My Year of Rest and Relaxation

by

Ottessa Moshfegh

The Narrator’s Mother Character Analysis

The narrator’s mother died prior to the events of the novel. Though the narrator denies that she is grieving her mother, the deep sadness she feels each time her mind drifts toward memories of her parents suggests that this is not the case. But her lonely and difficult childhood complicates that grief: both parents were emotionally unavailable and uninvolved in the narrator’s life, and her mother’s struggles with addiction and mental health further compromised her ability to be a good parent to the narrator. Ultimately, she dies of an overdose shortly after the narrator’s father succumbs to cancer, when the narrator is in college.

The Narrator’s Mother Quotes in My Year of Rest and Relaxation

The My Year of Rest and Relaxation quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator’s Mother or refer to The Narrator’s Mother. 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-Care, Self-Destruction, and Self-Indulgence Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Each time I awoke, I scribbled down whatever I could remember. Later I copied the dreams over in crazier-looking handwriting on a yellow legal pad, adding terrifying details, to hand in to Dr. Tuttle in July. My hope was that she’d think I needed more sedation.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), Dr. Tuttle, The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Related Symbols: Pills
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:

“People like your mother,” Dr. Tuttle replied, shaking her head, “give psychotropic medication a bad reputation.”

Related Characters: Dr. Tuttle (speaker), Narrator, The Narrator’s Mother
Related Symbols: Pills
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

The carefree tranquility of sleep gave way to a startling subliminal rebellion—I began to do things while I was unconscious.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Related Symbols: Pills
Page Number: 85
Explanation and Analysis:

The ghoulish voice of the TV show’s male narrator and Reva’s sniffles and sighs should have lulled me to sleep. But I could not sleep. I closed my eyes.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), Reva, The Narrator’s Mother
Related Symbols: TV/VCR/DVD
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Pondering all this down in Reva’s black room under her sad, pilly sheets, I felt nothing. I could think of feelings, emotions, but I couldn’t bring them up in me. I couldn’t even locate where my emotions came from. My brain? It made no sense. Irritation was what I knew best—a heaviness on my chest, a vibration in my neck like my head was revving up before it would rocket off my body. But that seemed directly tied to my nervous system—a physiological response. Was sadness the same kind of thing? Was joy? Was longing? Was love?

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), Reva, The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

How many of my parents’ hairs and eyelashes and skin cells and fingernail clippings had survived between the floorboards since the professor moved in? If I sold the house, the new owners might cover the hardwood with linoleum, or tear it out. They might paint the walls bright colors, build a deck in the back and seed the lawn with wildflowers. The place could look like “the hippie house” next door by spring, I thought. My parents would have hated that.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

There was majesty and grace in the pace of the swaying branches of the willows. There was kindness. Pain is not the only touchstone for growth, I said to myself. My sleep had worked. I was soft and calm and felt things. This was good. This was my life now. I could survive without the house. I understood that it would soon be someone else’s store of memories, and that was beautiful. I could move on.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis:
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My Year of Rest and Relaxation PDF

The Narrator’s Mother Quotes in My Year of Rest and Relaxation

The My Year of Rest and Relaxation quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator’s Mother or refer to The Narrator’s Mother. 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-Care, Self-Destruction, and Self-Indulgence Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Each time I awoke, I scribbled down whatever I could remember. Later I copied the dreams over in crazier-looking handwriting on a yellow legal pad, adding terrifying details, to hand in to Dr. Tuttle in July. My hope was that she’d think I needed more sedation.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), Dr. Tuttle, The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Related Symbols: Pills
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:

“People like your mother,” Dr. Tuttle replied, shaking her head, “give psychotropic medication a bad reputation.”

Related Characters: Dr. Tuttle (speaker), Narrator, The Narrator’s Mother
Related Symbols: Pills
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

The carefree tranquility of sleep gave way to a startling subliminal rebellion—I began to do things while I was unconscious.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Related Symbols: Pills
Page Number: 85
Explanation and Analysis:

The ghoulish voice of the TV show’s male narrator and Reva’s sniffles and sighs should have lulled me to sleep. But I could not sleep. I closed my eyes.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), Reva, The Narrator’s Mother
Related Symbols: TV/VCR/DVD
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Pondering all this down in Reva’s black room under her sad, pilly sheets, I felt nothing. I could think of feelings, emotions, but I couldn’t bring them up in me. I couldn’t even locate where my emotions came from. My brain? It made no sense. Irritation was what I knew best—a heaviness on my chest, a vibration in my neck like my head was revving up before it would rocket off my body. But that seemed directly tied to my nervous system—a physiological response. Was sadness the same kind of thing? Was joy? Was longing? Was love?

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), Reva, The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

How many of my parents’ hairs and eyelashes and skin cells and fingernail clippings had survived between the floorboards since the professor moved in? If I sold the house, the new owners might cover the hardwood with linoleum, or tear it out. They might paint the walls bright colors, build a deck in the back and seed the lawn with wildflowers. The place could look like “the hippie house” next door by spring, I thought. My parents would have hated that.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

There was majesty and grace in the pace of the swaying branches of the willows. There was kindness. Pain is not the only touchstone for growth, I said to myself. My sleep had worked. I was soft and calm and felt things. This was good. This was my life now. I could survive without the house. I understood that it would soon be someone else’s store of memories, and that was beautiful. I could move on.

Related Characters: Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Mother, The Narrator’s Father
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis: