Helen was Mack’s wife; she only appears in the novel in Ivan’s stories of his early life, as she left Mack about 27 years before the novel begins. Ivan describes her as kind, but quick to anger. Unwittingly, Helen was the human to remind Ivan that he wanted to be an artist when she brought home a still life painting of fruit in a bowl.
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Helen Character Timeline in The One and Only Ivan
The timeline below shows where the character Helen appears in The One and Only Ivan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
the promise—a visit
...did everything human babies do: he wore diapers, drank bottles, and broke things. Mack’s wife, Helen, got angry when Ivan broke things, including his crib, lamps, a couch, glassware, a blender,...
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still life. One day, Helen came home with a painting of fruit in a bowl. She called it a still...
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beds. Ivan says that after weeks of “loud talking,” Helen packed her things and left the house. She didn’t come back, and Ivan doesn’t know...
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