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Sarah
Daughter of Sarah and William. Amy has Down syndrome, which the family is embarrassed by at first. When Amy’s sweetness is threatened by Ben’s cruelty, though, the family quickly becomes protective of Amy. Amy has a large dog companion, which Ben threatens to strangle. This moment is the impetus for the family deciding to put Ben into an institution.
Amy Quotes in The Fifth Child
The The Fifth Child quotes below are all either spoken by Amy or refer to Amy . 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:
).
Pages 3 – 33 Quotes
Harriet said to David, privately, that she did not believe was bad luck: Sarah and William’s unhappiness, their quarrelling, had probably attracted the mongol child—yes, yes, of course she knew one shouldn’t call them mongol[…]David disliked this trait of Harriet’s, a fatalism that seemed so at odds with the rest of her. He said he thought this was silly hysterical thinking: Harriet sulked and they had to make up.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Harriet voices this opinion privately to David after her sister Sarah complains that she and her husband are the recipients of the family’s bad luck when they have a disabled child. Harriet doesn’t believe in luck and this marks one of the first divisions between Harriet and David’s outlooks. In the same way that Harriet believes she and David have earned the happiness of their family, she believes that her sister has brought unhappiness on herself. David’s refusal to take Harriet seriously is also another first in the book. Throughout, Harriet believes that her opinions are not taken seriously and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veni
Pages 33 – 74 Quotes
The new baby had of course been offered to everyone to hold, when they asked, but it was painful to see how their faces changed confronting this phenomenon. Ben was always quickly handed back. Harriet came into the kitchen one day and heard her sister Sarah say to a cousin, “That Ben gives me the creeps. He’s like a goblin or a dwarf or something. I’d rather have poor Amy any day.”
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When the family visits for the first time after Ben is born, Harriet struggles when they respond poorly to Ben’s odd appearance. Even though a precedent has been set for this in their earlier rejection of Sarah’s daughter Amy who was born with Down Syndrome, Harriet has no such diagnosis for her child, and is frustrated that people pretend nothing is wrong publicly, but then speak about him otherwise behind closed doors. Even Sarah, who should have the most sympathy for Harriet’s plight, badmouths the child. In this, we see the family rejecting Ben because he is without category, whereas Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor
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Amy Character Timeline in The Fifth Child
The timeline below shows where the character Amy appears in The Fifth Child. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 3 – 33
Christmas and Easter are again celebrated by the larger family. Sarah’s daughter Amy is born with Down Syndrome, confirming that Sarah and William must stay together to properly...
(full context)
...Harriet mentions to David that she doesn’t believe it’s bad luck. Instead she thinks that Amy was born with Down Syndrome because of Sarah and William’s constant fights. David criticizes this...
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...of Dorothy’s time and leave none for her. Sarah feels the need to hide little Amy behind a blanket because the sight of her upsets people. Harriet is irritable because she...
(full context)
Pages 33 – 74
Harriet invites the family, determined to have a regular Christmas. Sarah asks if Amy will be safe in the house, and Harriet says yes, as long as they never...
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...it’s not right. After Ben turns three, the house is only partly filled for Christmas. Amy brings along a large companion dog that all the children love, but one morning Harriet...
(full context)
