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Marie
A fellow nurse at Mercy-West Haven in the labor and delivery department. Though she's a good nurse, Corinne is chronically late and blames her lateness on everything from the weather to her boyfriend. She and Ruth are friends at the start of the novel and often get drinks together, but Corinne struggles to believe that Marie would be racist when Ruth is taken off Davis's case. Ruth doesn't see her at all between losing her job and the trial and while Corinne testifies, Ruth realizes that the two were never actually friends: their relationship was one of convenience.
Corinne Quotes in Small Great Things
The Small Great Things quotes below are all either spoken by Corinne or refer to Corinne. 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 14, Ruth Quotes
"The fact that I'm Black was never an issue in my relationship with my colleagues."
"Not until they needed a scapegoat. What I am trying to say, Ruth—may I call you that?—is that we will stand with you. Your Black brothers and sisters will go to bat for you. They will risk their jobs for you. They will march on your behalf and they will create a roar that cannot be ignored."
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Small Great Things LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Corinne Character Timeline in Small Great Things
The timeline below shows where the character Corinne appears in Small Great Things. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2, Ruth
...Marie, the charge nurse, for their morning meeting and the two take bets on why Corinne, the second nurse, will be late today. They discuss their children and Ruth modestly refuses...
(full context)
Chapter 4, Ruth
After Marie sends Ruth out of the Bauers' room, Ruth and Corinne joke about how Turk is a real winner. Ruth knows that Turk isn't just silly;...
(full context)
As Ruth and Corinne prepare to leave that afternoon, Corinne asks what happened with the Bauers. When Ruth says...
(full context)
Ruth is so busy that she doesn't see Corinne until nine the next morning. Ruth is in the nursery eating a snack when Corinne...
(full context)
Twenty minutes later, Corinne is called away from monitoring Davis to go with another patient for an emergency C-section....
(full context)
...time of death, Turk desperately tries to pull the Ambu bag out of the trash. Corinne arrives as Marie hands Davis's body to Brit. Ruth rushes to the bathroom, vomits, and...
(full context)
...asks for Ruth's version of events for hospital protocol. Ruth says she was covering for Corinne and lies that she noticed Davis wasn't breathing right before Marie arrived. When Marie notes...
(full context)
Chapter 7, Ruth
...lawyer from the car, tells him about Turk Bauer, and then gets a call from Corinne.
(full context)
...home. Edison is concerned, but Ruth lies that shifts got mixed up, so she and Corinne went out for dinner. Edison's school project is going okay; he's decided to write about...
(full context)
Chapter 22, Ruth
Corinne takes the stand. Ruth thinks that a year ago, she would've said that she and...
(full context)
