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Irene Thompson
Kate is a friend of Caitlin Holmes and Petra. Caitlin talks with Petra and Kate about her growing relationship with Billy rather than her parents because she has a deeper connection with her friends than her family. At one point, Kate admits describes her underwhelming first experience with sex. Her romantic life thus contrasts with Caitlin and Billy’s, helping to emphasize the importance of building strong relationships.
Kate Quotes in The Simple Gift
The The Simple Gift quotes below are all either spoken by Kate or refer to Kate. 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 3: Caitlin Quotes
And yes I’ve been out with boys
‘on dates’
but mostly with Petra and Kate
and a whole gang together,
not alone.
And I’ve done some things,
you know,
at parties with boys,
just mild stuff really.
So I’m normal,
a normal seventeen year old.
I think about boys
but only in a general way
like not a boy I know
or anything
but just some good-looking guy
and me
and what we’d do
if we had the chance.
Pure fantasy really.
Nothing wrong with that,
but nothing real about it either.
Related Characters:
Caitlin Holmes (speaker), Billy Luckett, Kate, Petra
Related Themes:
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Kate Character Timeline in The Simple Gift
The timeline below shows where the character Kate appears in The Simple Gift. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Caitlin
...that she knows—and she sometimes talks with them at school. She’s aware when her friends, Kate and Petra, flirt with boys. She’s been on a few dates, but mostly in groups....
(full context)
Chapter 5: Work
Lunchtime. On Friday, Caitlin tells her friends Petra and Kate about her date with Billy. Petra teases her about how romantic it would be to...
(full context)
Grateful. Petra and Caitlin stare at Kate in shock. After a moment, Kate tells them the story, while Caitlin looks around the...
(full context)
Chapter 6: Friends
...all about her days at school, the drudgery of exams, the things she does with Kate and Petra. No longer does she need to confess her secrets in a diary, now...
(full context)
Chapter 7: The Simple Gift
Tell the world. Monday morning at school, Caitlin wants very badly to tell Kate and Petra about her weekend and having sex with Billy. But she doesn’t want it...
(full context)
