A Long Way Home

by

Saroo Brierley

Mum / Sue Brierley Character Analysis

Mum (Sue Brierley) is Saroo’s adoptive mother. She grew up in a home with a volatile father, and her early experiences helped her form the opinion that there’s nothing particularly special about families formed by biological parents and their biological children. This belief was also influenced by a vision she had at age twelve in which she saw a brown-skinned child standing next to her. Later, when she met and married Dad, she insisted that adoption was the only path she was willing to pursue to create a family. She and Dad decide to adopt from India because of the exorbitantly high rates of child mortality and illness in the country. She believes deeply in helping others, particularly those less fortunate and from developing countries. She and Dad also make a habit of sponsoring children. Mum and Dad wait sixteen years to adopt, and they shower Saroo with love and affection upon his arrival. Mum is one of the first people with whom Saroo shares his story of becoming lost, and she records some of Saroo’s observations about his hometown and journey to Calcutta on a hand-drawn map. Two years later, she and Dad adopt Mantosh. It takes two years to complete the process, and the stress of it makes Mum very ill. This experience convinces Mum that adoption should be much easier, especially since Mantosh experienced neglect and abuse during that two-year time. When Saroo begins to search seriously for his hometown and his Indian family, he worries about telling Mum because he doesn’t want to threaten her deep belief in the “realness” of their family. Later, thanks to 60 Minutes, Mum and Kamla finally meet.

Mum / Sue Brierley Quotes in A Long Way Home

The A Long Way Home quotes below are all either spoken by Mum / Sue Brierley or refer to Mum / Sue Brierley. 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:
Family Theme Icon
).
1. Remembering Quotes

"Me begot!" Later she found out I was upset that I had forgotten the way to the school near my Indian home, where I used to watch the students. We agreed that it probably didn't matter anymore. But deep down, it mattered to me. My memories were all I had of my past, and privately I thought about them over and over, trying to ensure that I didn't "beget."

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

Mum and Dad were very affectionate, right from the start, always giving me lots of cuddles and making me feel safe, secure, loved, and, above all, wanted. That meant a lot to a child who'd been lost and had experienced what it was like for no one to care about him.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
5. A New Life Quotes

Apparently, in the end, the delight I took in having abundant food close at hand overcame most matters of taste or culture.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:

I was keen on the idea of having a sibling. In fact, it seemed that the person I missed most from India was my sister. "What do you want for Christmas?" my mum would ask me every year. "I want Shekila back," I often said.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley (speaker), Mantosh, Shekila
Page Number: 115
Explanation and Analysis:
6. My Mum's Journey Quotes

Because of all she'd been through growing up, Mum had decided that there was nothing sacrosanct about families formed only by birth parents.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Josef, Julie
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:

Mum was delighted when the word came through but also calm: somewhere inside her, she'd always felt that the vision she'd had at the age of twelve had meant it was her destiny to have an adopted child by her side.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:

She is an advocate of replacing Australia's various state laws on intercountry adoption with a simplified federal law. She's critical of governments making it too difficult to adopt and feels that if it was a little easier, maybe more families would do it.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
9. Finding Home Quotes

Mum had such a dedicated belief in adoption and the authentic family that adoption created. I was worried about how my news would affect her, and I wanted to reassure her that of course they would always be my parents.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
10. Meeting My Mother Quotes

Even at this first meeting, she told me she was grateful to my parents who had raised me in Australia, and that they had the right to call me their son because they had raised me from a child and made me the man I was today. Her only concern for me, she said, was that I should have the very best life I could.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Kamla (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:
12. Reaching Out Quotes

And even though it was exhausting to go over my story again and again with the media, I thought I had a kind of duty to do it, because it might help people—what had happened to me was remarkable, and might offer hope to others who wanted to find their lost family but thought it impossible.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Kamla
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

I am astonished at the miraculous turns in my story—my mum's vision that led her to intercountry adoption, My Indian mother praying and seeing an image of me the day before we were reunited...It is sometimes difficult not to imagine some forces at work that are beyond my understanding.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Kamla
Page Number: 273
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mum / Sue Brierley Quotes in A Long Way Home

The A Long Way Home quotes below are all either spoken by Mum / Sue Brierley or refer to Mum / Sue Brierley. 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:
Family Theme Icon
).
1. Remembering Quotes

"Me begot!" Later she found out I was upset that I had forgotten the way to the school near my Indian home, where I used to watch the students. We agreed that it probably didn't matter anymore. But deep down, it mattered to me. My memories were all I had of my past, and privately I thought about them over and over, trying to ensure that I didn't "beget."

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

Mum and Dad were very affectionate, right from the start, always giving me lots of cuddles and making me feel safe, secure, loved, and, above all, wanted. That meant a lot to a child who'd been lost and had experienced what it was like for no one to care about him.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
5. A New Life Quotes

Apparently, in the end, the delight I took in having abundant food close at hand overcame most matters of taste or culture.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:

I was keen on the idea of having a sibling. In fact, it seemed that the person I missed most from India was my sister. "What do you want for Christmas?" my mum would ask me every year. "I want Shekila back," I often said.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley (speaker), Mantosh, Shekila
Page Number: 115
Explanation and Analysis:
6. My Mum's Journey Quotes

Because of all she'd been through growing up, Mum had decided that there was nothing sacrosanct about families formed only by birth parents.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Josef, Julie
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:

Mum was delighted when the word came through but also calm: somewhere inside her, she'd always felt that the vision she'd had at the age of twelve had meant it was her destiny to have an adopted child by her side.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:

She is an advocate of replacing Australia's various state laws on intercountry adoption with a simplified federal law. She's critical of governments making it too difficult to adopt and feels that if it was a little easier, maybe more families would do it.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
9. Finding Home Quotes

Mum had such a dedicated belief in adoption and the authentic family that adoption created. I was worried about how my news would affect her, and I wanted to reassure her that of course they would always be my parents.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
10. Meeting My Mother Quotes

Even at this first meeting, she told me she was grateful to my parents who had raised me in Australia, and that they had the right to call me their son because they had raised me from a child and made me the man I was today. Her only concern for me, she said, was that I should have the very best life I could.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Kamla (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Dad / John Brierley
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:
12. Reaching Out Quotes

And even though it was exhausting to go over my story again and again with the media, I thought I had a kind of duty to do it, because it might help people—what had happened to me was remarkable, and might offer hope to others who wanted to find their lost family but thought it impossible.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Kamla
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

I am astonished at the miraculous turns in my story—my mum's vision that led her to intercountry adoption, My Indian mother praying and seeing an image of me the day before we were reunited...It is sometimes difficult not to imagine some forces at work that are beyond my understanding.

Related Characters: Saroo Brierley (speaker), Mum / Sue Brierley, Kamla
Page Number: 273
Explanation and Analysis: