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Felix Volkbein
Jenny is Robin Vote’s third lover. Jenny is a four-time widow living in a lavish house full of trinkets that she’s stolen from other people. Jenny steals things because she thinks they’re interesting and believes that if she possesses them, then she will be interesting. Jenny badly wants do something interesting but is also afraid of change or doing anything new. As she neared 50 years old, however, she got even more desperate to be a part of something interesting, and that is when she first saw Robin and learned about Nora Flood’s immense love for Robin. Dr. Matthew O’Connor introduces Jenny to Robin (he and Jenny were already friends) at her request and soon after that Jenny and Robin begin a tumultuous relationship. After Nora learns about Robin’s affair with Jenny, they break up and Robin goes to America with Jenny. In America, Robin soon takes to her old habit of wandering around alone at night, but Jenny tries to follow her at a discreet distance. Ultimately, their relationship falls apart and Jenny finds herself alone in their hotel room, pacing the floor and crying.
Jenny Petherbridge Quotes in Nightwood
The Nightwood quotes below are all either spoken by Jenny Petherbridge or refer to Jenny Petherbridge. 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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“The Squatter” Quotes
She was nervous about the future; it made her indelicate. She was one of the most unimportantly wicked women of her time—because she could not let her time alone, and yet could never be a part of it. She wanted to be the reason for everything and so was the cause of nothing. She had the fluency of tongue and action meted out by divine providence to those who cannot think for themselves.
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When she fell in love it was with a perfect fury of accumulated dishonesty; she became instantly a dealer in second-hand and therefore incalculable emotions. As from the solid archives of usage, she had stolen or appropriated the dignity of speech, so she appropriated the most passionate love that she knew, Nora’s for Robin. She was a “squatter” by instinct.
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Go Down, Matthew Quotes
“May they all be damned! The people in my life who have made my life miserable, coming to me to learn of degradation and the night. Nora, beating her head against her heart, sprung over, her mind closing her life up like a heel on a fan, rotten to the bone for love of Robin. My God, how that woman hold on to an idea! And that old sandpiper, Jenny! Oh, it’s a grand bad story, and who says I’m a betrayer? I say, tell the story of the world to the world!”
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Jenny Petherbridge Character Timeline in Nightwood
The timeline below shows where the character Jenny Petherbridge appears in Nightwood. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Night Watch
...fear as their gazes meet. As Nora’s eyes adjust to the darkness, she realizes there’s another woman there clinging to Robin’s neck. Devastated, Nora falls to her knees and closes her eyes,...
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“The Squatter”
Jenny Petherbridge is a middle-aged four-time widow. Jenny is small, visibly aging, and seems perpetually nervous....
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Jenny’s other preoccupation is love—she desires love above all things but fails to get it. Her...
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Whenever Jenny and Robin have a scheduled date, Jenny shows up early and Robin shows up late;...
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Matthew seems confused by Jenny’s sudden call for carriages, but Robin seems to understand. She says that Jenny is in...
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Matthew tells the driver to go and the carriages start driving. Jenny sits in her corner, watching the other women with suspicion. Matthew, wondering how he ended...
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Instead of listening to Matthew, Jenny cries and watches Robin stroke Sylvia’s hair. Noticing this, Matthew tells Jenny that crying makes...
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Watchman, What of the Night?
...the night that Nora’s most curious about. Matthew says he’s arrived at the subject of Jenny, who yearns to have other people’s property and measures the worth of objects by how...
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Nora asks what Jenny is like. Matthew says that Jenny is small, nervous, and tries to “collect[]” her destiny....
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...people, and Nora agrees. Returning to the story, Matthew says that when the opera ended Jenny went trotting after Robin and him, asking them to have dinner at her house. They...
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...the carriages pulled up, Robin was the first one out of the house but had Jenny chasing and calling after her. In the carriage, Matthew thought to himself that everything a...
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Where the Tree Falls
...something taken away from her” in the war. Felix doesn’t respond to this but says Jenny came to visit him, which takes Matthew by surprise. Felix says he didn’t know who...
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In Felix’s story, Jenny talked about Robin and her strange relationship with Sylvia, who loved her. Robin would wake...
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Go Down, Matthew
...Robin’s life more bitter. Nora looks at him and he urges her to think about Jenny, who’s begun drinking heavily and is in a constant state of torment because she can’t...
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...is for Guido to die early. Matthew questions if there’s a reason for Robin and Jenny’s torment and again asks Nora why she can’t rest. He considers what his own fate...
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...her pain but, contrary to what many people think, suffering won’t purify them. Nora mentions Jenny and Matthew says suffering ruins her ability to sleep. Matthew remarks that nobody ever suffers...
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...a myth. Nora ignores this and says that after that night she went to see Jenny herself.
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Inside Jenny’s house Nora saw a doll like the one Robin gave her. That’s how Nora knew...
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...the people who make him miserable by looking to him for comfort, including Nora and Jenny. Matthew says it’s all a bad story, but the world should hear its own story.
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The priest points out that women cause trouble, too. Matthew agrees, saying that’s all Jenny, Nora, and Robin have ever done. Matthew drunkenly rambles on about trying to be recognized...
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The Possessed
When Jenny and Robin arrive in New York, Robin shoots down Jenny’s suggestion that they get a...
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