An Abundance of Katherines

by

John Green

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

Lindsey Lee Wells Character Analysis

Lindsey Lee Wells is a resident of Gutshot, Tennessee, and is Colin’s primary love interest after the Katherines. Born and raised in Gutshot, Lindsey does not want to leave even though her mother, Hollis, is pushing for her to go to college out of town. To Hollis’s chagrin, Lindsey is dating TOC, a popular boy who used to refer to Lindsey as “Lassie” and once dropped off a Valentine box full of dog food on her front porch. Lindsey has made it her life’s mission to date and eventually marry TOC, because she wants to be in control of her own social status. Lindsey appears to be part of the popular crowd, but she confides in Colin that she thinks she is “full of shit.” She struggles to identify who she really is. Over the course of the novel, she realizes that she does matter to many of the local people, not just TOC. She decides to spend more time and attention on the people and things that really matter to her. As part of this decision, she decides to date Colin instead of TOC, and she decides to be easier on her mother, who is doing all she can to keep Gutshot’s economy running for the good of all its residents.

Lindsey Lee Wells Quotes in An Abundance of Katherines

The An Abundance of Katherines quotes below are all either spoken by Lindsey Lee Wells or refer to Lindsey Lee Wells. 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 5 Quotes

He thought of Chicago, where you can go days without ever once stepping on a single patch of actual earth. That well-paved world appealed to him, and he missed it as his feet fell on uneven clumps of hardened dirt that threatened to twist his ankles.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells
Related Symbols: The Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

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:
Chapter 6 Quotes

[Y]ou can see into the future if you have a basic understanding of how people are likely to act.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells
Related Symbols: The Theorem
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

No longer a prodigy, not yet a genius – but still a smartypants.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells, Hollis Wells
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

You’re not boring. You’ve got to stop saying that, or people will start believing you.

Related Characters: Lindsey Lee Wells (speaker), Colin Singleton
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

“It’s funny, what people will do to be remembered.”

“Well, or to be forgotten, because someday no one will know who’s really buried there. Already a lot of kids at school and stuff think the Archduke is really buried here, and I like that. I like knowing one story and having everyone else know another. That’s why those tapes we made are going to be so great one day, because they’ll tell stories that time has swallowed up or distorted or whatever.”

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Lindsey Lee Wells (speaker), Hollis Wells
Page Number: 201-2
Explanation and Analysis:

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

As the staggered lines rushed past him, he thought about the space between what we remember and what happened, the space between what we predict and what will happen. And in that space, Colin thought, there was room enough to reinvent himself – room enough to make himself into something other than a prodigy, to remake his story better and different – room enough to be reborn again and again….There was room enough to be anyone – anyone except whom he’d already been, for if Colin had learned one thing from Gutshot, it’s that you can’t stop the future from coming. And for the first time in his life, he smiled thinking about the always-coming infinite future stretching out before him.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells
Related Symbols: Satan’s Hearse
Page Number: 214-15
Explanation and Analysis:

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:
Get the entire An Abundance of Katherines LitChart as a printable PDF.
An Abundance of Katherines PDF

Lindsey Lee Wells Quotes in An Abundance of Katherines

The An Abundance of Katherines quotes below are all either spoken by Lindsey Lee Wells or refer to Lindsey Lee Wells. 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 5 Quotes

He thought of Chicago, where you can go days without ever once stepping on a single patch of actual earth. That well-paved world appealed to him, and he missed it as his feet fell on uneven clumps of hardened dirt that threatened to twist his ankles.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells
Related Symbols: The Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

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:
Chapter 6 Quotes

[Y]ou can see into the future if you have a basic understanding of how people are likely to act.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells
Related Symbols: The Theorem
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

No longer a prodigy, not yet a genius – but still a smartypants.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells, Hollis Wells
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

You’re not boring. You’ve got to stop saying that, or people will start believing you.

Related Characters: Lindsey Lee Wells (speaker), Colin Singleton
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

“It’s funny, what people will do to be remembered.”

“Well, or to be forgotten, because someday no one will know who’s really buried there. Already a lot of kids at school and stuff think the Archduke is really buried here, and I like that. I like knowing one story and having everyone else know another. That’s why those tapes we made are going to be so great one day, because they’ll tell stories that time has swallowed up or distorted or whatever.”

Related Characters: Colin Singleton (speaker), Lindsey Lee Wells (speaker), Hollis Wells
Page Number: 201-2
Explanation and Analysis:

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

As the staggered lines rushed past him, he thought about the space between what we remember and what happened, the space between what we predict and what will happen. And in that space, Colin thought, there was room enough to reinvent himself – room enough to make himself into something other than a prodigy, to remake his story better and different – room enough to be reborn again and again….There was room enough to be anyone – anyone except whom he’d already been, for if Colin had learned one thing from Gutshot, it’s that you can’t stop the future from coming. And for the first time in his life, he smiled thinking about the always-coming infinite future stretching out before him.

Related Characters: Colin Singleton, Hassan Harbish, Lindsey Lee Wells
Related Symbols: Satan’s Hearse
Page Number: 214-15
Explanation and Analysis:

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: