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Old Mrs. Hempstock
Ginnie is Lettie’s mother and Old Mrs. Hempstock’s daughter. She’s is a stout woman with red cheeks and a demeanor that makes the narrator think she must be someone’s mother. She’s brisk and matter-of-fact, and she isn’t surprised by much. She also makes the narrator feel loved and cared for, most often through her cooking. She and Old Mrs. Hempstock make delicious, rich meals that help the narrator feel secure and as though he can trust these women. Of the three Hempstocks, the narrator gets to know Ginnie the least. While Ginnie is often around, she generally lets her mother’s advice take center stage and performs necessary tasks in the background. She does, however, encourage the narrator to understand that creatures like the monster Ursula shouldn’t be hated—they’re doing what they’re supposed to do, according to their nature, and thus it’s misguided to fault them for their actions. She later takes the lead when Lettie gets in too deep with the hunger birds and speaks to them in a way that reads as motherly and protective—but ultimately, Ginnie has to accept that she’s not strong enough on her own to boss around creatures like the hunger birds. Unlike Old Mrs. Hempstock, Ginnie cannot forgive the narrator for what happens to Lettie. This is a reflection of her maternal loyalty to Lettie; it’s impossible for her to be entirely at ease with the person who injured her child to the point that she may as well be dead. When the narrator returns as an adult, he’s shocked to see that Ginnie is younger than he is and smaller than he remembers. She encourages him to live his life to make Lettie’s sacrifice worthwhile. It’s also possible that Ginnie might not actually be a real person; she could simply be another form that Old Mrs. Hempstock takes to dispense advice as a mother, rather than as an old woman.
Mrs. Ginnie Hempstock Quotes in The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The The Ocean at the End of the Lane quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Ginnie Hempstock or refer to Mrs. Ginnie Hempstock. 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 3
Quotes
I wanted to tell someone about the shilling, but I did not know who to tell. I knew enough about adults to know that if I did tell them what had happened, I would not be believed. Adults rarely seemed to believe me when I told the truth anyway. Why would they believe me about something so unlikely?
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Chapter 9
Quotes
“If I burn this,” I asked them, “will it have really happened? Will my daddy have pushed me down into the bath? Will I forget it ever happened?”
Ginnie Hempstock was no longer smiling. Now she looked concerned. “What do you want?” she asked.
“I want to remember,” I said. “Because it happened to me. And I’m still me.” I threw the little scrap of cloth onto the fire.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
She said, “I don’t hate her. She does what she does, according to her nature. She was asleep, she woke up, she’s trying to give everyone what they want.”
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Chapter 14
Quotes
I said, “Will she be the same?”
The old woman guffawed, as if I had said the funniest thing in the universe. “Nothing’s ever the same,” she said. “Be it a second later or a hundred years. It’s always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans.”
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Mrs. Ginnie Hempstock Quotes in The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The The Ocean at the End of the Lane quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Ginnie Hempstock or refer to Mrs. Ginnie Hempstock. 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 3
Quotes
I wanted to tell someone about the shilling, but I did not know who to tell. I knew enough about adults to know that if I did tell them what had happened, I would not be believed. Adults rarely seemed to believe me when I told the truth anyway. Why would they believe me about something so unlikely?
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Chapter 9
Quotes
“If I burn this,” I asked them, “will it have really happened? Will my daddy have pushed me down into the bath? Will I forget it ever happened?”
Ginnie Hempstock was no longer smiling. Now she looked concerned. “What do you want?” she asked.
“I want to remember,” I said. “Because it happened to me. And I’m still me.” I threw the little scrap of cloth onto the fire.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
She said, “I don’t hate her. She does what she does, according to her nature. She was asleep, she woke up, she’s trying to give everyone what they want.”
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Chapter 14
Quotes
I said, “Will she be the same?”
The old woman guffawed, as if I had said the funniest thing in the universe. “Nothing’s ever the same,” she said. “Be it a second later or a hundred years. It’s always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans.”
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