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Merchant Lyte
Johnny’s mother died just before Johnny was apprenticed to Mr. Lapham, so she never appears in person in the novel. He remembers her as a sickly seamstress who desperately wanted her son to make something of himself—though she was very uninformed about what an artisan’s life would be like. Regardless, Johnny remembers his mother fondly and recognizes how much she loved and cared for him. It was she who gave Johnny a silver cup with the Lyte family crest on it; she told him he was a Lyte, but that he should only go to the Lytes for help if he could go nowhere else. In fact, Johnny’s mother is one of many Lavinia Lytes, though she went by Vinny in her youth. Miss Lavinia, her cousin, later describes young Vinny to Johnny as the most beautiful and headstrong woman in Boston. She married a Catholic surgeon against their family’s wishes and became estranged from the Lytes after this. Johnny was born in a French convent a few months after his father’s death and then returned to Maine with his mother.
Johnny’s Mother/Vinny Quotes in Johnny Tremain
The Johnny Tremain quotes below are all either spoken by Johnny’s Mother/Vinny or refer to Johnny’s Mother/Vinny. 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 8
Quotes
‘It’s no good to me. We’ve… moved on to other things.’
‘But it isn’t stealing to take back what Mr. Lyte stole from you.’
‘I don’t want it.’
‘What?’
‘No. I’m better off without it. I want nothing of them. Neither their blood nor their silver… I’ll carry that hamper for you, Cil. Mr. Lyte can have the old cup.
‘But your mother?’
‘She didn’t like it either.’
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Chapter 9
Quotes
He took one of [the smocks] from his sea chest in the attic. It was a fine light blue. He had never noticed before how beautiful was the stitching, and it hurt him to think he had been too proud to wear them, for now he was old enough to appreciate the love that had gone into their making. How little his mother had known of the working world to make smocks for a boy who she knew was to become a silversmith! She hadn’t known anything, really, of day labor, the life of apprentices. She had been frail, cast off, sick, and yet she had fought up to the very end for something. That something was himself, and he felt humbled and ashamed.
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Johnny put his hands to his face. It was wet and his hands were shaking. He thought of that blue smock his mother had made him, now torn by bullets. Pumpkin had wanted so little out of life. A farm. Cows. True, Rab had got the musket he craved, but Pumpkin wasn’t going to get his farm. Nothing more than a few feet by a few feet at the foot of Boston Common. That much Yankee land he’d hold to Judgement Day.
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Johnny’s Mother/Vinny Quotes in Johnny Tremain
The Johnny Tremain quotes below are all either spoken by Johnny’s Mother/Vinny or refer to Johnny’s Mother/Vinny. 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 8
Quotes
‘It’s no good to me. We’ve… moved on to other things.’
‘But it isn’t stealing to take back what Mr. Lyte stole from you.’
‘I don’t want it.’
‘What?’
‘No. I’m better off without it. I want nothing of them. Neither their blood nor their silver… I’ll carry that hamper for you, Cil. Mr. Lyte can have the old cup.
‘But your mother?’
‘She didn’t like it either.’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
He took one of [the smocks] from his sea chest in the attic. It was a fine light blue. He had never noticed before how beautiful was the stitching, and it hurt him to think he had been too proud to wear them, for now he was old enough to appreciate the love that had gone into their making. How little his mother had known of the working world to make smocks for a boy who she knew was to become a silversmith! She hadn’t known anything, really, of day labor, the life of apprentices. She had been frail, cast off, sick, and yet she had fought up to the very end for something. That something was himself, and he felt humbled and ashamed.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Johnny put his hands to his face. It was wet and his hands were shaking. He thought of that blue smock his mother had made him, now torn by bullets. Pumpkin had wanted so little out of life. A farm. Cows. True, Rab had got the musket he craved, but Pumpkin wasn’t going to get his farm. Nothing more than a few feet by a few feet at the foot of Boston Common. That much Yankee land he’d hold to Judgement Day.
