Previous
Tim
Nancy is a child who lives at the residential school. Originally from northwest Australia, she professes to prefer other children who come from the same area, like Emmy, Dot, and Annie, but she’s also friends with “sou’westers” like Janey and Tim. Nancy is an older girl who is on the threshold of being sent out to become a servant in someone’s home. Although she presents a tough exterior, she’s generally kind and friendly, especially to the younger children. She has a joyful sense of humor, and Annie appreciates her for her belly laugh. When Janey goes to the hospital wing, Nancy takes Annie under her wing.
Nancy Quotes in Sister Heart
The Sister Heart quotes below are all either spoken by Nancy or refer to Nancy. 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:
).
Chapter 2 Quotes
Nancy comes up
spins me around
Ay, new girl!
Meet Emmy and Dot
They nor’westers too
Emmy and Dot
are bigger girls like Nancy
Emmy has curly hair like mine
Dot has a round face like Nancy
They nod at me shyly
Nancy says
Nor’westers stick together
Sou’westers stick together
Got it?
Janey elbows past Nancy
Hey, I’m sou’wester
and I got sou’wester and nor’wester friends!
Nancy teases
Ooh – prickly little sou’wester
Emmy pokes Janey
Dot laughs
Nancy towers over Janey
Mind ya own business, sou’wester!
Janey puts her hands on her hips
If I minded my own business
you wouldn’t have any stuff…
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
And guess what?
Me skull’s got freckles!
Come out, Annie
I’ll check your skull
for freckles
Who cares about freckles?
Nancy says
Leave her alone, Janey
You know what it’s like!
I hear Janey’s bed squeak
as she lies down
You be okay, Annie
Promise!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Nancy rolls her eyes
That’s what boys do
Forget boys!
Let’s be girls
make ourselves pretty
Nancy finds
a patch of bright flowers
Janey shows me
how to join them together
I’ve got flowers round my neck
round my head
round my arms
Nancy’s got more
Nancy stands
walks up and down
nose in the air
I’m Nancy
queen of the world!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I am too sad to eat bread and berries
Eatin’ makes you tougher
Janey says
You got to get tougher, Annie
Nuh, Janey
says Nancy
Teacher got it in for her now
Be watchin’ for a chance
to have another go
Annie got to talk
But I can’t talk
Sometimes
I feel my voice
rattling inside me
like a trapped thing
trying to get out
My voice got lost
when bully boots policeman
took me from the station
Don’t know when it will come back
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Janey laughs
then winces in pain
I got them glasses
real sweaty and foggy
When Teacher yelled
at me to give ’em back
I dropped the stinky things
right into her hands
Shoulda seen her face
thought she might spew
You reckon she wear
them mucky things now?
Nancy laughs
You a smart little sou’wester!
Janey is smart
Tough too
But Janey is hurting
I pick up my blanket
I lay it softly over her
Janey groans
What Teacher gunna do without glasses?
Told ya I’d make her pay, Annie!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes
Stand straight
with your arms down
Now, repeat after me
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow
everywhere that Mary went
the lamb was sure to go
So many english words
to say
all at once
I stutter and stumble
through the words
and when I get
to the last line
I get it wrong and say
the ham was sure to glow
The other kids bust out laughing
Teacher whacks me
but the edge misses
Tomorrow
we will do this again
We will do it every day
until you can say it perfectly
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She shrugs
Government don’t like our family
Don’t like Annie’s family
or Nancy’s
That’s why they took us
to make us forget our families
to make us forget our country
to make us what they want
I won’t be what they want
’specially not on the inside
Grandpa told me
our people been in our country
forever
This is your home place, my girl
Your heart place
You remember that
My heart tells me
it’s the same
for Janey and Tim’s family
same for Nancy
same for all the kids here
Tim says
I won’t forget, sis
Can’t forget yourself!
says Janey
We all laugh
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
But I’m still not the Annie
they want me to be
They call me Annie
I answer to Annie
but they don’t know
who I really am
They don’t know Janey
Tim
Nancy
Emmy
Dot
Inside
we are all secrets
dreaming secret dreams
of another life
My language name
is still hiding
When I go home
and see Mum
it will spring out
like a seed sprouting
Till then it’s a secret
Me on the inside
is a secret
to the outside world
Only way to stay safe
form the world of this place
World of school
work
bossing
World of forgetting
World I don’t understand
I am like Janey
I keep my secrets hidden
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Janey told me
her most secret secret
Her real name
I told her
my most secret secret
My real name
We promised each other
to keep our secrets safe
Me and Janey are good
at keeping secret things safe
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Sister Heart LitChart as a printable PDF.
Nancy Character Timeline in Sister Heart
The timeline below shows where the character Nancy appears in Sister Heart. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...used to belong to Margy, before Margy was sent out to work. An older girl, Nancy, stalks up demanding to know whether Annie is a “nor’wester or sou’wester.” Janey answers, saying...
(full context)
...Annie forlornly thinks about the songs and stories she learned from her Mum and aunties. Nancy interrupts to introduce Annie to two other nor’westers, Emmy and Dot. Nancy reminds Annie that...
(full context)
That night, Nancy lends Janey her comb so Janey can braid Annie’s hair. Like a lot of the...
(full context)
...all over the floor. Janey hears her crying and starts crying too. In the morning, Nancy gives Annie rags to clean up her vomit. Janey, Emmy, and Dot help. Nancy doesn’t—she...
(full context)
...past, and some of the girls in the dormitory tease Annie too, at least until Nancy beats them up to keep them quiet. Annie hides under her blanket. Janey tells her...
(full context)
...he’s not a baby anymore and likes to hang out with the other boys sometimes. Nancy swears that she saw Tim with his friends. She tells Janey to stop worrying and...
(full context)
...“know[ing] her place.” She knows that if touches Teacher again, she’ll be whipped—or worse. Janey, Nancy, Dot, and Emmy sneak food and cool, wet rags into the dormitory. They encourage Annie...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...Janey decides to catch a fish for him. Annie and Tim go along, but not Nancy, who’s turned 14 and been sent out to work. She hates it and is secretly...
(full context)
...but it’s far too late in the day to try to steal her dry clothes. Nancy makes Janey put on her sweater and tells her to sleep curled up for warmth....
(full context)
...the school want her to be. None of them are, not Janey or Tim or Nancy or Emmy or Dot. Deep down, they keep their secret names and their histories so...
(full context)
The next evening, Annie asks Nancy for help. Janey is feverish and suffering from chills. Nancy doesn’t have any medicine—they never...
(full context)
After lessons the next day, Nancy brings Annie to the creek to catch gilgies. After they catch four, Nancy starts to...
(full context)
...for punishment they receive extra chores. Annie tries to do some of Tim’s work, but Nancy warns her that that plan will backfire. If anyone figures out what she’s doing, they’ll...
(full context)
...that she’s a good big sister to Tim, and Annie tells her she is. Then, Nancy touches Annie on the shoulder and asks who she’s talking to. Janey isn’t there; Annie...
(full context)
Chapter 4
Tim, Annie, Nancy, Dot, and Emmy gather a huge bundle of wildflowers to place on Janey’s grave. As...
(full context)
