An Abundance of Katherines

by

John Green

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on An Abundance of Katherines makes teaching easy.

Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX) Character Analysis

Katherine I is the daughter of Colin’s tutor, Krazy Keith. She was Colin’s first love interest, and she broke up with him after two minutes. Colin remembers her throughout most of the novel as the first girl he kissed, but later, he tells Lindsey that Katherine V was actually the first girl he kissed. In the wake of Katherine I, Colin exclusively dates girls named Katherine. Katherine XIX, who breaks up with Colin just before the action of the novel begins, is Colin’s longest-term girlfriend. They dated for almost a year, and Colin is determined to use the Theorem to prove his genius and win her back. It eventually becomes clear that Katherine XIX is the same girl as Katherine I, bringing Colin’s dating life full circle.

Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX) Quotes in An Abundance of Katherines

The An Abundance of Katherines quotes below are all either spoken by Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX) or refer to Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX). 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:
Achievement and Mortality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1  Quotes

Crying adds something: crying is you, plus tears. But the feeling Colin had was some horrible opposite of crying. It was you, minus something.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: The Hole in Colin’s Gut
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

All I ever wanted was for her to love me and to do something meaningful with my life.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Hassan Harbish, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

Driving was a kind of thinking, the only kind he could then tolerate. But still the thought lurked out there, just beyond the reach of his headlights: he’d been dumped. By a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: Satan’s Hearse
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

He could just never see anything coming, and as he lay on the solid, uneven ground with Hassan pressing too hard on his forehead, Colin Singleton’s distance from his glasses made him realize the problem: myopia. He was nearsighted. The future lay before him, inevitable but invisible.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: “Eureka” Moments, The Theorem
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

She tried to get out as quickly and painlessly as possible, but after she begged curfew, he began to cry. She held his head against her collarbone. And even though he felt pitiful and ridiculous, he didn’t want it to end, because he knew the absence of her would hurt more than any breakup ever could.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: The Hole in Colin’s Gut
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

[I]t is important to know things because it makes you special and you can read books that normal people cannot read, such as Ovid’s Metamorphosis, which is in Latin.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

And the moral of the story is that you don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened. And the second moral of the story, if a story can have multiple morals, is that Dumpers are not inherently worse than Dumpees—breaking up isn’t something that gets done to you; it’s something that happens with you.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Lindsey Lee Wells, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX), Katherine Mutsenberger (Katherine III)
Related Symbols: “Eureka” Moments, The Theorem
Page Number: 207-8
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

Colin’s skin was alive with the feeling of connection to everyone in that car and everyone not in it. And he was feeling not-unique in the very best possible way.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
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Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX) Quotes in An Abundance of Katherines

The An Abundance of Katherines quotes below are all either spoken by Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX) or refer to Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX). 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:
Achievement and Mortality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1  Quotes

Crying adds something: crying is you, plus tears. But the feeling Colin had was some horrible opposite of crying. It was you, minus something.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: The Hole in Colin’s Gut
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

All I ever wanted was for her to love me and to do something meaningful with my life.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Hassan Harbish, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

Driving was a kind of thinking, the only kind he could then tolerate. But still the thought lurked out there, just beyond the reach of his headlights: he’d been dumped. By a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: Satan’s Hearse
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

He could just never see anything coming, and as he lay on the solid, uneven ground with Hassan pressing too hard on his forehead, Colin Singleton’s distance from his glasses made him realize the problem: myopia. He was nearsighted. The future lay before him, inevitable but invisible.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: “Eureka” Moments, The Theorem
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

She tried to get out as quickly and painlessly as possible, but after she begged curfew, he began to cry. She held his head against her collarbone. And even though he felt pitiful and ridiculous, he didn’t want it to end, because he knew the absence of her would hurt more than any breakup ever could.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Related Symbols: The Hole in Colin’s Gut
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

[I]t is important to know things because it makes you special and you can read books that normal people cannot read, such as Ovid’s Metamorphosis, which is in Latin.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

And the moral of the story is that you don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened. And the second moral of the story, if a story can have multiple morals, is that Dumpers are not inherently worse than Dumpees—breaking up isn’t something that gets done to you; it’s something that happens with you.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Lindsey Lee Wells, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX), Katherine Mutsenberger (Katherine III)
Related Symbols: “Eureka” Moments, The Theorem
Page Number: 207-8
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

Colin’s skin was alive with the feeling of connection to everyone in that car and everyone not in it. And he was feeling not-unique in the very best possible way.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells, Katherine Carter (Katherine I/XIX)
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis: