Doreen is a black mother and grandmother who lives in one of Sherenna’s units with her children and grandchildren. Having clashed at length with Sherenna over fixing the apartment’s many broken features, Doreen eventually decides to move her family away from Milwaukee to Brownsville, Tennessee, where their housing situation improves.
Doreen Hinkston Quotes in Evicted
The Evicted quotes below are all either spoken by Doreen Hinkston or refer to Doreen Hinkston. 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 6
Quotes
Poor families were often compelled to accept substandard housing in the harried aftermath of eviction. Milwaukee renters whose previous move was involuntary were almost 25 percent more likely to experience long-term housing problems than other low-income renters.
Related Characters:
Doreen Hinkston (speaker), Patrice Hinkston (speaker), Sherenna Tarver
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When tenements began appearing in New York City in the mid-1800s, rent in the worst slums was 30 percent higher than in uptown. In the 1920s and ‘30s, rent for dilapidated housing in the black ghettos of Milwaukee and Philadelphia and other northern cities exceeded that for better housing in white neighborhoods. As late as 1960, rent in major cities was higher for blacks than for whites in similar accommodations. The poor did not crowd into slums because of cheap housing. They were there—and this was especially true of the black poor—simply because they were allowed to be.
Related Characters:
Doreen Hinkston (speaker), Sherenna Tarver
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Doreen Hinkston Character Timeline in Evicted
The timeline below shows where the character Doreen Hinkston appears in Evicted. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: Rat Hole
Patrice’s mother Doreen has four children and three grandchildren. After Patrice is evicted, she moves back in with...
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...same five-bedroom house for seven years. The rent was $800 a month. Neither Patrice nor Doreen finished high school, and Patrice’s sister Natasha was working 12-hour shifts by the age of...
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During Hurricane Katrina, Doreen and her neighbor were moved by the disaster and traveled to Louisiana to volunteer their...
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...and attracts attention from men. The Hinkstons’ apartment is starting to smell so bad that Doreen is considering calling Sherenna and Quentin. When they call about problems in the apartment, Sherenna...
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Doreen decided to call a plumber herself and deduct the $150 he charged from her rent....
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...may know their rights, but they also know they can’t afford to act on them. Doreen and Patrice, for example, know that calling a building inspector would ultimately backfire on them.
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During Doreen and Sherenna’s dispute over the plumbing, Natasha realizes she is pregnant. Doreen and Natasha’s boyfriend,...
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Chapter 11: The ‘Hood is Good
...in Jamaica. Sherenna has a voice message from the Hinkstons’ social worker, who mentions that Doreen is looking for a new place. Sherenna still wants the rent Doreen is withholding over...
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Doreen and Patrice try to figure out what to do about the eviction notice. They are...
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...of remembering to pay the mortgage and need extra help. At the courthouse, Sherenna tells Doreen that if she wants to stay, she will have to pay an extra $400 the...
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Chapter 16: Ashes on Snow
In February tenants receive tax credits and Sherenna’s income surges. Doreen has managed to clear her debt, but Lamar hasn’t, and is still set to be...
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Chapter 21: Bigheaded Boy
...memorial shrine on the site where the apartment building stood. More and more things in Doreen’s apartment are breaking, but she has given up hope on calling Sherenna. Sherenna still insists...
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Doreen’s kids often hang out at the public library to escape their apartment. Patrice has noticed...
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