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Sophie’s Father
Danny Casey is a famous football star who is greatly admired, most importantly by Sophie’s older brother Geoff. He is described as a young, bright, beloved “prodigy.” Sophie tells her family a story that she has met Danny Casey and he asks her on a date, which is meant to impress them and make them admire her. However, she seems to believe her own fantasy, and is disappointed when Danny Casey doesn’t appear on the night she said they would meet. The version of Danny Casey that Sophie creates is gentle, has soft eyes, and is kind towards her. She says that Casey plans to open a boutique (which is also Sophie’s ambition), and she describes Casey as being her own height and “no bolder” than her. Clearly, then, the Danny Casey of Sophie’s fantasy is meant as a stand-in for her, someone living Sophie’s own dreams of success and acclaim who she imagines to be not meaningfully different from her (thereby making her own dreams seem more in reach).
Danny Casey Quotes in Going Places
The Going Places quotes below are all either spoken by Danny Casey or refer to Danny Casey. 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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Going Places Quotes
There was a wooden bench beneath a solitary elm where lovers sometimes came. She sat down to wait. It was the perfect place, she had always thought so, for a meeting of this kind. For those who wished not to be observed. She knew he would approve.
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In this passage, Sophie has gone to wait for her (imagined) date with Danny Casey in a picturesque spot. There are a number of important elements in this quote. The bench is sometimes frequented by lovers, yet there is a solitary elm—a tree that has been alone for quite some time. This foreshadows how Sophie’s intention may be romantic or communal, but her reality is lonely. She also notes that this is a place for people who do not want to be seen, which is interesting because the entire point of the Danny Casey story was for other people (her 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 voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Veli
I remember Geoff saying he would never come, and how none of them believed me when I told them. I wonder what will I do, what can I tell them now if he doesn’t come? But we know how it was, Danny and me — that’s the main thing. How can you help what people choose to believe? But all the same, it makes me despondent, this knowing I’ll never be able to show them they’re wrong to doubt me.
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When Sophie realizes that Danny Casey is not coming for their date, she becomes distressed. This quote makes it very clear that Sophie is not upset about Danny Casey, but rather about her brother and her family learning that she made the story about Danny Casey up. It’s clear, then, that this fantasy was not primarily romantic: it was an attempt to impress her family and thereby earn their respect and admiration. As she does when she’s upset, Sophie moves into fantasizing about her and Danny knowing “how it was” as an attempt to comfort herself, but her main concern 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 voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam cons
“Excuse me, but aren’t you Danny Casey?”
Coming through the arcade she pictured him again outside Royce’s.
He turns, reddening slightly. “Yes, that’s right.”
“I watch you every week, with my dad and my brothers. We think you’re great.”
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As Sophie retreats back into her Danny Casey fantasy, readers learn more about the importance of this interaction for her. Her fantasy of Danny Casey is not excited about his fame; rather, when she approaches him he is embarrassed, not emboldened. It is again made clear that this fantasy is not just about Sophie, but about her family. She makes it apparent to Danny Casey that watching him play is a family affair, and that it is not just she who finds him great. Instead, she uses the word we, signifying that she is united with her family (which is 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.
No taller than you. No bolder than you. The prodigy. The innocent genius. The great Danny Casey.
And she saw it all again, last Saturday — saw him ghost past the lumbering defenders, heard the fifty thousand catch their breath as he hovered momentarily over the ball, and then the explosion of sound as he struck it crisply into the goal, the sudden thunderous eruption of exultant approbation.
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Sophie does not describe a football star in a manner one might expect, as people often remark on an athlete’s greater-than-average size or boldness or skill. However, Sophie tells readers that Danny Casey is ordinary in some ways—notably, ways that Sophie herself is likely to be ordinary. The language she uses to describe Danny Casey may very well be how she would describe herself, as a young, innocent genius. By making the two of them more alike, it then becomes easier to project herself onto his success and notoriety. She describes Danny Casey’s success in vivid detail, harkening back to 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 voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusa
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Danny Casey Character Timeline in Going Places
The timeline below shows where the character Danny Casey appears in Going Places. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Going Places
As Geoff works on the motorcycle, Sophie says “I met Danny Casey .” Geoff does not believe her, and then he asks if she has told their...
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In the living room, Geoff tells their father about Sophie meeting Danny Casey . Their father turns his “thick neck” to look at Sophie with “disdain.” He and...
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In Geoff’s bedroom, which is full of posters of Danny Casey , Sophie swears Geoff to secrecy about something, saying that their dad would “murder” her....
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On Saturday, Sophie’s whole family attends a football match, and their team wins with Danny Casey scoring the final goal. Sophie “glow[s] with pride” and Geoff is “ecstatic.” Their father goes...
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The following week, Jansie asks Sophie about meeting Danny Casey , and Sophie is “startled” and dismayed. This is a “Geoff thing, not a Jansie...
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...came.” She thinks that it’s the “perfect place” for a date, and she knows that Danny Casey would approve. While she waits, she imagines him appearing, and “some time elapse[s]” before she...
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Sophie wishes fervently that Danny Casey would come, but she feels “pangs of doubt.” She remembers Geoff telling her that Danny...
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...was.” She imagines the “slow walk home” and Geoff’s “disappointed face” when she tells him Danny Casey didn’t come. He’ll slam the door, but Sophie will tell herself that she and Danny...
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Sophie pictures herself meeting Danny Casey at the shops again. She asks him for an autograph, and she notices that his...
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