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Bunny Quoyle
Sunshine is the younger of Petal and Quoyle’s two daughters. She is four and a half when she’s sold to Bruce Cudd, her mother dies, and the family moves to Newfoundland. She is often the victim of her sister’s angry outbursts, at least when they arrive in their new home. But she quickly adapts to life on the island, especially under the loving care of Beety Buggit, who teaches her to knit.
Sunshine Quoyle Quotes in The Shipping News
The The Shipping News quotes below are all either spoken by Sunshine Quoyle or refer to Sunshine Quoyle. 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 18: Lobster Pie Quotes
Quoyle made them sit side by side in the boat. They gripped the gunwales. The boat buzzed over the water. “Go fast, Dad,” yelled Sunshine. But Bunny looked at the foaming bow wave. There, in the snarl of froth, was a dog’s white face, glistering eyes and bubbled mouth. The wave surged and the dog rose with it; Bunny gripped the seat and howled. Quoyle threw the motor into neutral.
The boat wallowed in the water, no headway, slap of waves.
“I saw a dog in the water,” sobbed Bunny.
“There is no dog in the water,” said Quoyle. “Just air bubbles and foam and a little girl’s imagination. You know Bunny, that there cannot be a dog that lives in the water.”
[…]
“Well, it looked like a dog. The white dog, Dad. He’s mad at me. He wants to bite me. And make my blood drip out.”
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Chapter 24: Berry Picking Quotes
His aroused senses imbued the far scene with enormous importance. The small figures against the vast rock with the sea beyond. All the complex wires of life were striped out and he could see the structure of life. Nothing but rock and sea, the tiny figures of humans and animals against them for a brief time.
The sharpness of his gaze pierced the past. He saw generations like migrating birds, the bay flecked with ghost sails, the deserted settlements vigorous again, and in the abyss nets spangled with scales. Saw the Quoyles rinsed of evil by the passage of time. He imagined the aunt buried and gone, himself old, Wavey stooped with age, his daughters in faraway lives, Herry still delighted by wooden dogs and colored threads, a grizzled Herry who would sleep in a north room at the top of the house or in the little room under the stairs.
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Chapter 38: The Sled Dog Driver’s Dream Quotes
Quoyle let himself be dragged through the company, eyes catching Wavey’s eyes, catching Wavey’s smile, oh, aimed only at him, and upstairs to Bunny’s room. On the stairs an image came to him. Was love then like a bag of assorted sweets passed around from which one might choose more than once? Some might sting the tongue, some invoke night perfume. Some had centers as bitter as gall, some blended honey and poison, some were quickly swallowed. And among the common bull’s-eyes and peppermints, a few rare ones; one or two with deadly needles at the heart, another that brought calm and gentle pleasure. Were his fingers closing on that one?
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Sunshine Quoyle Character Timeline in The Shipping News
The timeline below shows where the character Sunshine Quoyle appears in The Shipping News. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Love Knot
...to run around and have sex with other people, even after their daughters Bunny and Sunshine are born in quick succession.
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Quoyle takes care of Bunny and Sunshine with the help of a babysitter named Mrs. Moosup, who spends the days watching television...
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Chapter 3: Strangle Knot
Then, Petal takes six-year-old Bunny and four-year-old Sunshine and disappears. Mrs. Moosup tells Quoyle that Petal quit her job and packed the girls...
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...died in a horrific, fiery car accident and that it appears she sold Bunny and Sunshine to a man named Bruce Cudd for $7,000. Quoyle can’t imagine this; he wants to...
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The police call back to report that they’ve found Bunny and Sunshine in Bruce Cudd’s apartment. Although they were naked and Cudd clearly had intent, they believe...
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Chapter 4: Cast Away
Within a month, Quoyle, Bunny, Sunshine, Agnis, and Agnis’s dog Warren are aboard a ferry bound for Newfoundland. It didn’t take...
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On the ferry ride, Quoyle suffers from terrible seasickness. Bunny and Sunshine treat the voyage as an adventure. And Agnis walks the decks, conscious of the island...
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Chapter 5: A Rolling Hitch
...fog, and Agnis catches a glimpse of the house on the point. Carrying Bunny and Sunshine on their shoulders, she and Quoyle hike the rest of the way there.
