Enduring Love

by

Ian McEwan

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Enduring Love makes teaching easy.

Toby Greene Character Analysis

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:
The Importance of Loyalty Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

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: Joe Rose (speaker), Jed Parry, John Logan, James Gadd, Joseph Lacey, Toby Greene
Page Number: 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: Joe Rose (speaker), Jed Parry, John Logan, James Gadd, Harry Gadd, Joseph Lacey, Toby Greene
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Enduring Love LitChart as a printable PDF.
Enduring Love PDF

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:
The Importance of Loyalty Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

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: Joe Rose (speaker), Jed Parry, John Logan, James Gadd, Joseph Lacey, Toby Greene
Page Number: 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: Joe Rose (speaker), Jed Parry, John Logan, James Gadd, Harry Gadd, Joseph Lacey, Toby Greene
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis: