Liz Character Analysis in Things We Didn’t See Coming

Liz is Jenna’s mother and one of the two women that the narrator encounters during a bad flood. Liz comes from privilege, but she winds up sheltering with her daughter in someone else’s abandoned home, getting drunker and drunker on the wine left in the wine cellar. Liz sleeps with the narrator, and the two form a momentary intimacy—before Liz, realizing that the narrator has lied to them about what kinds of weaponry he has, shoots him in the leg. The narrator respects the commitment Liz has to Jenna, though he wonders “what it’s going to take to make them give up on each other, turn them into survivors.”

Liz Character Timeline in Things We Didn’t See Coming

The timeline below shows where the character Liz appears in Things We Didn’t See Coming. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...he merely wants shelter and food. The women then calm down and introduce themselves as Liz (the mother) and Jenna (the daughter). (full context)

Body as Currency vs. Body as Liability Theme Icon

The narrator wants some of the alcohol Liz is drinking, so she leads him to a decadent wine cellar. He also sees that... (full context)

While Liz makes jokes about the wine (“sorry, it’s not chilled”), Jenna leaves. Liz explains that Jenna... (full context)

Care and Companionship under Crisis Theme Icon

...top-flight rain gear, which means that the original owners can’t have left too long ago. Liz stays behind because she is too out of it; she teases the narrator that he... (full context)

...is happening around her, rather than working (like the narrator) or escaping with drink (like Liz). The narrator, frustrated, muses that “she’s exactly the kind of romantic that’s got no instinct... (full context)

...the cutoff for “building.” Secretly, the narrator hopes to persuade Jenna to leave—without her daughter Liz will starve, and he can come back and steal the wine. Jenna, haunted by the... (full context)

When they return to the house, Liz has broken a stool and stuffed some bedsheets in the fireplace, her attempt at making... (full context)

Liz wonders why the narrator, who works with Land Management, is helping them instead of shooing... (full context)

...without taking any items. This story gives the narrator new confidence that he can get Liz and Jenna to leave. (full context)

After dinner, Liz grabs the driest sheet and tells the narrator she wants to go take a shower... (full context)

...them, but fortunately, they don’t seem to notice the two naked humans. The narrator and Liz finish rinsing off (she even gargles to get the stringy rat out of her teeth),... (full context)

The next day, the narrator suggests a forage before everybody leaves. Liz comes along, walking fast and asking questions about the different plants. Halfway through the walk,... (full context)