Previous
Mrs. Hurd
Madeleine Joyce is Joseph Brook’s first love. They meet when Joseph’s father Mr. Brook, a plumber, is doing work on Madeleine’s rich lawyer parents’ house. Madeleine’s parents, who are rarely home, often leave Madeleine alone or with a nanny. By implication, Madeleine and Joseph fall in love because they are both neglected children even though they come from radically different class backgrounds: Madeleine’s parents are very wealthy, she attends boarding school at Andover, and she plans to attend MIT. Joseph, on the other hand, comes from a working-class background and initially has no plans to attend college. After Joseph impregnates Madeleine, Madeleine’s parents take out an injunction against him and he never sees her again. Madeleine dies giving birth to her and Joseph’s daughter, Jupiter, so named because Jupiter was her and Joseph’s “favorite planet.”
Madeleine “Maddie” Joyce Quotes in Orbiting Jupiter
The Orbiting Jupiter quotes below are all either spoken by Madeleine “Maddie” Joyce or refer to Madeleine “Maddie” Joyce. 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 1
Quotes
“I always know where Jupiter is.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
Madeleine Joyce was thirteen years old when she met Joseph Brook. She lived in a house that had pillars in the front and a wing on each side and statues on the lawn. Her father and her mother were both lawyers, so she spent a lot of time by herself in that big house when she wasn’t away at her prep school. Sometimes she had a nanny who lived in the north guesthouse, sometimes not.
She never asked him why his face looked so beat up.
He was going to be a father, he said.
He was only thirteen, she said again.
“I’m alone,” he said.
“You’ve got me,” I said.
He laughed, but not a happy laugh. “Jackie, I’m a whole lifetime ahead of you,” he said.
Chapter 7
Quotes
“But he can’t love her just for himself. He has to love her for her, too.”
Get the entire Orbiting Jupiter LitChart as a printable PDF.
Madeleine “Maddie” Joyce Quotes in Orbiting Jupiter
The Orbiting Jupiter quotes below are all either spoken by Madeleine “Maddie” Joyce or refer to Madeleine “Maddie” Joyce. 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 1
Quotes
“I always know where Jupiter is.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
Madeleine Joyce was thirteen years old when she met Joseph Brook. She lived in a house that had pillars in the front and a wing on each side and statues on the lawn. Her father and her mother were both lawyers, so she spent a lot of time by herself in that big house when she wasn’t away at her prep school. Sometimes she had a nanny who lived in the north guesthouse, sometimes not.
She never asked him why his face looked so beat up.
He was going to be a father, he said.
He was only thirteen, she said again.
“I’m alone,” he said.
“You’ve got me,” I said.
He laughed, but not a happy laugh. “Jackie, I’m a whole lifetime ahead of you,” he said.
Chapter 7
Quotes
“But he can’t love her just for himself. He has to love her for her, too.”
