Pippa is Welty’s niece and a kind of goddaughter of Hobie’s. Her mother, Juliet, died of cancer when Pippa was a fairly young child. A talented flautist, her future career as a musician ends abruptly due to the injuries she sustains from the terrorist attack at the Met. Pippa is a highly intelligent, talented, and sophisticated girl, but remains somewhat sheltered in comparison to Theo. Theo is deeply in love with her, but though she clearly feels very fondly toward him, his feelings are not reciprocated. After living in Texas with her aunt Margaret and then attending boarding school in Switzerland, Pippa moves to London, where she lives with her boyfriend, Everett. A kind but tragic figure, her life, like Theo’s, is irrevocably ruined by what happened at the Met.
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Pippa Character Timeline in The Goldfinch
The timeline below shows where the character Pippa appears in The Goldfinch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 1: The Boy with a Skull
...him a reassuring pat. Theo helps him drink, and the man feebly mentions the name Pippa, indicating he wants to find her.
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Part 1, Chapter 4: Morphine Lollipop
...mother, who died of cancer six years before. Welty was the uncle of the girl, Pippa.
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They walk past Pippa’s room, but Hobie doesn’t let Theo go inside. He explains that Pippa has a dog...
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...was one of the first antiques he ever bought. Theo asks if he can see Pippa and Hobie agrees, though explains she’s still “a bit muddled” and that it would be...
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Pippa’s room is very dark, but she won’t let Hobie open the curtain because it will...
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Theo leaves the room, and Hobie explains that ever since the explosion, Pippa can be stiff and formal with people she knows well and very friendly and open...
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...to the world around him, the good and the bad. Going to see Hobie and Pippa was the most “resonant and real-seeming thing” that has happened to Theo lately, but Andy...
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...library. When Theo arrives at Hobie’s, he is surprised to find Hobie wearing a suit. Pippa’s dog Cosmo is in the kitchen rather than in Pippa’s room, and Hobie explains this...
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...is crushed. Hobie is clearly pretending to think that moving is the right thing for Pippa, when really he does not believe it is. He says that Cosmo is staying in...
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When Theo comes into her room, Pippa requests that he turn off the light and then offers an earbud so they can...
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Theo asks if Pippa remembers seeing him in the Met before the explosion, and she says she doesn’t. They...
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When Theo meets up with Andy again, Andy declares Texas “boring.” He lists the things Pippa might do there, and Theo wonders how anyone can have such a robotic manner. Back...
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A week after Pippa leaves, Theo goes back down to see Hobie, who serves him a dessert that looks...
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Part 2, Chapter 5: Badr al-Dine
...He gets polite emails from Andy and Mrs. Barbour and also writes many letters to Pippa, most of which he doesn’t send, and which she isn’t well enough to answer anyway....
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That night, Theo tries to visualize Pippa, but can’t. Instead he remembers Audrey telling him a story which ended in her reminding...
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Part 2, Chapter 6: Wind, Sand and Stars
...Theo begins to think through his slim options when suddenly the door opens to reveal Pippa, “dressed like a boy.” She greets Theo with polite formality, and he realizes that she...
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Part 3, Chapter 7: The Shop-Behind-the-Shop
Just as Theo asks if Hobie will talk to Bracegirdle, Pippa comes in. Theo is “dazzled” by her, and can barely understand her excited chatter about...
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...in a delirious fever. Hobie regularly brings him aspirin and ginger ale. At one point Pippa comes in and gives Theo an origami frog she’s made. She takes his iPod and...
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...that Larry is scolding him for messing up a travel reservation. He is awakened by Pippa coming into his room and announcing that she is leaving. Seeing Theo’s look of confusion,...
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Hobie comes into the doorway and tells Pippa that they have to leave. Pippa says she might come back during the spring vacation....
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Pippa texts Theo and they joke about how Hobie only likes to go to old, empty...
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Theo is terrified that Hobie will find The Goldfinch. After Pippa texts him that Hobie will only come into his room to dust and change the...
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Part 4, Chapter 9: Everything of Possibility
...dinner with them, but he politely declines. As they are walking out, Mrs. Vogel mentions Pippa’s boyfriend, Everett. Theo himself was horrified when Pippa brought Everett, a “shoddy” English music librarian,...
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...themselves in other relationships and neither of whom know about the other. He thinks about Pippa constantly, and is “torment[ed]” by the photos of her dotted around Hobie’s house. Pippa is...
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Part 4, Chapter 10: The Idiot
...along well. Theo was glad for the relief the relationship brought from his obsession with Pippa, which he always knew was unhealthy and somewhat ridiculous. When he and Kitsey started spending...
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...to be happiest. Part of the issue is that he will never truly be “over” Pippa, and he and Kitsey are so busy planning the wedding and socializing that they hardly...
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Theo was also happy about how shocked Pippa sounded when he told her about the engagement over the phone. He’d boasted that he’d...
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...without telling her. When he gets back to Hobie’s house, he is stunned to see Pippa there, still wearing her pajamas. She explains that she’s going to Montreal to see a...
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Pippa notes that it was good timing, as Theo’s engagement party is the next day. She...
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...thinking about his plans for the evening: what he will wear, where he will take Pippa for dinner. Hobie knows about Theo’s love for Pippa, although they’ve never discussed it. He...
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After they leave the theater, Theo says he noticed that Pippa didn’t like the movie. In some kind of daze, Pippa tries to call a cab...
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With great sadness, Pippa talks about the fact that the attack at the Met ruined her chances of being...
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When Theo tells Pippa to move back to New York, she says she’s been considering it. She observes that...
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Becoming increasingly upset, Pippa recalls that she begged Welty to come uptown with her on the day of the...
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As Theo is talking, Pippa stares at him intensely, taking seriously everything he says. The next day they are “awkward”...
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...As the party clears out, he spies Boris in the distance with his arm around Pippa. Theo goes over to them, and Boris greets him warmly. Although he invited Boris, Theo...
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...finds Boris, who is drinking a glass of champagne. He wants to say goodbye to Pippa, but can’t find her.
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Part 5, Chapter 11: The Gentleman’s Canal
...adds up to about $16,000. He hastily packs a bag. He leaves a book for Pippa, inscribing the message: “Safe trip. I love you. No kidding.” He then grabs an expensive...
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Part 5, Chapter 12: The Rendezvous Point
...stationary in order to write four letters: one each for Hobie, Mrs. Barbour, Kitsey, and Pippa. Writing Kitsey’s letter, Theo is shocked by the formal tone he takes. He tells her...
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...as well admit to the antiques fraud he committed as well. He then thinks of Pippa and Mrs. Barbour. When Pippa left New York after her first visit with Everett, Theo...
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...him coldly. When Theo asks what’s wrong, Hobie tells him it was “inappropriate” to give Pippa the topaz necklace. He then says that two days before Christmas, Lucius Reeve came to...
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Hobie says that he and Pippa were terrified when Theo suddenly disappeared from his engagement party. Things only got worse when...
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...two reproductions: one a Manet painting, the other The Goldfinch. Hobie explains that Welty took Pippa to the Met especially to see The Goldfinch. Hobie asks how Theo stored the painting,...
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...is it exactly on. He is still treated as a member of the Barbour family. Pippa, meanwhile, took the book Theo gave her but left the necklace, along with a letter...
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...Boris told Theo that despite everything—abandoning the engagement party, Everett—Theo could “have” either Kitsey or Pippa if he actually wanted to be with them. In a way, Theo can see that...
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