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Sistine’s Mother/Mrs. Bailey
Sistine’s parents divorced after it came out that her father had begun an affair with his secretary, Bridgette. While Sistine and Mrs. Bailey move to Florida following the separation, he doesn’t follow. For much of the novel, Sistine clings to the hope that her father is going to come for her and take her out of provincial Florida. But ultimately, Sistine accepts that he’s not coming and that he’s a liar, as her mother suggested. He never appears in person in the novel.
Sistine’s Father Quotes in The Tiger Rising
The The Tiger Rising quotes below are all either spoken by Sistine’s Father or refer to Sistine’s Father . 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
He stayed up late working on the carving, and when he finally fell asleep, he dreamed about the tiger, only it wasn’t in a cage. It was free and running through the woods, and there was something on its back, but Rob couldn’t tell what it was. As the tiger got closer and closer, Rob saw that the thing was Sistine in her pink party dress. She was riding the tiger. In his dream, Rob waved to her and she waved back at him. But she didn’t stop. She and the tiger kept going, past Rob, deeper and deeper into the woods.
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Chapter 17 Quotes
“I know something that’s in a cage,” said Rob, pushing the words past the tightness in his throat.
Willie May nodded her head, but she wasn’t listening. She was looking past Rob, past the white sheet, past the laundry room, past the Kentucky Star.
“Who don’t?” she said finally. “Who don’t know something in a cage?”
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Sistine’s Father Character Timeline in The Tiger Rising
The timeline below shows where the character Sistine’s Father appears in The Tiger Rising. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
...Pennsylvania. She “hate[s] the South because the people in it are ignorant,” and she insists her father is coming to pick her up in a week. Ms. Soames sends Sistine back to...
(full context)
Chapter 13
...woods, Sistine explains that her mother, Mrs. Bailey, grew up here. She came back because Sistine’s father had an affair with his secretary, Bridgette, and he’s coming to get her soon. Rob...
(full context)
Chapter 16
...Sistine again to get in the car, sighing that Sistine won’t listen to anyone but her father , “the liar.” At this, Sistine gets into the car, shouting about how her mother...
(full context)
Chapter 25
Sistine insists that when her father comes to get her, he’ll free the tiger. Gently, Rob says Sistine’s father isn’t coming...
(full context)
Chapter 26
...scared, and Rob realizes he knew already that was true. He also knew, somehow, that Sistine’s father isn’t coming for her—and he understands that he must know lots of things. Rob apologizes...
(full context)
