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Ainsley Tewce
Leonard Slank is one of Clara and Marian’s best friends from college. When the novel begins, Len has recently returned to Toronto from London, where he was working in television production. Len is known for being drawn to younger women due to the “supposedly pure” aura of a virginal woman. When Ainsley seduces Len by pretending to be much younger and more sexually naïve than she actually is, Len is furious at the deception, refusing to take any responsibility for the child Ainsley becomes pregnant with. Marian is disturbed by the gap between the carefree, charismatic way Len presents himself and the frightened little boy he becomes when faced with the first sign of hardship (Len’s comparison of Ainsley’s gestating child to an egg is also what causes Marian to swear off eggs). Ultimately, Len embodies the unfair standards women are held to in a patriarchal society.
Leonard Slank Quotes in The Edible Woman
The The Edible Woman quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard Slank or refer to Leonard Slank. 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:
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Chapter 8 Quotes
“One shot, right through the heart. The rest of them got away. I picked it up and Trigger said, ‘You know how to gut them, you just slit her down the belly and give her a good hard shake and all the guts’ll fall out.’ So I whipped out my knife, good knife, German steel, and slit the belly and took her by the hind legs […] God it was funny. Lucky thing Trigger and me had the old cameras along, we got some good shots of the whole mess.”
After a while I noticed with mild curiosity that a large drop of something wet had materialized on the table near my hand. I poked it with my finger and smudged it around a little before I realized with horror that it was a tear. I must be crying then!
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Chapter 9 Quotes
“Ainsley behaved herself properly, why couldn't you? The trouble with you is,” he said savagely, “you're just rejecting your femininity.” […]
He glanced quickly over at me, his eyes narrowed as though he was taking aim. Then he gritted his teeth together and stepped murderously hard on the accelerator. […] At the suddenly increased speed the car skidded, turned two-and-a-quarter times round, slithered backward down over someone’s inclined lawn, and came to a bone-jolting stop. I heard something snap.
“You maniac!” I wailed when I had ricocheted off the glove compartment and realized I wasn't dead. “You'll get us all killed!” I must have been thinking of myself as plural.
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Chapter 10 Quotes
In his own warped way [Len] was a kind of inverted moralist. He liked to talk as though everyone was out for nothing but sex and money, but when anyone provided a demonstration of his theories in real life, he reacted with scalding critical invective. His blend of cynicism and idealism had a lot to do with his preference for “corrupting,” as he called it, greenish girls, as opposed to the more vine-ripened variety. The supposedly pure, the unobtainable was attractive to the idealist in him; but as soon as it had been obtained, the cynic viewed it as spoiled and threw it away. “She turned out to be just the same as all the rest of them,” he would remark sourly.
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Chapter 18 Quotes
“She made me do it,” he muttered. “My own mother. We were having eggs for breakfast and I opened mine and there was, I swear there was a little chicken inside it, it wasn't born yet, I didn't want to touch it but she didn't see, she didn't see what was really there, she said Don't be silly, it looks like an ordinary egg but it wasn't it wasn't and she made me eat it. And I know, I know there was a little beak and little claws and everything…” He shuddered violently. “Horrible. Horrible, I can't stand it.”
[… When Marian] opened her soft-boiled egg and saw the yolk looking up at her with its one significant and accusing yellow eye, she found her mouth closing together like a frightened sea-anemone. It's living; it's alive, the muscles in her throat said, and tightened.
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Leonard Slank Character Timeline in The Edible Woman
The timeline below shows where the character Leonard Slank appears in The Edible Woman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
...Ainsley resentfully informs Clara that they are indeed still together. Clara then tells Marian that Len Slank, a friend of theirs from college, has recently returned to town from England. Despite...
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...saves a lot of time,” Clara explains defensively). As they eat, Ainsley asks questions about Len Slank, though Joe hurriedly warns her away from him.
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Chapter 5
...life as a housewife. When Marian gets back to her apartment, she decides to call Len Slank. They make a plan to get drinks, and Len (having heard about Ainsley from...
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Marian hangs up the phone and Ainsley asks more questions about Len. Then she makes her big announcement—she is planning to get pregnant. Though Ainsley has no...