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Chapter 6: Between Ships
...and stovepipes. There’s only an outhouse, and Quoyle doesn’t relish the idea of Bunny and Sunshine—or himself—having to use it. Nor does he like the idea of having to buy a...
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Chapter 8: A Slippery Hitch
...Petal and focus on the present. She needs to get her shop established, Bunny and Sunshine need someone to look after them during the day, they all need to get the...
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Chapter 10: The Voyage of Nutbeem
...hotel to learn that Warren the dog died during the day. Agnis dropped Bunny and Sunshine off at Dennis and Beety Buggit’s so she could take care of the dog’s body....
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Chapter 11: A Breastpin of Human Hair
...later, Agnis arriving on Friday in her brand-new blue pickup truck and Quoyle, Bunny, and Sunshine following the next morning in the station wagon. Before they arrive, Agnis disposes of Guy’s...
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When Quoyle, Bunny, and Sunshine arrive, Bunny is upset to find that the house is still green. Quoyle promises they...
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Chapter 12: The Stern Wave
...and the smallest thing is what she’s got in her hand—a single grain of sand. Sunshine, anxious to see it too, accidentally blows it away, and Bunny pulls back a fist...
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Chapter 16: Beety’s Kitchen
Quoyle’s favorite part of the day is picking up Bunny and Sunshine from Dennis and Beety’s house. He loves the way Bunny comes crashing into him for...
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Chapter 18: Lobster Pie
...finds Wavey unbearably attractive. Afterwards, he takes her with him to pick up Bunny and Sunshine. Wavey invites them all back to her house for tea, but one of the wooden...
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Bunny and Sunshine beg Quoyle for a boat ride. Outside, Bunny teaches Sunshine a scary game that involves...
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Chapter 23: Maleficium
Since they don’t yet have a garden, Quoyle takes Bunny and Sunshine with him to forage for Alexanders, a green plant Wavey told him makes good salads....
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Chapter 24: Berry Picking
...Then, Wavey hears the waves and thinks of Herold’s body. She runs back toward Bunny, Sunshine, Herry, and Agnis, the picnic basket banging against her legs. Quoyle lies in the sweet...
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Chapter 27: Newsroom
At four o’clock, Quoyle goes to pick up Wavey. Each morning, he drops Sunshine at Beety’s, takes Bunny to school, then gives Wavey a ride into town. In the...
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Chapter 28: Skater’s Chain Grip
...the season. Quoyle thinks they should move into town for the winter. He, Bunny, and Sunshine can take over Nutbeem’s trailer if Agnis can find herself a room. As if on...
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Chapter 29: Alvin Yark
On Saturday, Quoyle, Wavey, Bunny, Sunshine, and Herry drive through an impenetrable fog to Nunny Bag Cove. Wavey explains that the...
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Chapter 30: The Sun Clouded Over
On a cold December night, icy with frost, Quoyle, Bunny, and Sunshine walk to the Sea Gull Inn to join Agnis for dinner. She has a big...
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...on about the letters they’re writing to Santa. Bunny wants cups like Mrs. Yark’s and Sunshine wants a boat on a string, and Bunny shows her father and her aunt a...
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Chapter 32: The Hairy Devil
...party, Quoyle stops at Dennis and Beety’s after work to say goodnight to the girls. Sunshine tells Quoyle a secret: Beety is teaching her to knit and she’s making a Christmas...
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Chapter 36: Straitjacket
...St. John’s. She spends the day shopping for herself and Herry, and for Bunny and Sunshine—Quoyle has given her a list—while Quoyle visits the asylum. He brings Nolan a framed picture...
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Chapter 37: Slingstones
The next time Quoyle, Wavey, Bunny, Sunshine, and Herry drive out to the Yarks’ house, Wavey gives Bunny a silent thank you...
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...of seal-flipper pie. She doesn’t stay to eat it. But then later, after Bunny and Sunshine are in bed, she unexpectedly reappears, intent on spending the night with Quoyle. A few...
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...Quoyle loves herring. One day, while he’s grilling some for a picnic with Wavey, Bunny, Sunshine, and Herry—who has started to call Quoyle “Dad” just like his daughters do—Bunny finds a...
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