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Luca Brasi
Kay is Michael Corleone’s long-term girlfriend and eventual wife, as well as the mother of his children. Born in New Hampshire to a Baptist minister (Mr. Adams) and a homemaker (Mrs. Adams), Kay meets Michael at Dartmouth University in 1945, where she is studying education, and soon becomes his girlfriend. As a non-Italian woman, Kay represents the life away from his Sicilian-American heritage that Michael initially wishes to lead. Kay is intelligent, well educated, and independent. She first appears in the novel as Michael’s guest at Connie’s wedding, where she learns about the Corleone Family business. Kay and Michael are sexually active long before their marriage, and they carry out this affair in New York hotels to avoid conflicting with their families’ respective taboos against premarital sex. Michael and Kay separate temporarily after Michael flees to Sicily after he murders Sollozzo and McCluskey. During this period, Kay graduates from Dartmouth and takes a job as an elementary school teacher. She also develops a friendly relationship with Mama Corleone, who urges her to let Michael go. Kay reunites with Michael, however, when he returns to America. She initially resents him for vanishing from her life, but she becomes further drawn into his Mafia world after their marriage and the birth of their children. Due to her gender and her status as a non-Italian, Kay cannot have any role in the Corleone’s criminal operations, which Michael explicitly keeps secret from her. She therefore represents the view of outsiders who can occasionally peer into the Mafia’s secretive subculture, but only so far before they are pushed away.
Kay Adams Quotes in The Godfather
The The Godfather quotes below are all either spoken by Kay Adams or refer to Kay Adams. 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 9 Quotes
He was surprised to find himself so secretive with Kay. He loved her, he trusted her, but he would never tell her anything about his father or the Family. She was an outsider.
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Chapter 25 Quotes
“You’ll be my wife but you won’t be my partner in life, as I think they say. Not an equal partner. That can’t be.”
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Chapter 29 Quotes
He would see to it that they joined the general family of humanity, but he, as a powerful and prudent parent, would most certainly keep a wary eye on that general family.
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Kay Adams Character Timeline in The Godfather
The timeline below shows where the character Kay Adams appears in The Godfather. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...Don’s youngest son, Michael Corleone, sits further away at a table with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay Adams, whom he met while attending Dartmouth College. Michael is short but handsome, and he...
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Michael sits with Kay, whose attention turns to a group of men gathered around a barrel of homemade wine....
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Luca Brasi’s fierce reputation always precedes him. Michael Tells Kay, much to her shock,) that Brasi once single-handedly killed six men who threatened Don Corleone’s...
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...Genco Abbandando, who is dying of cancer. Before he leaves for the hospital, Michael tells Kay about the time his father and Luca Brasi threatened to kill a bandleader named Les...
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...with the old Consigliere until he passes away. Later that evening, Gatto and Clemenza drive Kay back to her New York City hotel. The next day, Don Corleone officially makes Tom...
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Chapter 2
...his Godfather a lavish Christmas gift. Michael also calls to tell Hagen that he and Kay will meet the Don at his Long Beach home on Christmas Day. Hagen walks down...
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Chapter 8
...and Fredo is still in a state of shock over his father’s near-assassination. Michael and Kay try to restore normalcy by planning a date, while the radio news announces the discovery...
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Chapter 9
That night, Michael meets Kay in the city, but he is preoccupied thinking about Sonny and his strategy against Sollozzo....
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Chapter 15
Kay Adams peers out of her bedroom window from her home in small-town New Hampshire. She...
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...outside of the hospital and several anonymous informers who have fingered Mike for the crime. Kay, however, remains convinced that Michael is innocent. After the detectives leave, Mr. and Mrs. Adams...
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Three days after her meeting with the detectives, Kay visits the Corleone mall in Long Beach. There, she meets Tom Hagen and inquires about...
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Kay asks him to deliver a letter to Michael, but Tom refuses, claiming that doing so...
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Chapter 23
...armed with lupera shotguns. He passes time by reading, taking long walks, and thinking about Kay. The pain in his face grows stronger, which Dr. Taza attributes to a damaged facial...
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...oval-shaped eyes, long lashes, and her dark, creamy skin entrance Michael. Unlike his love for Kay, which was fueled in part by her sweetness and her status as his equal partner,...
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Chapter 25
Kay Adams has finished college and now works as a grade-school teacher in New Hampshire. For...
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Kay speaks to Mama Corleone, who informs her that Michael has been home for six months....
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When Michael arrives, Kay notices the “broken half of his face” before she uncontrollably jumps into his arms. Michael...
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Kay tells Michael that she never really believed that he killed those men. “It doesn’t matter...
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They make love again, and afterwards, Michael again asks Kay about marriage. “I’m working for my father now,” he says, “I won’t be telling you...
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Kay continues to press Michael on why he will not say that he loves her, and...
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Chapter 28
...have holdings in banks, real estate, and the garment sector). He is now married to Kay, and they have a baby girl. Kay has grown closer to Mama Corleone and she...
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Kay is still uncertain how Michael feels about Connie’s husband, Carlo. Although Michael told her about...
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...will begin implementing his master plan to restore the Corleone Family’s power. In the meantime, Kay gives birth to a baby boy and Nino Valenti dies of a cerebral hemorrhage.
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Chapter 29
...ceremony. “I think Carlo and Mike are going to be real friends now,” Connie tells Kay.
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Chapter 31
...blamed him about Sonny, you always did […] but you never thought about me.” When Kay tries to tell Connie that she does not know what she is saying, Connie responds,...
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A shocked Kay asks Michael if what Connie says is true. “Just believe me, this one time I’m...
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Chapter 32
...the Corleone-owned Vegas hotels, while Tom Hagen stays as the Family’s lawyer. Connie Corleone remarries. Kay converts to Catholicism against Michael’s wishes, as he wanted his children to grow up as...
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Kay enjoys the dry Las Vegas climate and Michael buys a legitimate construction business as a...
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Outside of the mall, Kay meets Mama Corleone, who is sitting in a car “dressed in her widow black.” Kay...
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The inside of the church is cool and dark. Candles faintly illuminate the walls as Kay has a flashback about the moment a year ago when Michael lied to her about...
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Kay told Tom straight out that she ran away because Michael lied to her about killing...
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“He warned you never to ask about business,” Tom says of Michael. He told Kay of Tessio’s betrayal; that Tessio died just as Carlo died “because treachery can’t be forgiven.”...
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Kay kneels in front of the priest at the altar of Catholic church and receives her...
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