Selena Character Analysis in Nineteen Minutes

Jordan’s wife, who also works as his investigator. Like Jordan, Selena is smart, talented, and hard-working. However, while her husband sometimes lacks a degree of empathy and care, Selena brings a more human touch to their work together. she cites her experience as a black woman as a reason why she can understand how someone who has been bullied their whole life—like Peter—can come to feel trapped and powerless. She and Jordan are the parents of a baby, Sam.

Selena Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

The Nineteen Minutes quotes below are all either spoken by Selena or refer to Selena. 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:

Maybe it was our own damn fault that men turned out the way they did, Selena thought. Maybe empathy, like any unused muscle, simply atrophied.

Related Characters: Selena

Page Number and Citation: 343

Explanation and Analysis:

Selena Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes

The timeline below shows where the character Selena appears in Nineteen Minutes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...a lawyer, is watching the news coverage of the Sterling High shooting with his wife, Selena. Selena also works as Jordan’s investigator; they have a young baby, and Jordan also has... (full context)

Selena goes to see Lacy in order to gather information for Peter’s defense. Her questions begin... (full context)

When Selena asks about weapons, Lacy admits that Peter knew where the key to shotgun cabinet was,... (full context)

...the car to go for a drive, but immediately realizes his tires have been slashed. Selena gets back and tells Jordan about Joey’s death. She expresses pity for the Houghton family... (full context)

Selena accuses Jordan of wanting Peter not to be acquitted because he’s scared of him. She... (full context)

Selena points out that no one has applied battered woman syndrome outside of the context of... (full context)

...after Peter. Josie requests that they drive back to school. At 2 A.M., Jordan and Selena are up with Sam, and—to Selena’s annoyance—Jordan is once again talking about the case. Jordan... (full context)

...school. Violating Jordan’s advice that Peter shouldn’t communicate with anybody, he decides to write back. Selena, meanwhile, goes to speak to Arthur McAllistar. She asks him about the school’s bullying policy,... (full context)

...Peter and Derek, while also pointing out the major difference: that Derek never killed anyone. Selena is interviewing Derek at his house, while his mother, Dee Dee, watches “like a hawk.”... (full context)

...it’s none of his business, and he leaves in a bad mood. Meanwhile, Jordan and Selena are watching the evening news, which has a report about the hearing which will determine... (full context)

...Jordan could ask Josie the questions he wants to know now. Jordan is resistant. When Selena joins them, Alex implores that she has come to them not as a judge, but... (full context)

...to sneak quietly down the stairs, and she calls him into the kitchen for pancakes. Selena, meanwhile, is thinking about the differences between infant boys and girls. She thinks that life... (full context)

...in, wearing his special suit. He and Lacy hold and hands, unable to speak. Meanwhile, Selena has left out a bowl of Cocoa Krispies for Jordan, the meal he always eats... (full context)

...messages of support for Peter. They identify themselves as the Bullied Victims of America, and Selena reveals that she encouraged them to come to the trial. Inside, Peter looks weak. Jordan... (full context)

Selena, meanwhile, tries to comfort Lacy before she has to go back on the witness stand... (full context)

That night at home, Jordan expresses his horror to Selena that the case is ending this way. In desperation, he proposes calling Josie as a... (full context)

Selena Character Analysis

Selena Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

Part 2, Chapter 1: Five Months After Quotes

Selena Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes