It Ends with Us

by

Colleen Hoover

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on It Ends with Us makes teaching easy.

Lily’s father Character Analysis

Mr. Bloom is Lily’s father. The novel begins on the day of his funeral, at which Lily gave a eulogy effectively claiming that there was nothing good to remember about him—he abused Lily’s mother (and to a lesser degree, Lily) for years, and Lily still feels angry at him because of it. Throughout high school, college, and now, her post-graduate life in Boston, Lily has remained vigilant against men like her father, refusing to continue the cycle of abuse. Initially, Lily doesn’t see any resemblances between her father in Ryle, a neurosurgeon she meets after the funeral. Before they begin dating, Lily confides in Ryle about her father’s abuse, and Ryle’s sympathetic response reassures Lily that he is nothing like her father. As the novel unfolds and Lily re-reads many of her high school diaries, she relives the trauma her father inflicted on her and her mother, and she eventually understands that her father’s insecurity, jealousy, and selfishness fueled his abusive behavior. As Lily revisits these memories, Lily’s relationship with Ryle proves to have more in common with her parent’s relationship than she initially thought. Lily’s personal experiences with domestic violence give her a new perspective on her parents’ relationship, which she ultimately realizes was far more complicated than she believed it to be.

Lily’s father Quotes in It Ends with Us

The It Ends with Us quotes below are all either spoken by Lily’s father or refer to Lily’s father. 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:
Cycles of Abuse Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

“My father was abusive. […] Sometimes he would buy me stuff because he knew I hated it when they fought. When I was a kid, I found myself looking forward to the nights they would fight. Because I knew if he hit her, the two weeks that followed would be great. […] When I got older I realized that not doing something about it made me just as guilty. I spent most of my life hating him for being such a bad person, but I’m not so sure I’m much better. Maybe we’re both bad people.”

Ryle looks over at me with a thoughtful expression. “Lily,” he says pointedly. “There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who do bad things.”

I open my mouth to respond, but his words strike me silent.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Ryle Kincaid (speaker), Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Related Symbols: Plants
Page Number: 16-17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2  Quotes

I open the shoebox on my lap and pull out the contents. On the very top is a small wooden, hollow heart. I run my fingers over it and remember the night I was given this heart. As soon as the memory begins to sink in, I set it aside. Nostalgia is a funny thing.

I move a few old letters and newspaper clippings aside. Beneath all of it, I find what I was hoping was inside these boxes. And also sort of hoping wasn’t.

My Ellen Diaries.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s father, Ellen DeGeneres
Related Symbols: Open Heart
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Mom, he was trying to rape you!”

[…] “It’s not like that, Lily. We’re married, and sometimes marriage is just…you’re too young to understand it.”

It got really quiet for a minute, and I said. “I hope to hell I never do.”

[…] When she finished crying, I looked around the room and Atlas had left [...] She never did say anything about him being there. Not one thing. I waited for her to tell me I was grounded, but she never did. I realized that maybe she didn’t acknowledge it because that’s what she does. Things that hurt her just get swept under the rug, never to be brought up again.”

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Lily’s Mother (speaker), Ryle Kincaid, Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s father
Page Number: 156
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14  Quotes

I start shaking my head, wanting the last fifteen seconds to go away. Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person.

Fifteen seconds that we’ll never get back.

He pulls me against him and starts kissing the top of my head. “I’m so sorry. I just…I burned my hand. I panicked. You were laughing and…I’m so sorry, it all happened so fast. I didn’t mean to push you, Lily, I’m sorry.”

I don’t hear Ryle’s voice this time. All I hear is my father’s voice […]

I just want him away from me. I use every ounce of strength I have in both my hands and legs and I force him the fuck away from me.

Related Characters: Ryle Kincaid (speaker), Lily Bloom, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:

He’s not like my father. He can’t be. He’s nothing like that uncaring bastard.

