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Muddy is the subject of one of the stories Olive tells Lucy. Muddy was a schoolteacher, and he and Olive were longtime coworkers. Olive labeled Muddy’s wife his “linchpin,” and Muddy collapsed when she died, causing Lucy to wonder about “how many people out there are able to be strong—or strong enough—because of the person they married.” Even though Muddy behaved distastefully for the last decades of his life, Olive has always cared about and admired him.
Muddy Quotes in Tell Me Everything
The Tell Me Everything quotes below are all either spoken by Muddy or refer to Muddy . 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:
).
Book 4, Chapter 7 Quotes
“She was his linchpin. He used that word once, as she was dying. Said Sally was his linchpin.”
“You know,” Lucy said slowly, raising her hand and sort of drawing a small circle with her finger, “This is what I wonder. I wonder how many people out there are able to be strong—or strong enough—because of the person they’re married to.”
“Ay-yuh, I’ve been wondering that too.” Olive crossed her legs and swung a foot again. “I’ve been thinking about Henry. One could say he was my linchpin, because he was. And yet—” Olive shook her head slowly. “And yet I was able to get remarried and live a fairly okay life with my second husband, Jack. He was never Henry, but my life went on.”
“Because you’re you,” Lucy said.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Muddy Character Timeline in Tell Me Everything
The timeline below shows where the character Muddy appears in Tell Me Everything. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 4, Chapter 7
...over again, this time to tell a story about a former coworker whom everyone called Muddy. Muddy was a history teacher, and all of his students adored him. He had a...
(full context)
Olive continues her story. One day, Muddy’s wife was diagnosed with cancer, and she died shortly after. In response, Muddy began an...
(full context)
Olive reflects that she thinks Muddy’s first wife was his “linchpin,” the person that held him together after his mother died....
(full context)
