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Mrs. Effie Wilcox is Grandma’s gossipy neighbor, and her uptight, flustered personality often makes her a source of comic relief throughout the book. Though Grandma doesn’t particularly like Mrs. Wilcox, she is unflinchingly loyal to the widowed old woman, a loyalty she demonstrates on multiple occasions over Joe and Mary Alice’s summer visits. After Mrs. Wilcox is the target of the Cowgill boys’ vandalism in “The Mouse in the Milk,” for example, Grandma ensures (through somewhat morally dubious means) that the boys see justice for their misdeeds. In “Things with Wings,” Grandma effectively blackmails the wealthy banker Mr. Weidenbach to ensure that Mrs. Wilcox may return to her home, which the bank foreclosed on. Grandma’s care for Mrs. Wilcox is difficult for Joe to understand as a child, but Mary Alice seems to intuit the unspoken protectiveness and loyalty Grandma and Mrs. Wilcox feel for each other as neighbors, women, and widows struggling to get by.
Mrs. Effie Wilcox Quotes in A Long Way from Chicago
The A Long Way from Chicago quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Effie Wilcox or refer to Mrs. Effie Wilcox. 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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2. The Mouse in the Milk Quotes
“What’s come over you?” Grandma said in her least interested voice.
Mrs. Wilcox whimpered. “Send them kids out of your kitchen so I can tell you.”
“They’re eating their breakfast,” Grandma said, “and they’re from Chicago, so they’ve heard everything.”
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6. Things with Wings Quotes
Mary Alice and I went upstairs to sort out our clothes from the single suitcase. She was getting particular about how everything she wore had to be hung up on a hanger just so. “Grandma’s missing Mrs. Wilcox,” she mentioned.
“Are you kidding?” I said. “She’s Grandma’s worst enemy. She says Mrs. Wilcox’s tongue is attached in the middle and flaps at both ends. The town’ll be quiet without her, and Grandma will like that.”
“You don’t know anything,” Mary Alice said. “Men don’t have any idea about women.”
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“Vampires? No. The only bloodsuckers is the banks.” Grandma stroked her chins. “Movies is all pretend. They’re made in California, you know. But they prove a point. Make something seem real, and people will believe it. The public will swallow anything.”
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“Mrs. Dowdel, that’s not business,” the banker said. “That’s blackmail.”
“What’s the difference?” Grandma said.
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Mrs. Effie Wilcox Character Timeline in A Long Way from Chicago
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Effie Wilcox appears in A Long Way from Chicago. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground
...the nosy out-of-towner, though she’s already aware of him. Joey adds that people, notably Effie Wilcox, have been saying that Shotgun “rode with the James boys” and has been to prison...
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...the casket. The stringer runs out of Grandma’s house as fast as he can. Mrs. Wilcox follows him, shouting “The dead is walking, and Mrs. Dowdel’s gunning for me!” After inspecting...
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2. The Mouse in the Milk
The next morning, Joey and Mary Alice are at the table eating breakfast when Mrs. Wilcox appears at the door, looking nervous and upset. She demands that Grandma send the kids...
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...the church, he hears people singing inside. Joey looks around the room. He spots Mrs. Wilcox and goes to her for help locating the Cowgills. Mrs. Wilcox expresses her mock disbelief...
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...penitentiary—that is, if Grandma doesn’t shoot them on the spot. She asks a nervous Mrs. Wilcox, who has followed Mr. Cowgill to Grandma’s, to confirm that the boys kicked over her...
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...“a little older now, a little wiser.” Grandma bids goodnight to “her worst enemy” Mrs. Wilcox, who is just stumbling out of Grandma’s privy. Joey looks up at the satisfied look...
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6. Things with Wings
...hasn’t met them there since the children’s first visit. Today, she’s seeing someone off: Effie Wilcox. Grandma explains that Mrs. Wilcox is leaving for good: the bank is foreclosing on her...
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...see it. Upstairs later, Mary Alice observes to Joe that Grandma seems to miss Mrs. Wilcox. When Joe, disbelieving, insists that the two were enemies, Mary Alice retorts, “Men don’t have...
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...Grandma shrugs, explaining that the hat isn’t hers—it’s just one of the old things Mrs. Wilcox got rid of “when the bank run her out of town.” Mrs. Askew is immediately...
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...Grandma that several items rumored to belong to Abraham Lincoln have been found in the Wilcox home the bank foreclosed on. Grandma feigns innocence as to who started the rumor—but she...
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...not tell anyone about the Lincoln artifacts—as long as Mr. Weidenbach agrees to leave Mrs. Wilcox’s house alone and that Mrs. Wilcox doesn’t have to make any additional payments on it....
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...of their departure, she’s not there to see them off: she’s there to welcome Mrs. Wilcox home.
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7. Centennial Summer
...horse-drawn float is next, and it features a large cow carved out of butter. Effie Wilcox sits on a stool, churning butter. Grandma is on the float, dressed in an uncharacteristically...
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