We’re both upset and kissing and confused and sad. I’ve never felt anything like this moment—so ugly and painful. But somehow the only thing that eases the hurt just caused by this man is this man […]

I’m hurting so much on the inside, yet my body craves his apology in the form of his mouth and hands on me. I want to lash out at him and react like I wish my mother would have reacted when my father hurt her, but deep down I want to believe that it really was an accident.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

It’s been almost a mother since the incident on the stairs. Even with everything Ryle told me about his childhood, the forgiveness was still hard to come by.

I know Ryle has a temper. I saw it the first night we met, before we ever even spoke a word to each other. I saw it that awful night in my kitchen. I saw it when he found the phone number in my phone case.

Bur I also see the difference between Ryle and my father.

Ryle is compassionate. He does things my father never would have done. He donates to charity, he cares about other people, he puts me before everything […]

I am a strong woman. I’ve been around abusive situations my whole life. I will never become my mother, I believe that a hundred percent. And Ryle will never become my father.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Page Number: 245
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23  Quotes

I wipe the tears from my eyes and then begin dialing Atlas’s number.

I hate myself more in this moment that I ever have in my entire life.

I hate myself, because the day Ryle found Atlas’s number in my phone, I lied and said I had forgotten it was there.

I hate myself, because the day Atlas placed his number in my phone, I opened it and looked at it.

I hate myself, because deep down inside, I knew there was a chance that I might one day need it. So I memorized.

“Hello?...Lily?”

[…] I hate myself, because he knows the tears are mine.

Related Characters: Atlas Corrigan (speaker), Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Related Symbols: Open Heart
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25  Quotes

I don’t even know where to start. I know you don’t know anything about my current life or my husband, Ryle. But there’s this thing we do where one of us says “naked truth,” and then we’re forced to be brutally honest and say what we’re really thinking.

So…naked truth.

Brace yourself.

I am in love with a man who physically hurts me. Of all people, I have no idea how I let myself get to this point.

There were many times growing up I wondered what was going through my mother’s head in the days after my father had hurt her […]

I hate that I can empathize with her now.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father, Ellen DeGeneres
Page Number: 281
Explanation and Analysis:

People on the outside of situations like these often wonder why the woman goes back to the abuser. I read somewhere once that 85 percent of women return to abusive situations. That was before I realized I was in one, and when I heard that statistic, I thought it was because the women were stupid.

[…] I love my husband, Ellen […] Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them [...]

The things I’ve thought about women like me are now what others would think of me if they knew my current situation […]

I’m sad that those are the first thoughts that run through our minds when someone is abused. Shouldn’t there be more distaste in our mouths for abusers than for those who continue to love their abusers?

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father, Ellen DeGeneres
Page Number: 283
Explanation and Analysis:
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It Ends with Us PDF

Lily’s father Quotes in It Ends with Us

The It Ends with Us quotes below are all either spoken by Lily’s father or refer to Lily’s father. 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:
Cycles of Abuse Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

“My father was abusive. […] Sometimes he would buy me stuff because he knew I hated it when they fought. When I was a kid, I found myself looking forward to the nights they would fight. Because I knew if he hit her, the two weeks that followed would be great. […] When I got older I realized that not doing something about it made me just as guilty. I spent most of my life hating him for being such a bad person, but I’m not so sure I’m much better. Maybe we’re both bad people.”

Ryle looks over at me with a thoughtful expression. “Lily,” he says pointedly. “There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who do bad things.”

I open my mouth to respond, but his words strike me silent.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Ryle Kincaid (speaker), Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Related Symbols: Plants
Page Number: 16-17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2  Quotes

I open the shoebox on my lap and pull out the contents. On the very top is a small wooden, hollow heart. I run my fingers over it and remember the night I was given this heart. As soon as the memory begins to sink in, I set it aside. Nostalgia is a funny thing.

I move a few old letters and newspaper clippings aside. Beneath all of it, I find what I was hoping was inside these boxes. And also sort of hoping wasn’t.

My Ellen Diaries.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s father, Ellen DeGeneres
Related Symbols: Open Heart
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Mom, he was trying to rape you!”

[…] “It’s not like that, Lily. We’re married, and sometimes marriage is just…you’re too young to understand it.”

