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Mother Minka
Dodie (whose real name is “Dodek”) is an orphan who befriends Felix Salinger at Mother Minka’s Catholic orphanage and enjoys Felix’s inventive stories. The novel suggests that Dodie may have problematic violent tendencies: he wants to be a “pig-slaughterer” when he grows up, and Felix once witnessed him removing the legs from an insect. Yet Dodie may be violent only because he doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions: after he removed the insect’s legs, he tried to put them back on again. Moreover, Dodie tries to be kind to other children. For example, when bullies at the orphanage target the new boy, Jankiel, Dodie defends Jankiel. Though there’s a long history of violent antisemitism in Poland, Dodie doesn’t really understand what being Jewish means when Felix reveals that he’s Jewish and planning to escape the orphanage—he only tells Felix that he’ll miss him. Dodie’s innocent friendship with Felix implies that antisemitism is a dehumanizing prejudice that children have to be taught—it isn’t something they naturally feel or believe.
Dodie Quotes in Once
The Once quotes below are all either spoken by Dodie or refer to Dodie. 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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Pages 1–8
Quotes
I don’t argue. You don’t with Mother Minka. Nuns can have good hearts and still be violent.
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Pages 9–17
Quotes
“Jankiel’s not hiding from the men in the car,” says Dodie. “He’s hiding from the torture squad.”
Pages 41–52
Quotes
I turn and run down the steps. Halfway down I crash into a kid coming up. As I scramble over him, I see his face. He’s older than he was, but I still recognize him. Wiktor Radzyn, one of the Catholic kids from my class when I went to school here.
I don’t stop.
I keep running.
“Clear off, Jew!” yells Wiktor behind me. “This is our house now.”
Pages 53–61
Quotes
Please, Mum and Dad, I beg silently.
Don’t be like these people.
Don’t put up a struggle.
It’s only books.
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I feel really sorry for her. It’s really hard being an orphan if you haven’t got an imagination.
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Pages 132–143
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If Zelda’s dad’s a Nazi, does she deserve carrot soup and aspirin?
Yes.
She can’t help what her father did. Plus he’s dead now and so’s her mum and I don’t know if she’s got any other living relatives but after what we’ve been through together that makes me one and I say yes.
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Get the entire Once LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dodie Quotes in Once
The Once quotes below are all either spoken by Dodie or refer to Dodie. 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:
).
Pages 1–8
Quotes
I don’t argue. You don’t with Mother Minka. Nuns can have good hearts and still be violent.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 9–17
Quotes
“Jankiel’s not hiding from the men in the car,” says Dodie. “He’s hiding from the torture squad.”
Pages 41–52
Quotes
I turn and run down the steps. Halfway down I crash into a kid coming up. As I scramble over him, I see his face. He’s older than he was, but I still recognize him. Wiktor Radzyn, one of the Catholic kids from my class when I went to school here.
I don’t stop.
I keep running.
“Clear off, Jew!” yells Wiktor behind me. “This is our house now.”
Pages 53–61
Quotes
Please, Mum and Dad, I beg silently.
Don’t be like these people.
Don’t put up a struggle.
It’s only books.
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I feel really sorry for her. It’s really hard being an orphan if you haven’t got an imagination.
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Pages 132–143
Quotes
If Zelda’s dad’s a Nazi, does she deserve carrot soup and aspirin?
Yes.
She can’t help what her father did. Plus he’s dead now and so’s her mum and I don’t know if she’s got any other living relatives but after what we’ve been through together that makes me one and I say yes.
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