Normal People

by

Sally Rooney

Miss Neary Character Analysis

Miss Neary is the economics teacher at Connell and Marianne’s secondary school. Everyone in school jokes about how Connell wants to have sex with Miss Neary, but this joke upsets him. It’s true, though, that Miss Neary seems to flirt with him—even Marianne notices and tells Connell that she wouldn’t mind making an anonymous report on his behalf, but he tells her not to. When he comes back to Carricklea during college, he gets extremely drunk one night and encounters Miss Neary at a bar. She takes him home and tries to have sex with him despite his protests. He manages to avoid sleeping with her, but he still feels deeply uncomfortable about the entire experience. When he tells Marianne about it, she vows to kill Miss Neary if she ever does something like that to Connell again.

Miss Neary Quotes in Normal People

The Normal People quotes below are all either spoken by Miss Neary or refer to Miss Neary. 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
).
1. January 2011 Quotes

Miss Neary teaches Economics. His supposed feelings for her are widely discussed in school. Some people are even saying that he tried to add her on Facebook, which he didn't and would never do. Actually he doesn't do or say anything to her, he just sits there quietly while she does and says things to him. She keeps him back after class sometimes to talk about his life direction, and once she actually touched the knot of his school tie. He can't tell people about the way she acts because they'll think he's trying to brag about it.

Related Characters: Marianne, Connell, Lorraine (Connell’s Mother), Miss Neary
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

What if, at some level above or below his own perception, he does actually desire her? He doesn't even really know what desire is supposed to feel like. Any time he has had sex in real life, he has found it so stressful as to be largely unpleasant, leading him to suspect that there's something wrong with him, that he's unable to be intimate with women, that he's somehow developmentally impaired.

Related Characters: Marianne, Connell, Miss Neary
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
11. Six Weeks Later (September 2012) Quotes

Anyway, she says. How are you?

He knows the question is meant honestly. He's not someone who feels comfortable confiding in others, or demanding things from them. He needs Marianne for this reason. This fact strikes him newly. Marianne is someone he can ask things of. Even though there are certain difficulties and resentments in their relationship, the relationship carries on. This seems remarkable to him now, and almost moving.

Something kind of weird happened to me in the summer, he said. Can I tell you about it?

Related Characters: Marianne (speaker), Connell (speaker), Miss Neary
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
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Normal People PDF

Miss Neary Quotes in Normal People

The Normal People quotes below are all either spoken by Miss Neary or refer to Miss Neary. 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
).
1. January 2011 Quotes

Miss Neary teaches Economics. His supposed feelings for her are widely discussed in school. Some people are even saying that he tried to add her on Facebook, which he didn't and would never do. Actually he doesn't do or say anything to her, he just sits there quietly while she does and says things to him. She keeps him back after class sometimes to talk about his life direction, and once she actually touched the knot of his school tie. He can't tell people about the way she acts because they'll think he's trying to brag about it.

Related Characters: Marianne, Connell, Lorraine (Connell’s Mother), Miss Neary
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

What if, at some level above or below his own perception, he does actually desire her? He doesn't even really know what desire is supposed to feel like. Any time he has had sex in real life, he has found it so stressful as to be largely unpleasant, leading him to suspect that there's something wrong with him, that he's unable to be intimate with women, that he's somehow developmentally impaired.

Related Characters: Marianne, Connell, Miss Neary
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
11. Six Weeks Later (September 2012) Quotes

Anyway, she says. How are you?

He knows the question is meant honestly. He's not someone who feels comfortable confiding in others, or demanding things from them. He needs Marianne for this reason. This fact strikes him newly. Marianne is someone he can ask things of. Even though there are certain difficulties and resentments in their relationship, the relationship carries on. This seems remarkable to him now, and almost moving.

Something kind of weird happened to me in the summer, he said. Can I tell you about it?

Related Characters: Marianne (speaker), Connell (speaker), Miss Neary
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis: