Nineteen Minutes

by

Jodi Picoult

Josie Cormier Character Analysis

Peter’s former best friend and the other main character in the novel. Josie is the child of a single mother, Alex, and grows up not knowing her father (Logan Rourke). She is smart and hard-working, and as a child she has a strong sense of right and wrong, which is conveyed by her willingness to stand up to Peter’s bullies. However, as she gets older Josie struggles to handle other people’s perceptions of her and the social pressures to fit in. After befriending one of the popular kids, Courtney, Josie drifts away from Peter. When he behaves in a way that scares and humiliates her, she cuts him off and begins dating a hockey player, Matt. Her relationship with Matt is perceived as ideal, and Josie falls deeply in love with him. However, Matt is also controlling and possessive, and he eventually becomes physically abusive. Josie ends up feeling trapped between her love for Matt (and her knowledge that by dating him, her social position is safe) and her concern over the way he treats her. She feels unable to talk to anyone and even fantasizes about suicide. The reader knows from the beginning of the novel that Josie is in the locker room with Matt when he is killed during the shooting, but in the aftermath she repeatedly insists that she doesn’t remember exactly what happened. However, at the very end of the novel, during Peter’s trial, Josie dramatically confesses to having shot Matt herself. Despite the fact that Josie seemed to have been suffering from PTSD and battered woman syndrome, she is sentenced to five years in prison.

Josie Cormier Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

The Nineteen Minutes quotes below are all either spoken by Josie Cormier or refer to Josie Cormier. 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:
Victims vs. Perpetrators Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 1: March 6, 2007 Quotes

You don’t stop being a judge just because you step out of the courthouse, her mother used to say. It was why Alex Cormier never drank more than one glass of wine in public; it was why she never yelled or cried. A trial was a stupid word, considering that an attempt was never good enough: you were supposed to toe the line, period. Many of the accomplishments that Josie’s mother was most proud of—Josie’s grades, her looks, her acceptance into the “right” crowd—had not been achieved because Josie wanted them so badly herself, but mostly because she was afraid of falling short of perfect.

Related Characters: Alex Cormier (speaker), Josie Cormier
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 7: Ten Days After Quotes

She buried her face in her pillow. She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her. It was as if, after, there were two Josies—the little girl who kept hoping it might be a nightmare, might never have happened, and the realist who still hurt so badly she lashed out at anyone who got too close.

Related Characters: Josie Cormier
Page Number: 179
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 8: One Year Before Quotes

Logan Rourke wasn’t her father, not any more than the guy who’d taken their coins at the toll booth or any other stranger. You could share DNA with someone and still have nothing in common with them.

Related Characters: Josie Cormier, Logan Rourke
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
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Josie Cormier Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

The Nineteen Minutes quotes below are all either spoken by Josie Cormier or refer to Josie Cormier. 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:
Victims vs. Perpetrators Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 1: March 6, 2007 Quotes

You don’t stop being a judge just because you step out of the courthouse, her mother used to say. It was why Alex Cormier never drank more than one glass of wine in public; it was why she never yelled or cried. A trial was a stupid word, considering that an attempt was never good enough: you were supposed to toe the line, period. Many of the accomplishments that Josie’s mother was most proud of—Josie’s grades, her looks, her acceptance into the “right” crowd—had not been achieved because Josie wanted them so badly herself, but mostly because she was afraid of falling short of perfect.

Related Characters: Alex Cormier (speaker), Josie Cormier
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 7: Ten Days After Quotes

She buried her face in her pillow. She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her. It was as if, after, there were two Josies—the little girl who kept hoping it might be a nightmare, might never have happened, and the realist who still hurt so badly she lashed out at anyone who got too close.

Related Characters: Josie Cormier
Page Number: 179
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 8: One Year Before Quotes

Logan Rourke wasn’t her father, not any more than the guy who’d taken their coins at the toll booth or any other stranger. You could share DNA with someone and still have nothing in common with them.

Related Characters: Josie Cormier, Logan Rourke
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis: