The Shipping News

The Shipping News

by

Annie Proulx

Dawn Budgel Character Analysis

Along with Mrs. Mavis Bangs, Dawn Budgel is one of Agnis Hamm’s employees. She’s about Quoyle’s age (Agnis tries to set the two up at one point) and she trained in pharology, or the science of lighthouses and signal lights. She’s desperate to escape Killick-Claw and spends hours each week applying to jobs for which she is hopelessly underqualified in an attempt to flee.
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Dawn Budgel Character Timeline in The Shipping News

The timeline below shows where the character Dawn Budgel appears in The Shipping News. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 14: Wavey 
Love and Family Theme Icon
Redemption, Courage, and Happiness Theme Icon
...Agnis’s shop, taking her up on an offer to stop by (and meet her employee Dawn) for lunch. He hopes he might encounter Wavey on the road—he knows she sometimes walks... (full context)
Chapter 15: The Upholstery Shop
Redemption, Courage, and Happiness Theme Icon
Life and Death Theme Icon
...wharf but sheltered from the wind. Quoyle immediately likes it. Inside, Agnis, Mrs. Bangs, and Dawn Budgel work on the pieces for the Tough Baby’s dining salon. Their deadline is coming... (full context)
Chapter 18: Lobster Pie
Love and Family Theme Icon
Resilience and Survival Theme Icon
...make lobster pie (Bunny doesn’t like steamed lobsters because they look like spiders). She invited Dawn to have dinner with them. (full context)
Love and Family Theme Icon
Redemption, Courage, and Happiness Theme Icon
The sight of solid, ungainly Dawn laboring up the walk to the house by contrast reminds Quoyle painfully of Petal. It... (full context)
Chapter 22: Dogs and Cats
Love and Family Theme Icon
Resilience and Survival Theme Icon
In Agnis’s shop, Dawn sits at the electric typewriter, desperately copying out application cover letters for any and every... (full context)
Chapter 30: The Sun Clouded Over
Love and Family Theme Icon
Redemption, Courage, and Happiness Theme Icon
Resilience and Survival Theme Icon
...big job helping to repair and refit the burned Rome. She’s taking Mrs. Bangs and Dawn with her to St. John’s to do the work, which she expects will take all... (full context)