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Tommy Elefante
Hettie is Sportcoat’s deceased wife. She died after getting up in the middle of the night and walking into the harbor. Although Sportcoat says she was simply “following God’s light,” it becomes clear that she purposely committed suicide, in part because of her unsatisfactory marriage to Sportcoat. Throughout the novel, Sportcoat talks to an imaginary version of Hettie that he sees while he’s drunk. This version of Hettie is angrier and more bitter than she was in life. Over the course of the novel, Sportcoat realizes that this version of Hettie is the unhappy person Hettie became as a result of Sportcoat’s alcoholism. In order to make amends with this version of Hettie and to give himself closure in the aftermath of her death, Sportcoat gives up drinking.
Hettie Quotes in Deacon King Kong
The Deacon King Kong quotes below are all either spoken by Hettie or refer to Hettie. 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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Chapter 1: Jesus’s Cheese Quotes
“In the middle of the night, she shook me woke. I opened my eyes and seen a light floating ’round the room. It was like a little candlelight. ’Round and ’round it went, then out the door. Hettie said, ‘That’s God’s light. I got to fetch some moonflowers out the harbor.’ She put on her coat and followed it outside.”
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Chapter 4: Running Off Quotes
“I don’t swallow any more spirits than anybody else in these projects.”
“Now who’s lying? I ain’t the one they calling Deacon King Kong.”
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Chapter 12: Mojo Quotes
“The church got plenty money.”
“You mean the box in the church?”
“No, honey. It’s in God’s hands. In the palm of His hand, actually.”
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Chapter 16: May God Hold You… Quotes
Elefante shrugged, pocketed his money, and leaned against the wall of his house. “I used to see her come and go from church,” he said. “She’d say good morning. People don’t do that no more.”
“No they don’t.”
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Chapter 20: Plant Man Quotes
“The man who come here to New York wasn’t the man I knowed in South Carolina. In all the years we been here, ain’t been a plant in that house of ours. Not a green thing hung from the ceiling nor the wall, other than what I brung in from time to time.”
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Chapter 26: Beautiful Quotes
Then he patted me on the back and said, “Look after them moonflowers behind the church for my Hettie.” Then he walked into the water. Walked right into the harbor holding that bottle of King Kong. I said, “Wait a minute, Sport, that water’s cold.” But he went on ahead.
First it come up to his hips, then to his waist, then to the top of his arms, then to his neck. When it got to his neck he turned around to me and said, “Sausage, the water is so warm! It’s beautiful.”
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Hettie Character Timeline in Deacon King Kong
The timeline below shows where the character Hettie appears in Deacon King Kong. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Jesus’s Cheese
The night before the shooting, Sportcoat dreamed about his late wife, Hettie. Sportcoat loves to tell the story of Hettie’s disappearance, which happened during a snowstorm in...
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The next morning, Sportcoat looks for Hettie. He follows her footprints to the water, but they end there. Then, Sportcoat looks up...
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Two days later, Tommy Elefante’s crew finds Hettie’s body floating in the harbor. Elefante, or “The Elephant,” is a smuggler and a tough...
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Hettie’s funeral is a chaotic affair. No one knows where to put the flowers—this was Hettie’s...
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That night, Sportcoat dreams of Hettie and tells her about how great her funeral service was. However, he also has questions...
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During their argument, Hettie insults Sportcoat by calling him “the cheese thief.” She is referencing a shipment of cheese...
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From this day on, Sportcoat regularly talks and argues with Hettie as though she is there with him. Meanwhile, the other members of the projects simply...
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Chapter 2: A Dead Man
...him, and his stepmother treated him poorly. As a young man, he decides to follow Hettie, his high school sweetheart, to New York; the two of them eventually get married. Hettie...
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Unlike Sportcoat and Hettie, Deems grew up in New York City. This upbringing made Deems tough, and although he...
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Chapter 4: Running Off
...Rather than think about what just happened, Sportcoat continues his ongoing argument with an imaginary Hettie about the missing church fund. He tries to impress on Hettie how important the missing...
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Chapter 10: Soup
The day after visiting Rufus, Sportcoat lays in bed and talks to Hettie, who is helping him decide what shirt to wear. Sportcoat is happy that the two...
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Chapter 12: Mojo
...doesn’t think she’ll mind. Instead, Sportcoat drinks and once again begins talking to an imaginary Hettie.
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When Hettie first appears, Sportcoat worries that she plans to lecture him about what happened at Soup’s...
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Hettie then tells Sportcoat that she was lonely in their marriage. Sportcoat tells Hettie to stop...
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Chapter 16: May God Hold You…
...his mother already paid him enough and that he already feels thankful that Elefante returned Hettie’s body to him. Elefante gives up his attempt to pay Sportcoat and the old deacon...
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Chapter 20: Plant Man
...about the night of the shooting and pulling Deems out of the water. He and Hettie had always wanted to jump into the New York water together at night, but they...
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During Sportcoat’s third day of hiding at Rufus’s place, he falls asleep and dreams about Hettie. The version of Hettie he dreams of is young and beautiful woman with neat hair...
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Hettie ignores Sportcoat’s comment about the money and instead tells stories about their childhood. She recalls...
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Hettie then turns the conversation to a different topic: Sportcoat’s abilities with plants. Hettie loves the...
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Sportcoat tells Hettie that he changed so much after arriving in New York because of all of his...
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Sportcoat reaches for a drink but cannot find one. Suddenly, Hettie gets angry and aggressive with Sportcoat. Sportcoat tells her that she is not his wife—his...
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After his conversation with Hettie, Sportcoat decides to be sober. When Rufus returns and begins drinking, Sportcoat refuses to join...
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Chapter 26: Beautiful
Hot Sausage also tells Sister Gee that he learned that Pudgy Fingers isn’t Sportcoat and Hettie’s biological son. When Hettie first moved to New York, and before Sportcoat followed her, she...
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...Ends Church. He informs her that it was Sportcoat who planted and maintained the flowers. Hettie always wished Sportcoat would do more gardening, and she loved moonflowers, so Sportcoat plants them...
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