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Chapter 7
Marian heads home to take a bath before seeing Peter and Len. Almost as soon as Marian gets in the tub, she hears the lady down below...
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Chapter 8
...Peter complains that he wishes Marian cooked more. Then, Peter and Marian go to meet Len. Peter is in some kind of inscrutable mood. Peter hints that he is jealous of...
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Len is already at the bar, and he greets Marian and Peter warmly. When Marian asks...
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Marian is furious, but the trick works, and Len is immediately infatuated with Ainsley (“I knew you had a roommate,” he gushes, “but you...
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...to photography. Suddenly, Marian realizes that Peter is treating her as a prop to impress Len with, smiling at her in a way that makes Marian feel as if their relationship...
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Chapter 9
...is running off, he is livid. Peter and Ainsley run to get the car, while Len starts chasing after Marian on foot. As Peter’s car approaches her, Marian worries that he...
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They arrive at Len’s, where Len pours them all generous drinks. While Len and Peter discuss Len’s various cameras,...
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Len and Peter help Marian get out, with Peter acting gallant as he lifts the dusty...
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Chapter 10
Ainsley begins laying out her plan with Len to Marian, marking up calendars and figuring out when it might be best to conceive....
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Marian knows that Len tends to chase younger girls because he thinks they are pure, uncorrupted by the world—until...
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Chapter 14
...she thought Marian was going to be with Peter tonight, so she has planned for Len to come over. Though Marian has tried to avoid finding out too much about the...
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...a movie. Elated, Ainsley informs Marian that she plans to use Marian’s room to seduce Len—if Marian sees a tie on her door, that means not to enter. Marian says nothing,...
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...waiting for the late movie showing to start. Again, Marian wonders if she should warn Len—but would Len even believe her, given how convincing Ainsley’s performance has been? Marian is also...
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...lady down below that no such thing is possible. Back in her flat, Marian sees Len’s tie on her door.
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Chapter 16
...Duncan, Marian ran into Ainsley at home. Ainsley was overjoyed about last night’s conquest with Len. She boasted that Len barely knows what happened, even apologizing to her for what he...
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Chapter 18
...only beef but also pork and mutton. Marian is leafing through a cookbook glumly when Len calls her. A couple days earlier, Ainsley’s pregnancy test came back positive, and Marian assumes...
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The doorbell rings and Len arrives. Right away, he launches into his speech: he can’t marry Ainsley, but he feels...
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Len now attacks Ainsley, livid at her for being college-educated instead of “sweet and innocent” like...
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In a panic, Len recalls a breakfast from his youth, when his mother served him eggs for breakfast. When...
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Chapter 24
Marian returns home just in time to see Ainsley and Len in the middle of a giant fight (though Ainsley is still calm enough to compliment...
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Not wanting to be laughed at, Len runs down the stairs, with Ainsley (and then Marian) close behind. Hearing the commotion, the...
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Chapter 25
...asks them to come, too. Marian even invites Ainsley, though she purposefully does not call Leonard Slank .
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...the lady announces that she is evicting “Miss Tewce” from her home—not only because of Len’s recent outburst, but because of the drinking and the incident when Len slept over. Ainsley...
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Chapter 27
...they see Trevor and Fish, the party’s only bachelors. Then Clara and Joe arrive, with Len in tow. Marian’s anxiety worsens—Ainsley will get here soon, and Len is sure to cause...
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While the “office virgins” corner Len, doing their best to seduce him, Joe draws Marian aside. He is worried about Clara,...
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...Then Ainsley arrives and Marian, panicked, hustles Ainsley into Peter’s bedroom to warn her that Len is here. Ainsley seems calm, promising not to talk to him. As the party gets...
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...heads inside. In a desperate move, Ainsley announces to the entire party that she and Len are going to have a baby—and Len responds by pouring his beer on Ainsley’s head....
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Somehow, despite Len’s outburst, the party continues. It gets late, and Marian is searching for another glass—she wants...
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Chapter 31
...now that he comes from “a broken home.” Oddly, Duncan’s musings make Marian think of Len Slank. According to Clara, the news of Ainsley’s marriage has only thrown Len further into...
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