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Reverend Curtis Hartman
A local schoolteacher who is known for her cold, unhappy demeanor. Kate lives with her aunt across from the Presbyterian Church of Winesburg. Reverend Hartman can see into Kate’s bedroom the church bell tower and the minister develops a sexually-fueled obsession with her that culminates in a spiritual epiphany when he sees her naked and praying. Kate has an emotional relationship with George Willard (her former student) which teeters on the edge of romance and confuses both of them due to their age gap and the frustration she feels at George’s perceived immaturity. She represents sexual confusion and temptation for both Hartman and George.
Kate Swift Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Kate Swift or refer to Kate Swift. 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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17. The Teacher Quotes
“If you are to become a writer you’ll have to stop fooling with words,” she explained. “It would be better to give up the notion of writing until you are better prepared. Now it’s time to be living. I don’t want to frighten you, but I would like to make you understand the import of what you think of attempting. You must not become a mere peddler of words. The thing to learn is to know what people are thinking about, not what they say.”
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Winesburg, Ohio is largely centered around George Willard’s journey from adolescence to manhood. Throughout the novel, he engages in several romantic and sexual relationships with different young women as he tries to make sense of his personal identity alongside his role as a man in society. Along with dating young women his age, George enters into a confusing relationship with his former schoolteacher, Kate Swift. Kate is an older woman whose greater life experience is a source of both intrigue and frustration for George. Kate, similarly frustrated, is attracted to George’s burgeoning manhood yet exasperated at his relative immaturity and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus
19. An Awakening Quotes
“There is a law for armies and for men too,” he muttered, lost in reflection. “The law begins with little things and spreads out until it covers everything. In every little thing there must be order…I must myself be orderly. I must learn that law. I must get myself into touch with something orderly and big that swings through the night like a star. In my little way I must begin to learn something, to give and swing and work with life, with the law.”
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As George Willard grows up and toes the line between adolescence and adulthood, he becomes increasingly introspective and interested in making sense of life in all of its complexity. Having been encouraged by Kate Swift to experience the world deeply and gain a better understand of people, George is intent on developing himself into a wise man. One night, after listening to the shallow, lewd conversations of his friends at the town pool hall, George goes on a walk through the streets of Winesburg and becomes lost in deep thought. He playfully pretends that he is a soldier and this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperio
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Kate Swift Character Timeline in Winesburg, Ohio
The timeline below shows where the character Kate Swift appears in Winesburg, Ohio. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
16. The Strength of God
...looks out the window of this room and is shocked to see the local schoolteacher Kate Swift in the upstairs of the house next door smoking a cigarette while reading in...
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Kate Swift has a “sharp tongue” and an unladylike reputation around town. She reminds Reverend Hartman...
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Reverend Hartman is quickly thrown into a dilemma over Kate. At first, he only wants to reach her troubled soul with his sermons, but he...
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...confident that God will intercede on his behalf and free him from his obsession with Kate, he watches her read through her bedroom window several times over the course of a...
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...sin because otherwise he would be a hypocrite preaching God’s word but secretly lusting after Kate. He nearly freezes to death in the bell tower waiting for Kate on a winter...
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17. The Teacher
...builds a fire, and sits down to think. George has begun to talk regularly with Kate Swift, his former schoolteacher, and is convinced that she must be in love with him....
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...another fire and begins to have “lustful thoughts.” He embraces his pillow, pretending it is Kate Swift or Helen White, with whom he is “half in love.” Later that evening, the...
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Recently, Kate has been experiencing an internal crisis of “grief, hope, and desire” that drives her to...
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Kate has become fixated on George Willard, attracted to the childhood whimsy and burgeoning manhood that...
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On the night of the blizzard, while Reverend Hartman waits for Kate, she goes to the Winesburg Eagle office and has a deep, hour-long conversation with George...
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...moment from the minister’s point of view in “The Strength of God.” Hartman, having seen Kate naked and emotionally praying in her room after her confusing encounter with George, proclaims that...
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