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Oliver
Ally's dad; he's the captain of a tank unit in the Army, though Ally never says where he's fighting. At the start of the novel, he's been deployed for about a year. Both Dad and Grandpa were avid coin collectors and passed their love of this hobby onto Ally and Travis. Dad talks about coins as being symbolic of change and the necessity of uniqueness. During the family's one Skype conversation with Dad, Dad appears to be very interested in his children's lives. He's supportive of Ally's new friends and her tutoring with Mr. Daniels, and he does his best to encourage Travis to keep trying despite the difficulties he's having at work.
Dad Quotes in Fish in a Tree
The Fish in a Tree quotes below are all either spoken by Dad or refer to Dad. 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
“Well,” the guy says, “if you know anything about coins, you know that a coin with a flaw in it is far more valuable than a regular coin.”
Something isn't right with it and it's worth more?
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As Travis and the salesman at the pawnshop talk about looking at some more interesting and valuable coins, Ally latches on to the salesman's insistence that flawed coins are more valuable. With this, the novel introduces coins as a symbol for the power and the value of difference and diversity. The fact that both Dad and Grandpa were avid coin collectors and shared this hobby with their children and grandchildren suggests that both men wanted Ally and Travis to take this insight to heart, given that both of them are different—both, the novel will later reveal, have dyslexia, but both Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Inci
Chapter 9 Quotes
As I walk back to my seat, I think of how when Dad left, he said that when we look at the steel pennies, we need to remember that we are unique, too. And also, that things will go back to normal for us—that he'll be home before we know it.
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Ally has brought a steel penny (which were made during World War Two to free up copper for ammunition) to school for show and tell. Dad gave it to Ally to remind her to take pride in her difference, thereby reinforcing the novel's insistence that coins are symbols of diversity. Here, however, Dad's comment that the penny should remind Ally that things will go back to normal (just as pennies once again were made out of copper following the war) also suggests to Ally that, at some point, things will get better for her in terms of being so different. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae vo
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Dad Character Timeline in Fish in a Tree
The timeline below shows where the character Dad appears in Fish in a Tree. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: Triple-Sided Coin
Travis and Ally enter a pawnshop. It smells like old memories of Dad and Grandpa taking Travis and Ally out looking for coins. The salesman doesn't say hello...
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Chapter 9: Bag Full of Nothing
...anything. Finally, Ally pulls a 1943 steel penny out of her pocket. She explains that Dad gave both her and Travis steel pennies when he was deployed, and says the pennies...
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Chapter 20: Is This a Good Thing?
The Walking Liberty half-dollar hangs from the rearview, and Ally feels as though Dad and Grandpa are there too. It starts to rain, so Travis pulls over and jumps...
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Chapter 32: Screen Time
...her in the car—they're going to a friend's house so that they can Skype with Dad. Ally tries to control her excitement. Mom seems ready to cry as Ally tells Dad...
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Ally and Travis leave so that Mom and Dad can talk in private. Travis tells Ally that he's so frustrated with work and though...
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Chapter 44: Tales of a Sixth Grade Something
...explains that since most houses have art on the walls, she included a picture of Dad in his uniform. Max is excited to hear that Ally's dad drives a tank in...
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