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Phoebe Winterbottom
Ben is Sal’s classmate and love interest. He lives with his cousin, Mary Lou Finney, and for most of the novel, it’s unclear where his parents are. Ben regularly draws silly cartoons of things like a lizard sitting on a chair made out of its hair, or two moons sitting in moccasins. Sal realizes he has a crush on her when one day, after she looks at one of his drawings, he attempts to kiss her—and accidentally kisses her collarbone. Ben makes several attempts to kiss Sal over the course of the novel, most of which end with him kissing her anywhere but her lips. At first, Sal finds Ben’s attention annoying. This is mostly because Ben points out that Sal flinches any time anyone tries to touch her, which makes Sal fear that she’s becoming uptight. Ben makes a point to touch Sal whenever possible, something that Sal eventually comes to appreciate. Sal finally solves the mystery of Ben’s mother on the day that she accompanies Phoebe to track down the lunatic. Ben rides the bus with the girls, and Sal later finds him at the hospital in town visiting his mother, who’s in the psychiatric ward. At this point, Sal and Ben finally kiss. Ben is the only person in Sal’s class who doesn’t tease her for her journal entry about Momma’s “blackberry kiss” that their English teacher, Mr. Birkway, reads to the class. In fact, Ben gets Sal a chicken as a gift and names her Blackberry. Ben and Sal’s romance continues even after Sal moves back to Bybanks at the end of the novel. He sends her a valentine in October, and during his upcoming visit, Sal is looking forward to kissing him some more.
Ben Finney Quotes in Walk Two Moons
The Walk Two Moons quotes below are all either spoken by Ben Finney or refer to Ben Finney. 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 11
Quotes
Ben touched Phoebe’s arm. She flinched. “Ha,” he said. “Gotcha. You’re jumpy, too, Free Bee.”
And that, too, bothered me. I had already noticed how tense Phoebe’s whole family seemed, how tidy, how respectable, how thumpingly stiff. Was I becoming like that? Why were they like that? A couple times I had seen Phoebe’s mother try to touch Phoebe or Prudence or Mr. Winterbottom, but they all drew back from her. It was as if they had outgrown her.
Had I been drawing away from my own mother? Did she have empty spaces left over? Was that why she left?
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Chapter 25
Quotes
All through dinner, I kept thinking of Bybanks, and what it was like when we went to my grandparents’ house for dinner. There were always tons of people—relatives and neighbors—and lots of confusion. It was a friendly sort of confusion, and it was like that at the Finneys’ […] Maybe this is what my mother had wanted, I thought. A house full of children and confusion.
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Chapter 37
Quotes
If there had been a vase, would have squashed it, because our heads moved completely together and our lips landed in the right place, which was on the other person’s lips. It was a real kiss, and it did not taste like chicken.
And then our heads moved slowly backward and we stared out across the lawn, and I felt like the newlY born horse who knows nothing but feels everything.
Ben touched his lips. “Did it taste a little like blackberries to you?” He said.
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Get the entire Walk Two Moons LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ben Finney Quotes in Walk Two Moons
The Walk Two Moons quotes below are all either spoken by Ben Finney or refer to Ben Finney. 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 11
Quotes
Ben touched Phoebe’s arm. She flinched. “Ha,” he said. “Gotcha. You’re jumpy, too, Free Bee.”
And that, too, bothered me. I had already noticed how tense Phoebe’s whole family seemed, how tidy, how respectable, how thumpingly stiff. Was I becoming like that? Why were they like that? A couple times I had seen Phoebe’s mother try to touch Phoebe or Prudence or Mr. Winterbottom, but they all drew back from her. It was as if they had outgrown her.
Had I been drawing away from my own mother? Did she have empty spaces left over? Was that why she left?
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25
Quotes
All through dinner, I kept thinking of Bybanks, and what it was like when we went to my grandparents’ house for dinner. There were always tons of people—relatives and neighbors—and lots of confusion. It was a friendly sort of confusion, and it was like that at the Finneys’ […] Maybe this is what my mother had wanted, I thought. A house full of children and confusion.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37
Quotes
If there had been a vase, would have squashed it, because our heads moved completely together and our lips landed in the right place, which was on the other person’s lips. It was a real kiss, and it did not taste like chicken.
And then our heads moved slowly backward and we stared out across the lawn, and I felt like the newlY born horse who knows nothing but feels everything.
Ben touched his lips. “Did it taste a little like blackberries to you?” He said.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
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