The Dutch House

by Ann Patchett

The VanHoebeeks Character Analysis

Mr. and Mrs. VanHoebeek are the original Dutch owners of the Dutch House. Mr. VanHoebeek founded a cigarette company just before World War I and steadily grew his fortune, eventually buying the plot of land where he would build the house. Even after their deaths, portraits of the VanHoebeek family remain throughout the Dutch House. Fluffy, whose parents worked for the VanHoebeeks, personally cares for Mrs. VanHoebeek in her final years, staying by her side until she passes away.

The VanHoebeeks Quotes in The Dutch House

The The Dutch House quotes below are all either spoken by The VanHoebeeks or refer to The VanHoebeeks. 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:
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
).

Chapter 18 Quotes

My mother and sister went to the fireplace to stand beneath the VanHoebeeks.

“I hated them,” my mother said quietly, still holding Andrea’s shoes.

Maeve nodded, her eyes on those eyes that had followed us throughout our youth. “I loved them.”

Related Characters: Danny Conroy (speaker), Elna Conroy (speaker), Maeve Conroy (speaker), Andrea Smith, The VanHoebeeks
Related Symbols: The Dutch House
Page Number and Citation: 310
Explanation and Analysis:
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The VanHoebeeks Character Timeline in The Dutch House

The timeline below shows where the character The VanHoebeeks appears in The Dutch House. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
Projection, Perception, and Reality Theme Icon
...room, they meet Andrea, who is admiring the hanging portraits of the former homeowners, the VanHoebeeks. Another portrait, of a 10-year-old Maeve, hangs directly across from the VanHoebeeks. Upon introductions, Danny... (full context)
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
...the Dutch House long before Cyril bought it in 1946. Her parents worked for the VanHoebeeks, and she spent her childhood there. However, Danny and Maeve’s father eventually let Fluffy go... (full context)
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
The VanHoebeeks commissioned the construction of the Dutch House after Mr. VanHoebeek amassed a fortune in cigarette... (full context)
Chapter 4
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
Projection, Perception, and Reality Theme Icon
...Barnard, Mr. Conroy marries Andrea in the drawing room of the Dutch House, beneath the VanHoebeeks’ “watchful eyes.” Because Andrea isn’t Catholic and their father is divorced, a judge officiates the... (full context)
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
Projection, Perception, and Reality Theme Icon
...news in stride. Around this time, Danny “falls in love” with the portrait of a VanHoebeek relative, Julia, but he later learns she is actually a young Mrs. VanHoebeek—the same elderly... (full context)
Chapter 13
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
...as their nanny. Celeste and Fluffy bond quickly, with Fluffy telling her stories about the VanHoebeeks and the Dutch House. During Celeste’s second pregnancy, Danny secretly buys and fixes up a... (full context)
Chapter 14
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
...something of her own. Overjoyed, Maeve declares she’ll stay in it forever, just like Mrs. VanHoebeek stayed in the Dutch House. (full context)
Chapter 18
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
Resentment and Forgiveness Theme Icon
Projection, Perception, and Reality Theme Icon
...looking at the portrait of young Maeve hanging in the drawing room across from the VanHoebeeks, points to it and says, “My daughter.” Maeve, stunned, had assumed Andrea would have thrown... (full context)
Chapter 20
Memory, Inheritance, and the Past Theme Icon
Family Bonds Theme Icon
Home, Displacement, and Impermanence Theme Icon
Projection, Perception, and Reality Theme Icon
...original place in the drawing room, where it once hung for decades across from the VanHoebeeks. She hosts lavish, A-list parties, inviting Danny, Celeste, and Kevin to attend. At one such... (full context)