Toby Greene Character Analysis in Enduring Love

Toby Greene is a fifty-eight-year-old farm laborer who is unmarried and lives with his mother. Like his friend Joseph Lacey, Greene tries to secure the runaway hot-air balloon. Unlike Lacey, however, Greene injures himself during the attempt, breaking his ankle in a fall from one of the balloon’s dangling ropes.

Toby Greene Quotes in Enduring Love

The Enduring Love quotes below are all either spoken by Toby Greene or refer to Toby Greene. 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:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Anchor Books edition of Enduring Love published in 1998.

I should make something clear. There may have been a vague communality of purpose, but we were never a team. There was no chance, no time. Coincidences of time and place, a predisposition to help, had brought us together under the balloon. No one was in charge—or everyone was, and we were in a shouting match.

Related Characters: (speaker), , , , ,

Page Number and Citation: 11

Explanation and Analysis:

Every fraction of a second that passed increased the drop, and the point must come when to let go would be impossible or fatal. And compared with me, Harry was safe, curled up in the basket. The balloon might well come down safely at the bottom of the hill. And perhaps my impulse to hang on was nothing more than a continuation of what I had been attempting moments before, simply a failure to adjust quickly.

Related Characters: (speaker), , , , , ,

Page Number and Citation: 14

Explanation and Analysis:

Toby Greene Character Timeline in Enduring Love

The timeline below shows where the character Toby Greene appears in Enduring Love. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...is met by the remaining men: Jed Parry and two farm laborers, Joseph Lacey and Toby Greene . The four men join John Logan and James Gadd among the ropes, and each... (full context)

...Further along is Joseph Lacey, an older farm laborer, and beside him is his friend Toby Greene . The next man in the makeshift semicircle is James Gadd, and immediately next to... (full context)

...excited, [and] determined on [their] separate plans.” Joe explains that while he, Joseph Lacey, and Toby Greene are trying to pull Harry Gadd from the basket, James Gadd is trying to climb... (full context)

...begins to rise into the air, taking the five remaining men—Joe, Jed Parry, Joseph Lacey, Toby Greene , and John Logan—with it. Joe recounts the infinitesimally brief moment of thought that follows:... (full context)

...rope and falls to the ground, as, around him, do Jed Parry, Joseph Lacey, and Toby Greene . Only John Logan continues to hang on, and with only his small weight to... (full context)

...respective positions of the other men in the field. Joseph Lacey is helping his friend, Toby Greene , who “cannot stand,” while Jed Parry is next to Joe, and James Gadd is... (full context)

...trading their recollections of the police, the ambulance, and the stretcher that carried the injured Toby Greene away. They briefly imagine the police contacting Mrs. Logan, but “this [is] unbearable too,” and... (full context)

...the fact that he hasn’t yet responded to Clarissa’s declaration. He has attempted to call Toby Greene but has found it difficult to get past Greene’s unfriendly mother. Upon finally speaking to... (full context)