A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

by

Dave Eggers

Moodie Character Analysis

One of Eggers’s high school friends, and the co-founder of Might magazine. When Moodie and Eggers were teenagers, they ran a “highly successful” fake I.D. company, using brand-new “Macintosh technology” to print false driver’s licenses for their friends. As young adults living in Berkeley, they convert one of the rooms of Eggers and Toph’s single-story house into a “tiny graphic design operation.” Before long, they decide to start Might, serving as co-editors.

Moodie Quotes in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

The A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius quotes below are all either spoken by Moodie or refer to Moodie. 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:
Self-Consciousness and Meta-Narration Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

[…] maybe they’d just be sitting around, at Moodie’s usually, watching cable, getting ready, and I would be there, on the couch, with a beer from the fridge, savoring every minute, not knowing when it would come again, and they would be casual, having no idea what it meant to me, even when I’d be a little manic about it all, a little overeager, laughing too much, drinking too quickly, getting another from the fridge, no problem, okay, hoping for something to happen, hoping we’d go somewhere good, anything to make the night count, make it worth it, justify the constant red/black worry, the visions—I felt so detached sometimes, went for weeks at a time without really being around people my age, like living in a country where no one understands your words[.]

Related Characters: Dave Eggers (speaker), Toph Eggers, Moodie, Stephen
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:
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Moodie Character Timeline in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

The timeline below shows where the character Moodie appears in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Death, Humor, and the Worst-Case Scenario Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
Guilt and Poetic License Theme Icon
...to hang out with friends, saying that normally the night would start at his friend Moodie’s apartment, where he would sit on the couch “savoring every minute, not knowing when it... (full context)
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
...in Berkeley as often as possible, and many of them actually do visit quite frequently. Moodie, for example, sleeps on his couch roughly three nights per week. He and Eggers have... (full context)
Identity Theme Icon
...“SCREW THOSE IDIOTS” it says at the top. Underneath this line, it reads: “MIGHT MAGAZINE.” Moodie and Eggers designed these stickers and gave them to their friends last month as a... (full context)
Chapter 6
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
The Might team consists of Eggers and Moodie—the founding editors—as well as Marny and a handful of other old friends. Their office is... (full context)
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
...nude, too. When they photograph this, though, only four people agree to pose, including Eggers, Moodie, and Marny. (full context)
Self-Consciousness and Meta-Narration Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
Guilt and Poetic License Theme Icon
Meanwhile, Eggers and Moodie do freelance design work for the San Francisco Chronicle, and Marny waitresses four nights per... (full context)
Chapter 7
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
...World. Nonetheless, he receives a submission from Judd several weeks later, and although he and Moodie agree the cartoons aren’t a good fit for the magazine, they invite Judd to come... (full context)
Self-Consciousness and Meta-Narration Theme Icon
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
...placing odd fake ads in their pages. When Judd visits with his portfolio, Eggers and Moodie make a point of dressing carelessly. This is a very self-aware attempt to look overly... (full context)
Identity Theme Icon
One of the people who sees Eggers and Moodie on The Real World is Shalini, who loves MTV. They become good friends with her... (full context)
Identity Theme Icon
Judd, who has agreed to be part of Eggers’s and Moodie’s nude photoshoot, promises to bring a friend from the Real World cast. This excites Eggers,... (full context)
Chapter 8
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
...still doesn’t make enough money to do more than barely sustain itself, and Marny and Moodie both seem to be perpetually sick. Eggers find a person named Lance Crapo to handle... (full context)
Chapter 9
Self-Consciousness and Meta-Narration Theme Icon
Identity Theme Icon
At Might, Eggers and Moodie decide to run a fake celebrity obituary. They want to find someone willing to go... (full context)
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Death, Humor, and the Worst-Case Scenario Theme Icon
Guilt and Poetic License Theme Icon
...someone will do something to Toph in his absence. He picks up Marny and meets Moodie at the hospital, where they sit in the hallway and watch Shalini’s family come and... (full context)
Death, Humor, and the Worst-Case Scenario Theme Icon
...death story. The story has already attracted quite a lot of attention, since Eggers and Moodie sent a press release to the National Enquirer. Somehow, other publications got ahold of this... (full context)
Chapter 11
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
...tried half-heartedly to secure funding for Might. Lance even set up meetings for him and Moodie with rich people. When they spoke to the founders of Wired, though, Eggers found himself... (full context)
Coming of Age, Parenthood, and Responsibility Theme Icon
Death, Humor, and the Worst-Case Scenario Theme Icon
Most of Eggers’s friends have moved away. Moodie has gone to New York, as have Kirsten and Zev. And now Eggers and Toph... (full context)