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Robert Ames
Carrie’s sister who lives in Chicago with her husband, Sven Hanson. Minnie is a diligent housewife who subscribes to her husband’s ideas of simplicity and economy. She spends her days at home doing housework, caring for her baby, and finding more ways to scrimp and save the family’s meager funds. Carrie finds Minnie’s life distasteful, and her unhappiness in Minnie and Hanson’s household is a large reason why Carrie agrees to be Drouet’s mistress.
Minnie Hanson Quotes in Sister Carrie
The Sister Carrie quotes below are all either spoken by Minnie Hanson or refer to Minnie Hanson. 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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Chapter 6 Quotes
On the first morning it rained [Carrie] found that she had no umbrella. Minnie loaned her one of hers, which was worn and faded. There was the kind of vanity in Carrie that troubled at this. She went to one of the great department stores and bought herself one, using a dollar and a quarter of her small store to pay for it.
“What did you do that for, Carrie?” asked Minnie, when she saw it.
“Oh, I need one,” said Carrie.
“You foolish girl.”
Carrie resented this, though she did not reply. She was not going to be a common shop-girl, she thought; they need not think it, either.
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Chapter 8 Quotes
“Where do you suppose she’s gone to?” said Minnie, thoroughly aroused.
“I don't know,” a touch of cynicism lighting his eye. “Now she has gone and done it.”
Minnie moved her head in a puzzled way.
“Oh, oh,” she said, “she doesn't know what she has done.”
“Well,” said Hanson, after a while, sticking his hands out before him, “what can you do?”
Minnie’s womanly nature was higher than this. She figured the possibilities in such cases.
“Oh,” she said at last, “poor Sister Carrie!”
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Get the entire Sister Carrie LitChart as a printable PDF.
Minnie Hanson Character Timeline in Sister Carrie
The timeline below shows where the character Minnie Hanson appears in Sister Carrie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1 (The Magnet Attracting: A Waif Amid Forces)
...home” to be “irretrievably broken.” Carrie is leaving from Columbia City, Wisconsin to join her sister in the city.
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...carry her things, saying, “I’d rather you wouldn’t be with me when I meet my sister.” Drouet tells Carrie he will be nearby in case her sister isn’t at the station....
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Carrie finds her sister, and immediately realizes that this ordinary-looking woman does not carry the city’s marvels, but “most...
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Chapter 2 (What Poverty Threatened: Of Granite and Brass)
Minnie, Carrie’s sister, brings Carrie to her third-floor flat, where she lives with her husband and...
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As Minnie prepares dinner, Carrie inspects the apartment and finds it dull, indicative of “the drag of...
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Carrie meets her sister in the dining room after waking up, and notes that Minnie has change a lot...
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Chapter 3 (We Question of Fortune: Four-Fifty a Week)
...went her hopes, her courage, and her strength.” She begins to head back to her sister Minnie’s house but feels “one of those forlorn impulses which often grow out of a...
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...accepts the offer and begins to feel more relaxed and hopeful. As she walks to Minnie’s flat, she sees workers returning home with smiles and reassures herself that “she w[ill] have...
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Chapter 4 (The Spendings of Fancy: Facts Answer With Sneers)
...spending her money on “every joy and bauble which the heart of woman may desire.” Minnie is unaware of these thoughts. Indeed, in contrast to Carrie, Minnie spends her days doing...
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...tells him about her job offer. As Carrie cheerfully talks about her company at dinner, Minnie grows happier as well and tells Carrie to explore Michigan Avenue. However, Carrie relays a...
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Alone, the two sisters enjoy “a somewhat freer conversation” and Carrie once again brings up the theater, asking Minnie...
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Chapter 6 (The Machine and the Maiden: A Knight of To-day)
Carrie returns to the flat weary and disappointed, which irritates Hanson. Minnie is also disturbed. Carrie finds dinner “exceedingly gloomy,” as she realizes that the Hansons view...
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After seeing Minnie and Hanson’s unresponsiveness, Carrie decides to go outside and watch the passersby, and meet Drouet...
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...had she “not secured a position so quickly.” One day, it rains, and Carrie, finding Minnie’s umbrella shabby, buys a new one, a purchase for which Minnie chastises her. As Carrie’s...
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...premonitory blast of winter [sweeps] over the city,” Carrie realizes she has no winter clothes. Minnie allows her to keep a part of her money to buy a hat. However, without...
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Chapter 7 (The Lure of the Material: Beauty Speaks for Itself)
...arrives home in high spirits but worries about how she can buy new clothing without Minnie noticing. At the flat, she lies to Minnie about having a potential job. The two...
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...for her in Wabash Avenue. After some convincing from Drouet, Carrie decides to leave her sister’s flat that night and move into her new apartment. She briefly returns to the flat,...
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Chapter 8 (Intimations by Winter: An Ambassador Summoned)
Minnie is anxious about Carrie’s sudden departure, but her anxiety is “not exactly touched by yearning,...
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At about the same time that Drouet is walking Carrie home, Minnie has a dream about Carrie. In the dream, Carrie is swallowed first by shadow and...
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