It got really quiet for a minute, and I said. “I hope to hell I never do.”

[…] When she finished crying, I looked around the room and Atlas had left [...] She never did say anything about him being there. Not one thing. I waited for her to tell me I was grounded, but she never did. I realized that maybe she didn’t acknowledge it because that’s what she does. Things that hurt her just get swept under the rug, never to be brought up again.”

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Lily’s Mother (speaker), Ryle Kincaid, Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s father
Page Number: 156
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14  Quotes

I start shaking my head, wanting the last fifteen seconds to go away. Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person.

Fifteen seconds that we’ll never get back.

He pulls me against him and starts kissing the top of my head. “I’m so sorry. I just…I burned my hand. I panicked. You were laughing and…I’m so sorry, it all happened so fast. I didn’t mean to push you, Lily, I’m sorry.”

I don’t hear Ryle’s voice this time. All I hear is my father’s voice […]

I just want him away from me. I use every ounce of strength I have in both my hands and legs and I force him the fuck away from me.

Related Characters: Ryle Kincaid (speaker), Lily Bloom, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:

He’s not like my father. He can’t be. He’s nothing like that uncaring bastard.

We’re both upset and kissing and confused and sad. I’ve never felt anything like this moment—so ugly and painful. But somehow the only thing that eases the hurt just caused by this man is this man […]

I’m hurting so much on the inside, yet my body craves his apology in the form of his mouth and hands on me. I want to lash out at him and react like I wish my mother would have reacted when my father hurt her, but deep down I want to believe that it really was an accident.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

It’s been almost a mother since the incident on the stairs. Even with everything Ryle told me about his childhood, the forgiveness was still hard to come by.

I know Ryle has a temper. I saw it the first night we met, before we ever even spoke a word to each other. I saw it that awful night in my kitchen. I saw it when he found the phone number in my phone case.

Bur I also see the difference between Ryle and my father.

Ryle is compassionate. He does things my father never would have done. He donates to charity, he cares about other people, he puts me before everything […]

I am a strong woman. I’ve been around abusive situations my whole life. I will never become my mother, I believe that a hundred percent. And Ryle will never become my father.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Page Number: 245
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23  Quotes

I wipe the tears from my eyes and then begin dialing Atlas’s number.

I hate myself more in this moment that I ever have in my entire life.

I hate myself, because the day Ryle found Atlas’s number in my phone, I lied and said I had forgotten it was there.

I hate myself, because the day Atlas placed his number in my phone, I opened it and looked at it.

I hate myself, because deep down inside, I knew there was a chance that I might one day need it. So I memorized.

“Hello?...Lily?”

[…] I hate myself, because he knows the tears are mine.

Related Characters: Atlas Corrigan (speaker), Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father
Related Symbols: Open Heart
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25  Quotes

I don’t even know where to start. I know you don’t know anything about my current life or my husband, Ryle. But there’s this thing we do where one of us says “naked truth,” and then we’re forced to be brutally honest and say what we’re really thinking.

So…naked truth.

Brace yourself.

I am in love with a man who physically hurts me. Of all people, I have no idea how I let myself get to this point.

There were many times growing up I wondered what was going through my mother’s head in the days after my father had hurt her […]

I hate that I can empathize with her now.

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father, Ellen DeGeneres
Page Number: 281
Explanation and Analysis:

People on the outside of situations like these often wonder why the woman goes back to the abuser. I read somewhere once that 85 percent of women return to abusive situations. That was before I realized I was in one, and when I heard that statistic, I thought it was because the women were stupid.

[…] I love my husband, Ellen […] Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them [...]

The things I’ve thought about women like me are now what others would think of me if they knew my current situation […]

I’m sad that those are the first thoughts that run through our minds when someone is abused. Shouldn’t there be more distaste in our mouths for abusers than for those who continue to love their abusers?

Related Characters: Lily Bloom (speaker), Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s Mother, Lily’s father, Ellen DeGeneres
Page Number: 283
Explanation and Analysis: