes his sympathetic character and provides him with a sense of purpose, but he often frustrates her with his grief-stricken apathy and his refusal to challenge communal norms, even when those norms are responsible for the breakup of their family. Ray reacts to family catastrophe by simply refusing to acknowledge it, behavior that is reflected in his house’s slow decline as he stops caring for it. His behavior makes Nomi feel that she must stay home to care for Ray and protect his precarious mental health, despite her intense desire to leave. Ray understands this dynamic, and he eventually leaves town first and then encourages Nomi to do the same, ultimately allowing his daughter to build her own life without giving up on her family.

Ray Nickel Quotes in A Complicated Kindness

The A Complicated Kindness quotes below are all either spoken by Ray Nickel or refer to Ray Nickel. 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:
Religion and Dogma Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

The only thing I needed to know was that we were all going to live forever, together, happily, in heaven and with God, and without pain and sadness and sin. And in my town that is the deal. It’s taken for granted. We’ve been hand-picked. We’re on a fast track, singled out, and saved.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, Trudie Nickel, Tash Nickel
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Two Quotes

I turned the paper over and studied a chart titled “Satan Cast Down.” There were different categories linked together with arrows and verses. Rapture, saved dead, unsaved dead, millennium, bottomless pit, lake of fire, beast and false prophet, new heaven, new earth. I tried to follow the complicated system of arrows and timelines.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, The Mouth, Mr. Quiring
Page Number: 184
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes

I asked him why he was getting rid of the furniture and he said he liked empty spaces because you could imagine what might go in them someday.

We were quiet for a long, long time. Then I told him I wasn’t going anywhere. That I’d never leave him.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel
Related Symbols: Nomi’s House
Page Number: 193
Explanation and Analysis:

I’m pretty sure she left town for his sake. It would have killed him to choose between her or the church. The only decision he’d ever made without her help was to wear a suit and tie every day of his life. How could he stand up and publicly denounce a woman he loved more than anything in the world. And how could he turn away from the church that could, someday, forgive his wife and secure their future together in paradise, for all time.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, Trudie Nickel
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Four Quotes

And we counted cars with American plates­—twenty-seven. On their way to watch The Mouth read Revelations by candlelight in the fake church while the people of the real town sat in a field of dirt cheering on collisions.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, The Mouth
Page Number: 206
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Eight Quotes

Truthfully, this story ends with me still sitting on the floor of my room wondering who I’ll become if I leave this town and remembering when I was little kid and loved to fall asleep in my bed […] listening to the voices of my sister and my mother talking and laughing in the kitchen and the sounds of my dad poking around in the yard, making things beautiful right outside my bedroom window.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, Trudie Nickel, Tash Nickel
Page Number: 246
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Complicated Kindness LitChart as a printable PDF.
A Complicated Kindness PDF

Ray Nickel Quotes in A Complicated Kindness

The A Complicated Kindness quotes below are all either spoken by Ray Nickel or refer to Ray Nickel. 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:
Religion and Dogma Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

The only thing I needed to know was that we were all going to live forever, together, happily, in heaven and with God, and without pain and sadness and sin. And in my town that is the deal. It’s taken for granted. We’ve been hand-picked. We’re on a fast track, singled out, and saved.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, Trudie Nickel, Tash Nickel
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Two Quotes

I turned the paper over and studied a chart titled “Satan Cast Down.” There were different categories linked together with arrows and verses. Rapture, saved dead, unsaved dead, millennium, bottomless pit, lake of fire, beast and false prophet, new heaven, new earth. I tried to follow the complicated system of arrows and timelines.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, The Mouth, Mr. Quiring
Page Number: 184
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes

I asked him why he was getting rid of the furniture and he said he liked empty spaces because you could imagine what might go in them someday.

We were quiet for a long, long time. Then I told him I wasn’t going anywhere. That I’d never leave him.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel
Related Symbols: Nomi’s House
Page Number: 193
Explanation and Analysis:

I’m pretty sure she left town for his sake. It would have killed him to choose between her or the church. The only decision he’d ever made without her help was to wear a suit and tie every day of his life. How could he stand up and publicly denounce a woman he loved more than anything in the world. And how could he turn away from the church that could, someday, forgive his wife and secure their future together in paradise, for all time.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, Trudie Nickel
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Four Quotes

And we counted cars with American plates­—twenty-seven. On their way to watch The Mouth read Revelations by candlelight in the fake church while the people of the real town sat in a field of dirt cheering on collisions.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, The Mouth
Page Number: 206
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Eight Quotes

Truthfully, this story ends with me still sitting on the floor of my room wondering who I’ll become if I leave this town and remembering when I was little kid and loved to fall asleep in my bed […] listening to the voices of my sister and my mother talking and laughing in the kitchen and the sounds of my dad poking around in the yard, making things beautiful right outside my bedroom window.

Related Characters: Nomi Nickel (speaker), Ray Nickel, Trudie Nickel, Tash Nickel
Page Number: 246
Explanation and Analysis: