Character Clues

Character Analysis

Actions

Despite the freezing cold welcome from fellow waitress Lou Ellen, Hope shows nothing but kindness and warmth toward the young mother. Hope covers Lou Ellen's tables when Lou Ellen is too upset to work (the diner is packed, too), she watches Anastasia while Lou Ellen works, and she patiently works with Anastasia until the baby is able to hold her own bottle. Hope's actions prove that she is a good egg.

Ditto all the good guys: Addie, Braverman, and especially G.T. And the bad guys act bad. Real bad. All the time. We're looking at you, Millstone, Greebs, and Carbinger bros.

Names

Hope is hopeful…Braverman is brave…Adam Pulver's mission in life is to pulverize the competition…need we say more? There are no hidden messages behind the names of the characters in this novel. Even G.T.'s last name reveals a lot about the man. In the old days, people used to sit outside on the stoop—the landing at the top of the stairs that leads to the front door of a house—to shoot the breeze and just hang out. The mini-porch was a gathering place for neighbors, kind of like the Welcome Stairways diner, which is…welcoming.

Speech and Dialogue

Addie's very confident in her cooking abilities and she's not shy about expressing it. When she and Hope pull into the "almost full" parking lot of the Welcome Stairways for the first time, Addie predicts, "It'll be full up and then some once I start cooking" and says aloud, "I wonder if they can handle me introducing the butterscotch cream pie and the deep-dish apple in the same week" (20).

She has no difficulty critiquing the culinary skills of others out loud for all to hear. She barely has one foot in the door of the diner when she declares, "the dessert case is unacceptable" and tells G.T., her new boss as of five minutes ago, that while his mother might be a "fine upstanding woman [...] her coffee cake is dry" (27).

It's fairly obvious that Addie is direct—she says what she means and means what she says—until the talk turns to affairs of the heart. Instead of simply saying "yes" when G.T. asks her out on a date, Addie replies, "I've got three pies and hash browns that aren't done yet and two roast chickens with wild-rice stuffing that still need heavy butter basting." Later, when G.T. proposes marriage, the woman fires back at him, "You don't have enough to do these days? You need something else on the schedule?" There's not a whole lot that can rattle Addie but she sure gets tongue-tied when the topic is love.

G.T., on the other hand, is very direct when it comes to expressing his feelings. Initially, he compliments Hope on her waitressing skills and her ability to connect with people, but the praise reaches a new level as he gets to know her as a person. While out on the campaign trail one day, G.T. turns to Hope and says, "Your mother's missing out not knowing you as a daughter" (113), something Hope admits she'd never thought of. Too bad she's wasted so much time thinking just the opposite.