Playing Beatie Bow

by

Ruth Park

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Playing Beatie Bow makes teaching easy.

Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker Character Analysis

A quiet, sweet, beautiful, and lame young woman who is a cousin of the Bows and the granddaughter of Granny Tallisker. After an accident in her childhood during which she and Judah overturned a cart, shattering Dovey’s leg bone, she has suffered pain and a distinctive limp. Dovey is eventually revealed to be betrothed to Judah—as Abigail has fallen in love with Judah, she is saddened by this news, and surprised by her feelings of jealousy and anger toward the unimpeachably sweet Dovey. Despite the tension between the two women, Dovey is always deeply kind to Abigail, and they otherwise share a pleasant, nurturing friendship.

Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker Quotes in Playing Beatie Bow

The Playing Beatie Bow quotes below are all either spoken by Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker or refer to Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker. 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:
Family, Duty, and Connection Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Do you have a good or a bad feeling about him, poor bairn?”

Granny sighed. “I hae no clear feelings any more, Dovey. They're as mixed up as folk in fog.”

“But you've no doubt that this little one here is the Stranger?”

The two women spoke in whispers, but Abigail heard them, for the night was almost silent. There was no sound of traffic except a dray's wheels rolling like distant thunder over the cobbles at the docks. She could hear the waves breaking on the rocks of Dawes Point and Walsh Bay.

“Aye, when I first saw her I had a flash, clear as it was when I was a lass. Poor ill-favoured little yellow herring of a thing. But still, it came to me then, she was the Stranger that would save the Gift for the family.”

Abigail was so indignant at the description of herself that she almost opened her eyes.

“And then there was the gown, forebye. I swear, Granny, I almost fainted when I set eyes on it. The very pattern that we worked out between us!”

“And not a needle lifted to it yet,” said Granny.

Related Characters: Granny Tallisker (speaker), Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker (speaker), Abigail Kirk, Gibbie Bow
Related Symbols: Clothing
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

The first thing was their kindness. How amazingly widespread it was. […] They had taken responsibility for her, nursed and clothed her. Someone had given up her bed, probably Beatie; no one had complained when she was snappish and rude about Dovey's best clothes, about the lack of sanitation; no one had condemned her unsympathetic attitude towards Gibbie.

“I'm not kind,” said Abigail with a sickish surprise. “Look how I went on with Mum when she said she wanted us to get together with Dad again. Look what I did to Dad when I was little, punched him on the nose and made it bleed. Maybe I’ve never been really kind in my life.” […] These Victorians lived in a dangerous world, where a whole family could be wiped out with typhoid fever or smallpox, where a soldier could get a hole in his head that you could put your fist in, where there were no pensions or free hospitals or penicillin or proper education for girls, or even poor boys, probably. Yet, in a way, it was a more human world than the one Abigail called her own.

“I wish I could stay awhile,” she thought, “and find out why all these things are. But I can't think about any of this till I get home. Getting home, that’s what I have to plan.”

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Beatie Bow / “The little furry girl”, Gibbie Bow, Granny Tallisker, Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker
Page Number: 75-77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“I've nothing to do with it!” cried Abigail. “I came here without wanting to and I want to go home. I've a life of my own, and I want to live it. My mother, I miss her, don't you understand?” she said chokily. She thought fiercely, “I won't cry, I won't.” She waited for a moment, and then said quietly, “I'm not your mysterious Stranger. I'm just someone who came into your life here in some way that's a riddle to me. But I have to go home, I don’t belong here. You must see that.”

“We canna let you go,” said Mrs. Tallisker. She had relinquished Abigail's hand and was sitting up against her pillows. Except for her sunken eyes she looked almost like her own dignified strong self again.

[…]

“But we canna let you go until you have done whatever it is the Stranger must do to preserve the Gift.” Dovey was distressed. “Oh, dear Abby, it may only be for a little while and then we will help you go to your own place. We do understand what you feel, that you long for your ain folk, but we canna let you go . . . you are our only hope, you see.”

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Granny Tallisker (speaker), Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker (speaker)
Page Number: 107-108
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Stay awhile with us,” begged Dovey the next day, “for you're one of the family, Abby, true!”

“No,” said Abigail. “I have to go home; you know that.”

Her green dress looked strange to her; it had been so long since she had seen it. She saw it was not very well made; it was not worthy of the lace-like crochet. Abigail put on the dress. It fitted more tightly across the chest. My figure’s coming at last, she thought. Inside she was cold and without feeling, like a volcano covered with ice.

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker (speaker)
Related Symbols: Clothing
Page Number: 160
Explanation and Analysis:

Abigail saw ahead of her the lamp that lit the steep stairs to the alley which ran down to the playground. Beatie kicked angrily at the kerbstone. Her face was undecided, back to its crabbed urchin look.

“I know you hate me because I fell in love with your brother. Well, he doesn't love me, never did and never will. And I did save Dovey for him.”

“’Twas no more than what you were sent for,” said Beatie churlishly.

Abigail lost her temper. “Oh, you know everything, don't you? Let me tell you, you sulky little pig, you know nothing about love, that's one thing. You have to experience it to know how powerful it is.”

