Normal People

by

Sally Rooney

Denise (Marianne’s Mother) Character Analysis

Denise is Marianne’s mother. A widow, she’s rich and successful but emotionally removed from her role as a mother. She’s rarely home, and when she is, she tends to unfairly criticize Marianne. She also purposefully overlooks Alan’s abusive behavior toward Marianne and even treats Marianne in some abusive, manipulative ways herself.

Denise (Marianne’s Mother) Quotes in Normal People

The Normal People quotes below are all either spoken by Denise (Marianne’s Mother) or refer to Denise (Marianne’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:
Love, Inexperience, and Emotional Intensity Theme Icon
).
11. Six Weeks Later (September 2012) Quotes

He could just tell her about the situation and ask if he could stay in her place until September. He knew she would say yes. He thought she would say yes, it was hard to imagine her not saying yes. But he found himself putting off the conversation, putting off Niall’s enquiries about it, planning to bring it up with her and then at the last minute failing to. It just felt too much like asking her for money. He and Marianne never talked about money. They had never talked, for example, about the fact that her mother paid his mother money to scrub their floors and hang their laundry, or about the fact that this money circulated indirectly to Connell, who spent it, as often as not, on Marianne. He hated having to think about things like that. He knew Marianne never thought that way. She bought him things all the time, dinner, theatre tickets, things she would pay for and then instantly, permanently, forget about.

Related Characters: Marianne, Connell, Lorraine (Connell’s Mother), Denise (Marianne’s Mother), Niall
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:
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Denise (Marianne’s Mother) Quotes in Normal People

The Normal People quotes below are all either spoken by Denise (Marianne’s Mother) or refer to Denise (Marianne’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:
Love, Inexperience, and Emotional Intensity Theme Icon
).
11. Six Weeks Later (September 2012) Quotes

He could just tell her about the situation and ask if he could stay in her place until September. He knew she would say yes. He thought she would say yes, it was hard to imagine her not saying yes. But he found himself putting off the conversation, putting off Niall’s enquiries about it, planning to bring it up with her and then at the last minute failing to. It just felt too much like asking her for money. He and Marianne never talked about money. They had never talked, for example, about the fact that her mother paid his mother money to scrub their floors and hang their laundry, or about the fact that this money circulated indirectly to Connell, who spent it, as often as not, on Marianne. He hated having to think about things like that. He knew Marianne never thought that way. She bought him things all the time, dinner, theatre tickets, things she would pay for and then instantly, permanently, forget about.

Related Characters: Marianne, Connell, Lorraine (Connell’s Mother), Denise (Marianne’s Mother), Niall
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis: