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Mama Nepele
Mrs. Thomas is the woman with whom Clemantine stays during the week to attend a nice school in the United States. Mrs. Thomas has a beautiful suburban house. Clemantine calls Mrs. Thomas her American mother. Mrs. Thomas encourages Clemantine to write the essay that wins Oprah’s essay contest and helps her get into Yale. Mrs. Thomas gives Clemantine many objects – a heart-shaped locket, a collection of beads – that make Clemantine feel loved and at home.
Mrs. Thomas Quotes in The Girl Who Smiled Beads
The The Girl Who Smiled Beads quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Thomas or refer to Mrs. Thomas . 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 4 Quotes
I work every day now to erase [the] language of ruin, to destroy it and replace it with language of my own. With konona (rape, ruin), you’re told, there is no antidote, no cleansing agent. […] You’re polluted, you’re worthless—that’s it.
My body is destroyed and my body is sacred. I will not live in that story of ruin and shame.
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This quote appears when Mrs. Thomas’s friend Mrs. Kline takes Clemantine shopping for an 8th-grade graduation dress. Clemantine realizes that she has a difficult time loving herself and her body. Clemantine explains that in Rwanda, konona—which means “rape” in Kinyarwanda—damages a woman permanently. In this culture, rape puts a woman in a state that is described with very ominous language: a state of ruination, pollution, and worthlessness. This quote points out that, in Rwanda, the word for rape is synonymous with the damaged state that it brings on a woman. Konona thus connotes both the act of rape and the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis.
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Mrs. Thomas Character Timeline in The Girl Who Smiled Beads
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Thomas appears in The Girl Who Smiled Beads. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...night is the follow-up to an episode in which Oprah and Elie Wiesel visit Auschwitz. Mrs. Thomas had encouraged Clemantine to write an essay on Elie Wiesel’s book Night—about surviving the Holocaust—for...
(full context)
...the victim of a horrible experiment. On Monday, her family flies back to Rwanda, and Mrs. Thomas takes Clemantine to school as usual.
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Chapter 2
...take when she first left her house in Rwanda. Instead, she cherishes the heart-shaped locket Mrs. Thomas gave her. When Mrs. Thomas gave it to her, Clemantine felt for the first time...
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Chapter 4
...Beasley enroll her in the Christian Heritage Academy and arrange for her to stay with Mrs. Thomas , whom Clemantine eventually calls her American mother. Clemantine packs a small backpack, and Mrs....
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On the way, Mrs. Thomas points out landmarks in Chicago. When they arrive at Mrs. Thomas’s green house, Caulay shows...
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...idea that Clemantine should go by Tina at school because it is easier to pronounce. Mrs. Thomas picks Clemantine up in the same spot every day, seeming to understand her fear of...
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One day at school, everyone is panicking. The principal dismisses school early. At Mrs. Thomas ’s, Clemantine watches the Twin Towers fall on TV. Mrs. Thomas anxiously calls her son...
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...students at her school, and everyone stares at her. One day, Mrs. Kline—a friend of Mrs. Thomas —takes Clemantine shopping at a mall. Mrs. Kline is an expert at shopping and navigates...
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Chapter 8
...of their first apartment in Chicago, their eyes empty, and a lavender sachet pillow that Mrs. Thomas gave her to help her sleep. She lies down on the prop bed with her...
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Chapter 10
One day, when Clemantine is shopping with Mrs. Thomas , Claire calls to say Pudi has meningitis. Right away, Clemantine wires her babysitting money...
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Chapter 14
...She realizes now that the emotion she felt when she arrived at Hotchkiss was anger. Mrs. Thomas flies Clemantine out to Hartford, Connecticut. Clemantine memorizes the new landmarks. Mrs. Thomas is proud...
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Clemantine and Mrs. Thomas set up her single dorm room on the third floor. Clemantine has brought pictures of...
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Mrs. Thomas and Claire try to call Clemantine, but she doesn’t want to talk to them. She...
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When Clemantine can’t sleep, she makes bracelets. She had started making bracelets when Mrs. Thomas ’ mother moved into a retirement community and gave Clemantine her large collection of buttons...
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