Here she stopped, dumbstruck, remembering who had said the same words to her.

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Beatie Bow / “The little furry girl” (speaker), Judah Bow, Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker, Katherine “Kathy” Kirk
Page Number: 163
Explanation and Analysis:
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Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker Quotes in Playing Beatie Bow

The Playing Beatie Bow quotes below are all either spoken by Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker or refer to Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker. 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:
Family, Duty, and Connection Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Do you have a good or a bad feeling about him, poor bairn?”

Granny sighed. “I hae no clear feelings any more, Dovey. They're as mixed up as folk in fog.”

“But you've no doubt that this little one here is the Stranger?”

The two women spoke in whispers, but Abigail heard them, for the night was almost silent. There was no sound of traffic except a dray's wheels rolling like distant thunder over the cobbles at the docks. She could hear the waves breaking on the rocks of Dawes Point and Walsh Bay.

“Aye, when I first saw her I had a flash, clear as it was when I was a lass. Poor ill-favoured little yellow herring of a thing. But still, it came to me then, she was the Stranger that would save the Gift for the family.”

Abigail was so indignant at the description of herself that she almost opened her eyes.

“And then there was the gown, forebye. I swear, Granny, I almost fainted when I set eyes on it. The very pattern that we worked out between us!”

“And not a needle lifted to it yet,” said Granny.

Related Characters: Granny Tallisker (speaker), Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker (speaker), Abigail Kirk, Gibbie Bow
Related Symbols: Clothing
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

The first thing was their kindness. How amazingly widespread it was. […] They had taken responsibility for her, nursed and clothed her. Someone had given up her bed, probably Beatie; no one had complained when she was snappish and rude about Dovey's best clothes, about the lack of sanitation; no one had condemned her unsympathetic attitude towards Gibbie.

“I'm not kind,” said Abigail with a sickish surprise. “Look how I went on with Mum when she said she wanted us to get together with Dad again. Look what I did to Dad when I was little, punched him on the nose and made it bleed. Maybe I’ve never been really kind in my life.” […] These Victorians lived in a dangerous world, where a whole family could be wiped out with typhoid fever or smallpox, where a soldier could get a hole in his head that you could put your fist in, where there were no pensions or free hospitals or penicillin or proper education for girls, or even poor boys, probably. Yet, in a way, it was a more human world than the one Abigail called her own.

“I wish I could stay awhile,” she thought, “and find out why all these things are. But I can't think about any of this till I get home. Getting home, that’s what I have to plan.”

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Beatie Bow / “The little furry girl”, Gibbie Bow, Granny Tallisker, Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker
Page Number: 75-77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“I've nothing to do with it!” cried Abigail. “I came here without wanting to and I want to go home. I've a life of my own, and I want to live it. My mother, I miss her, don't you understand?” she said chokily. She thought fiercely, “I won't cry, I won't.” She waited for a moment, and then said quietly, “I'm not your mysterious Stranger. I'm just someone who came into your life here in some way that's a riddle to me. But I have to go home, I don’t belong here. You must see that.”

“We canna let you go,” said Mrs. Tallisker. She had relinquished Abigail's hand and was sitting up against her pillows. Except for her sunken eyes she looked almost like her own dignified strong self again.

[…]

“But we canna let you go until you have done whatever it is the Stranger must do to preserve the Gift.” Dovey was distressed. “Oh, dear Abby, it may only be for a little while and then we will help you go to your own place. We do understand what you feel, that you long for your ain folk, but we canna let you go . . . you are our only hope, you see.”

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Granny Tallisker (speaker), Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker (speaker)
Page Number: 107-108
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Stay awhile with us,” begged Dovey the next day, “for you're one of the family, Abby, true!”

“No,” said Abigail. “I have to go home; you know that.”

Her green dress looked strange to her; it had been so long since she had seen it. She saw it was not very well made; it was not worthy of the lace-like crochet. Abigail put on the dress. It fitted more tightly across the chest. My figure’s coming at last, she thought. Inside she was cold and without feeling, like a volcano covered with ice.

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker (speaker)
Related Symbols: Clothing
Page Number: 160
Explanation and Analysis:

Abigail saw ahead of her the lamp that lit the steep stairs to the alley which ran down to the playground. Beatie kicked angrily at the kerbstone. Her face was undecided, back to its crabbed urchin look.

“I know you hate me because I fell in love with your brother. Well, he doesn't love me, never did and never will. And I did save Dovey for him.”

“’Twas no more than what you were sent for,” said Beatie churlishly.

Abigail lost her temper. “Oh, you know everything, don't you? Let me tell you, you sulky little pig, you know nothing about love, that's one thing. You have to experience it to know how powerful it is.”

Here she stopped, dumbstruck, remembering who had said the same words to her.

Related Characters: Abigail Kirk (speaker), Beatie Bow / “The little furry girl” (speaker), Judah Bow, Dorcas “Dovey” Tallisker, Katherine “Kathy” Kirk
Page Number: 163
Explanation and Analysis: