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Throughout Motherless Brooklyn, food symbolizes the futility of searching for comfort and simple pleasures in a world marred by violence and corruption. Lionel Essrog, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, has Tourette’s syndrome—a neurological disorder characterized by the presence of repetitive and compulsive physical and verbal tics. The only times Lionel experiences even a degree of relief from his nearly incessant performing tics is when he is sexually aroused or eating food. “Food really mellows me out,” Lionel observes early on in the novel as he focuses intently on methodically eating a sack of six White Castle sliders—and for a large portion of the novel, food does seem to have a calming effect on Lionel, allowing him to surrender to his compulsions yet enjoy their fruits.
Eventually, however, as Lionel finds himself compelled to overeat in the name of ritual—such as when he compulsively orders a giant collection of sandwiches from his neighborhood deli or when he wolfs five hot dogs in a row at a restaurant—Lionel comes to see that there is little real, lasting comfort to be found in fleeting pleasures like food. The symbol of food is even further complicated when Lionel discovers that the trade of valuable but overfished uni (sea urchin) eggs lies at the heart of the complicated mystery which ties together Frank and Gerard Minna, the shadowy Fujisaki Corporation, and the intimidating New Jersey mobsters Matricardi and Rockaforte. The fact that a singular and highly-sought delicacy has become the impetus for a vast and lucrative criminal enterprise confirms for Lionel and the reader alike the futility of taking comfort in things which simply create the illusion of safety and control.
Food Quotes in Motherless Brooklyn
The Motherless Brooklyn quotes below all refer to the symbol of Food. 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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Walks Into
Quotes
Food really mellows me out.
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Auto Body
Quotes
“Will you take my order, Julia?"
"Why don't you go away, Lionel? Please.” It was pitying and bitter and desperate at once. She wanted to spare us both. I had to know from what.
"I want to try some uni. Some—orphan ocean ice cream!—some urchin eggs. See what all the fuss is about."
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Food Symbol Timeline in Motherless Brooklyn
The timeline below shows where the symbol Food appears in Motherless Brooklyn. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Walks Into
Lionel is sitting in a car eating White Castle sliders with a man named Gilbert Coney. After Lionel screams out, “Eat me!” he feels himself...
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...mind. Instead of vocalizing his tic, however, Lionel focuses on inspecting and eating his third slider. Gilbert has obtained six sliders for Lionel, knowing that Lionel’s compulsive instincts mean that he...
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...and Coney follows him. Lionel slips his headphones on; confused and anxious, he eats a burger to calm himself.
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Motherless Brooklyn
...was on Christmas Day of 1982, when Frank brought Lionel, Tony, Danny, and Gilbert to dinner at his mother’s house. Carlotta, an “Old Stove,” cooked and sold old Italian recipes out...
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Interrogation Eyes
...looks around the L&L garage, everything—from the cigarette butts in the ashtray to a half-eaten sandwich on top of the fridge that Minna didn’t finish eating—reminds him of his mentor. Tony...
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...Lionel offers to take the detective on a walk—he says he wants to get a sandwich. The detective agrees to follow him to a nearby deli. As Lionel taps the detective...
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...to say hi to Frank for him—Zeod clearly hasn’t heard the news. Lionel orders a sandwich, and the detective asks for a pack of cigarettes. Zeod gathers the items and tells...
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...stays by the phone while Lionel heads upstairs. After lighting a candle and cutting his sandwich into six equal pieces, Lionel puts Prince on his boom box and admires the “Tourettic...
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Bad Cookies
Kimmery offers Lionel some Oreos. She tells a story about how she used to know a man who worked for...
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...he found that everyone nowadays talks on cell phones all the time, even in nice restaurants. He is depressed that even in New York, the same is true—people talk to themselves...
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One Mind
...turns around to see the giant standing by the entrance, eating a Ziploc bag of kumquats. Before Lionel can figure out what to do, one of the monks at the front...
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...him outside, and drops him onto the sidewalk. The giant offers the startled Lionel a kumquat and asks what’s wrong. Lionel replies that he has Tourette’s. The giant says that “threats...
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...long. She tells him she’s only been here a month—she just broke up with the “Oreo Man.” Kimmery says she doesn’t like the apartment very much and is hardly ever here....
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Auto Body
...in a desk, frustratedly moving from pile of paper to pile of paper. The giant snacks on something as Tony moves to the file cabinets. Lionel knows he needs to hide—and...
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Lionel decides to go to Zeod’s himself for a sandwich. As he walks in, Zeod greets him and remarks that he and Tony must be...
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...the free cars. He slumps down in his seat and begins eating one of the sandwiches from Zeod’s. He feels that he’s on a real stakeout—but he doesn’t know what he’s...
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...signs advertise Yoshii’s as “Maine’s only Thai and Sushi Oceanfood Emporium.” Lionel parks in the restaurant lot—there is no sign of Tony’s car, or the giant’s. He gets out and urinates...
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...asks if it’s a cold day to be out, and the boatman explains that since urchin season runs from October through March (the coldest months of the year), a day like...
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...the Japanese mob, or Yakuza, used to pay his baymen off for a haul of uni, or urchin eggs: the national food of Japan and “the whole story” around these parts...
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Inside the sushi restaurant, Lionel is greeted by a hostess in a Japanese robe. Lionel is the only...
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...but Julia calls him a freak and refuses to answer. Lionel asks to order some uni. Julia tells Lionel that he wouldn’t like it. The door opens—the Fujisaki Corporation walks into...
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Julia brings Lionel a plate of uni garnished with wasabi and pickled ginger—as well as a bowl of coconut soup, something she...
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Good Sandwiches
...he does for L&L as a driver, and takes pleasure in visiting obscure, out-of-the way restaurants, such as a small falafel spot called Mushy’s at JFK Airport, after many of his...
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