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Mr. Randolph
Nonnie, Gilly’s grandmother and Courtney’s mother, is a short, plump, and proper Southern lady. She appears, seemingly out of nowhere, on Thanksgiving to check on Gilly after receiving a letter from Courtney—the first she’s heard from her daughter in 13 years. Within days, Nonnie arranges to take in her just-discovered granddaughter. Though Gilly isn’t happy to go with Nonnie and finds Nonnie somewhat annoying—she talks too much and seems to share at least some of Gilly’s misplaced idealism—Gilly ultimately finds her sympathetic and even pitiable. She’s lost everything and everyone in her life, and it’s clear things haven’t turned out the way she’d hoped they would. However, Gilly is also impressed by how well-meaning and loyal Nonnie is, such as when she expresses zero embarrassment at suddenly having custody of Courtney’s illegitimate daughter and makes it clear she won’t let anyone mock Gilly for her name or her circumstances. Nonnie seems just as shocked and upset as Gilly when Courtney comes for Christmas but insists on only staying a few days.
Nonnie/Gilly’s Grandmother Quotes in The Great Gilly Hopkins
The The Great Gilly Hopkins quotes below are all either spoken by Nonnie/Gilly’s Grandmother or refer to Nonnie/Gilly’s Grandmother . 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 10 Quotes
Well, it didn’t matter what the woman thought. Miss Ellis could explain about today. No one could make her leave here, not when everyone needed her so. Besides—Trotter wouldn’t let them take her. “Never,” she had said. “Never, never, never.”
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Chapter 12 Quotes
I never meant to hurt them. I just wanted—what had she wanted? A home—but Trotter had tried to give her that. Permanence—Trotter had wanted to give her that as well. No, what she wanted was something Trotter had no power over. To stop being a “foster child,” the quotation marks dragging the phrase down, almost drowning it. To be real without any quotation marks. To belong and to possess. To be herself, to be the swan, to be the ugly duckling no longer— […]
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Chapter 13 Quotes
Perhaps Courtney would never come. Perhaps Courtney did not want to come.
The heaviness dragged her down. What was she doing here in this old car with this strange woman who surely didn’t want her, who had only taken her out of some stupid idea of duty, when she could be home with Trotter and William Ernest and Mr. Randolph who really wanted her? Who—could she dare the word, even to herself?—who loved her.
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“I hope you don’t mind my celebrating a little.” She seemed to be apologizing. “I usually eat in the kitchen since I’ve been alone.”
The word “alone” twanged in Gilly’s head. She knew what it meant to be alone. But only since Thompson Park did she understand a little what it meant to have people and then lose them. She looked at the person who was smiling shyly at her, who had lost husband, son, daughter. That was alone.
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Chapter 14 Quotes
Nonnie was all right. She could still chatter Gilly straight into a pounding headache, but she meant well. And then, whenever Gilly would lose patience with her, she’d remember the first day Nonnie had taken her into Jackson Elementary School.
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Chapter 15 Quotes
“Gilly, honey. Where are you?”
“Nowhere. It doesn’t matter. I’m coming home.”
She could hear Trotter’s heavy breathing at the other end of the line. “What’s the matter, baby? Your mom didn’t show?”
“No, she came.”
“Oh, my poor baby.”
Gilly was crying now. She couldn’t help herself. “Trotter, it’s all wrong. Nothing turned out the way it’s supposed to.”
“How you mean supposed to? Life ain’t supposed to be nothing, ‘cept maybe tough.”
“But I always thought that when my mother came…”
“My sweet baby, ain’t no one ever told you yet? I reckon I thought you had that all figured out.”
“What?”
“That all that stuff about happy endings is lies. The only ending in this world is death. Now that might or might not be happy, but either way, you ain’t ready to die, are you?”
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Nonnie/Gilly’s Grandmother Character Timeline in The Great Gilly Hopkins
The timeline below shows where the character Nonnie/Gilly’s Grandmother appears in The Great Gilly Hopkins. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
...is selling or evangelizing, but the woman asks if Gilly is Galadriel Hopkins. She’s Gilly’s grandmother, and Gilly is so shocked she lets the woman inside. She’s immediately embarrassed by Mr....
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Gilly’s grandmother haltingly explains that Courtney left home long ago, and they haven’t heard from her since....
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“Poor thing,” Gilly’s grandmother says when Gilly returns to the living room. She assures Gilly that it was a...
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Returning to the living room, Gilly finds her grandmother looking terrified and Trotter glaring at Gilly, who said earlier the noise was just the...
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Chapter 11
Gilly feels awful. She knows it’s her fault her grandmother showed up—she wrote the letter to Courtney and doesn’t even remember what she wrote in...
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...ask if Courtney is coming, but Miss Ellis says no. Instead, both Courtney and Gilly’s grandmother want Gilly to go live permanently with Gilly’s grandmother in Virginia. Gilly insists she doesn’t...
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...she not written that letter. Why does Gilly keep sabotaging herself? In any case, Gilly’s grandmother will be at the office to pick Gilly up tomorrow morning. Then, Miss Ellis says...
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Chapter 13
...But this is it—and maybe Courtney won’t come for her and doesn’t want to. Her grandmother, Gilly reasons, doesn’t love her. She just feels obligated. Trotter, Mr. Randolph, and William Ernest,...
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Gilly’s grandmother tries to connect, suggesting Gilly turn on the radio and noting that Miss Ellis implied...
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...big, clean house is on the edge of a village. There are no horses. Gilly’s grandmother shows Gilly first to Courtney’s room, but it’s pink and frilly, and Gilly can’t bring...
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Gilly’s grandmother becomes chattier, asking Gilly questions about her hobbies and school. Gilly answers noncommittally or not...
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Chapter 14
...who isn’t as good of a cook as Trotter is. Finally, she notes that her grandmother wants to be called “Nonnie.” Rich people, Gilly writes, are so weird.
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According to Nonnie, Courtney is indeed coming to visit in a week. Gilly deals with her stress by...
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One day, Nonnie frets to Gilly about Courtney’s visit, asking what they’re supposed to talk about (Gilly has...
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Chapter 15
...the doors, but no Courtney. Just as Gilly begins to cry, a woman approaches, and Nonnie calls her Courtney. Courtney is short and plump, like her mother, and her hair is...
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...hopes—Courtney must be taking her to California. But then, Courtney says she’s only here because Nonnie called and to see “how the kid [is] doing,” and because Nonnie sent money. Nonnie...
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...to “stop preaching” and let her come home, but Trotter insists Gilly is home, with Nonnie—she can’t leave Nonnie alone. Cursing, Gilly tells Trotter to stop trying to make her a...
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