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Pudi is Clemantine and Claire’s brother, older than Clemantine and younger than Claire. When they are kids in Rwanda, Clemantine and Pudi play together in the mango tree in the yard, pretending it is a jostling bus. When the war gets worse in Kigali, Pudi makes up stories that explain in a whimsical way why Clemantine has to hide indoors. Later, while she is a Rwandan Genocide refugee, Clemantine collects marbles in her Mickey Mouse backpack to give Pudi if she ever sees him again. However, as her homelessness drags on, Clemantine starts to forget what Pudi looks like. Later, when Clemantine and Claire have arrived in the United Sates and contacted their parents by phone, Clemantine and Claire hear that Pudi has meningitis. Clemantine wires money to send Pudi medicine, but he soon dies. Clemantine weeps, feeling that, although she’s lost so many people, Pudi is the first person whose death she truly mourns.
Pudi Quotes in The Girl Who Smiled Beads
The The Girl Who Smiled Beads quotes below are all either spoken by Pudi or refer to Pudi. 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
It felt surreal and awful. I’d lost track of who I was and who we were to each other. None of us were the same people who’d lived together in that house in Kigali. Those people had died. We had all died.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Pudi Character Timeline in The Girl Who Smiled Beads
The timeline below shows where the character Pudi appears in The Girl Who Smiled Beads. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...her mother would see it. She also remembers collecting marbles in Tanzania for her brother Pudi, who is dead. She hugs her family. She forgets she’s on TV but is aware...
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Chapter 1
...mother’s garden. In the front yard is a mango tree that Clemantine and her brother Pudi climb and pretend is a bus taking them to Canada.
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...she teaches Clemantine the names of flowers and fruit trees. On Saturdays, she brings Clemantine, Pudi, and Claire to clean the homes of elderly people. Girls from the country often stay...
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...with the concerns of any young child. She wants to dress like Claire or like Pudi, who loves Puma and Adidas. She nags her nanny, Mukamana, for stories that explain the...
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When Clemantine is five, she gets a baby sister and starts Kindergarten. Neither Claire nor Pudi went to kindergarten because their parents didn’t have enough money at the time. Therefore, Clemantine...
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...The family sits in the house with the lights off. No one talks or plays. Pudi tries to explain that Clemantine can’t go outside because an evil bird will eat her,...
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...Clemantine’s cousins are at her grandmother’s. Her grandmother won’t tell her when her parents and Pudi are coming. A few nights later, her grandmother takes everyone to another house. The next...
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Chapter 3
...foot. After a day, they arrive at Ngozi—two hills covered with tents. Clemantine calls for Pudi, but the Red Cross men make her stand in line. When Clemantine and Claire reach...
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...a TV, and dreams of studying abroad. Clemantine watches the road for her parents and Pudi, whose appearance she barely remembers. She makes other kids watch with her, making them empty...
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Chapter 5
...Mickey Mouse backpack. She loves it and fills it with the marbles she’s collected for Pudi.
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...looking after Mariette. Clemantine resents the girl’s confidence and wants Mariette to herself. She misses Pudi and can barely remember what he looks like. She doesn’t expect affection from Claire; even...
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Chapter 7
...peanut butter. Clemantine spends all day with Mariette, watching the road for her parents and Pudi. A nice woman helps Clemantine navigate the showers, where depraved men prey on girls. Every...
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Chapter 8
...and Clemantine had died. He tells Claire that their parents are still in Kigali with Pudi, but they’ve lost their money and have no phone. He arranges for an aunt to...
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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 to Rwanda to pay for Pudi’s...
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