Previous
Lorraine (Connell’s Mother)
Eric is one of Connell’s friends in secondary school. Popular and confident, Eric bullies Marianne, making jokes about her with Rob and Rachel. Years later, he regrets the way he treated her and tries to make up for it by showing her kindness whenever their paths cross. He even slightly reveals this kinder side of himself in secondary school when he tells Connell at the end-of-year dance that everyone knew there was something going on between him and Marianne, implying that nobody would have cared if their relationship had been public. When Eric sees Marianne one night at a bar after Rob’s suicide, he drunkenly apologizes for how he treated her and suggests that Rob would have wanted to do the same.
Eric Quotes in Normal People
The Normal People quotes below are all either spoken by Eric or refer to Eric. 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:
).
7. Three Months Later (November 2011)
Quotes
Do you think we don't know you were riding her? he said. Sure everyone knows.
Connell paused and took another drag on his cigarette. This was probably the most horrifying thing Eric could have said to him, not because it ended his life, but because it didn't. He knew then that the secret for which he had sacrificed his own happiness and the happiness of another person had been trivial all along, and worthless. He and Marianne could have walked down the school corridors hand in hand, and with what consequence? Nothing really. No one cared.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Normal People LitChart as a printable PDF.
Eric Quotes in Normal People
The Normal People quotes below are all either spoken by Eric or refer to Eric. 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:
).
7. Three Months Later (November 2011)
Quotes
Do you think we don't know you were riding her? he said. Sure everyone knows.
Connell paused and took another drag on his cigarette. This was probably the most horrifying thing Eric could have said to him, not because it ended his life, but because it didn't. He knew then that the secret for which he had sacrificed his own happiness and the happiness of another person had been trivial all along, and worthless. He and Marianne could have walked down the school corridors hand in hand, and with what consequence? Nothing really. No one cared.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
