Seventy-Two Derwents

by

Cate Kennedy

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Seventy-Two Derwents makes teaching easy.

Tyler and Ellie’s Mother Character Analysis

An ambiguous and complicated figure, Tyler and Ellie’s mother dominates a great deal of her daughters’ lives. Ellie and Tyler are the youngest of her five children; earlier, she had two boys, Zac and Dylan, and a daughter, Tegan. Zac and Dylan both had juvenile criminal records, ran away from home, and ultimately grew up with other families; Tegan was taken away because of abuse by Tyler’s mother’s previous boyfriend. With her remaining two children, she is both warm and domineering, affirming her affection for them but constantly demanding their affirmation and support. She relies heavily on her children: both Ellie and Tyler commit a great deal of time to helping her make handmade dolls to sell in a local shop, and she receives an unspecified part of Ellie’s wages from Subway. She resents her sister (Aunty Jacinta) and mother (Tyler’s grandmother), convinced that they look down on her. She goes to great lengths to overlook Shane’s threatening and entitled behavior, seeking to keep the relationship intact at all costs. However, after he throws Ellie against a wall and tries to attack Tyler, she stabs him in the stomach with sewing scissors and kicks him out of the house, overcoming her insecurities for the sake of her daughters’ safety.

Tyler and Ellie’s Mother Quotes in Seventy-Two Derwents

The Seventy-Two Derwents quotes below are all either spoken by Tyler and Ellie’s Mother or refer to Tyler and Ellie’s Mother. 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:
Relationships and Intimacy Theme Icon
).
Seventy-Two Derwents Quotes

Mrs Carlyle told us that when you are training your dog you need to say the same thing over and over until the dog gets it. He wants to do the right thing, he just doesn’t know it at first. She says it’s the same with training a bird to talk, you have to say the same thing again and again so they learn. That’s true and maybe it’s true for people too.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Mrs Carlyle
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:

In cartoons time passes really fast and sudden. Also, things happen that aren’t true. Like a cat will be running along and will go through the wall and there will be an exactly cat-shaped hole left behind in the wall. Mum’s old boyfriend Gary threw a bottle at the wall once and it didn’t leave a shape like that it just smashed.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Shane
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:

I said I love her, I love her crown, thank you. Aunty Jacinta leaned over and gave me a hug and she smelled so nice, not like perfume but just cups of tea and shampoo, and she said softly she doesn’t have to be Cinderella, Tyler, you can give her a new name if you like. Then my mum jumped up and said are we allowed to have a glass of wine or do we have to say grace first round here.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Aunty Jacinta
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:

When she and Mum fight Mum says set your sister a good example, and Ellie says I’m setting her the best example I can, which is how to get the fuck out of here.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Ellie, Tyler and Ellie’s Mother
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:

Just before when I was going to bed Mum said let’s have a secret, you don’t have to go to school tomorrow, Tyler. I will ring up and tell them you are sick and you can stay here and help me finish the Plushies. It is the same as when Shane leans down and whispers, grown-ups can make their voices go all soft and excited like it’s a big special secret to share just with you, they know just how to make kids feel happy but it’s never what you think. I felt the stones in my stomach because I remembered that tomorrow is the first orientation day for Grade 6s to go over to the senior campus to visit but I just said yes.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Shane
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:

My pencils have student quality written on the packet but the Derwent pencils are for real artists and that is why they’re special. I would feel special and proud to have them, like when Aunty Jacinta wrote in her letter, we think you’re wonderful.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother
Related Symbols: Derwent Pencils
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Seventy-Two Derwents LitChart as a printable PDF.
Seventy-Two Derwents PDF

Tyler and Ellie’s Mother Quotes in Seventy-Two Derwents

The Seventy-Two Derwents quotes below are all either spoken by Tyler and Ellie’s Mother or refer to Tyler and Ellie’s Mother. 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:
Relationships and Intimacy Theme Icon
).
Seventy-Two Derwents Quotes

Mrs Carlyle told us that when you are training your dog you need to say the same thing over and over until the dog gets it. He wants to do the right thing, he just doesn’t know it at first. She says it’s the same with training a bird to talk, you have to say the same thing again and again so they learn. That’s true and maybe it’s true for people too.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Mrs Carlyle
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:

In cartoons time passes really fast and sudden. Also, things happen that aren’t true. Like a cat will be running along and will go through the wall and there will be an exactly cat-shaped hole left behind in the wall. Mum’s old boyfriend Gary threw a bottle at the wall once and it didn’t leave a shape like that it just smashed.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Shane
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:

I said I love her, I love her crown, thank you. Aunty Jacinta leaned over and gave me a hug and she smelled so nice, not like perfume but just cups of tea and shampoo, and she said softly she doesn’t have to be Cinderella, Tyler, you can give her a new name if you like. Then my mum jumped up and said are we allowed to have a glass of wine or do we have to say grace first round here.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Aunty Jacinta
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:

When she and Mum fight Mum says set your sister a good example, and Ellie says I’m setting her the best example I can, which is how to get the fuck out of here.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Ellie, Tyler and Ellie’s Mother
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:

Just before when I was going to bed Mum said let’s have a secret, you don’t have to go to school tomorrow, Tyler. I will ring up and tell them you are sick and you can stay here and help me finish the Plushies. It is the same as when Shane leans down and whispers, grown-ups can make their voices go all soft and excited like it’s a big special secret to share just with you, they know just how to make kids feel happy but it’s never what you think. I felt the stones in my stomach because I remembered that tomorrow is the first orientation day for Grade 6s to go over to the senior campus to visit but I just said yes.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother, Shane
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:

My pencils have student quality written on the packet but the Derwent pencils are for real artists and that is why they’re special. I would feel special and proud to have them, like when Aunty Jacinta wrote in her letter, we think you’re wonderful.

Related Characters: Tyler (speaker), Tyler and Ellie’s Mother
Related Symbols: Derwent Pencils
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis: