Anxious People

Anxious People

by

Fredrik Backman

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Anxious People makes teaching easy.
The bank robber’s mom never appears in the novel’s present, as she died years before the novel begins. An alcoholic, the robber’s mom was a “chaotic parent.” For instance, she bought alcohol with all the money the seven-year-old robber earned selling magazine subscriptions to fund Christmas dinner, and she taught the robber to lie to hide how bad things were at home. Her example led the robber to never want children and, when the robber ultimately had her daughters, to vow to never be a chaotic parent like her mother. The robber’s mom also took a dim view of her daughter’s future, as she insisted that daughters of alcoholics never grow up to find true love or be romantic at all.

The Bank Robber’s Mom Quotes in Anxious People

The Anxious People quotes below are all either spoken by The Bank Robber’s Mom or refer to The Bank Robber’s Mom. 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:
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Do you know what the worst thing about being a parent is? That you’re always judged by your worst moments. You can do a million things right, but if you do one single thing wrong you’re forever that parent who was checking his phone in the park when your child was hit in the head by a swing. We don’t take our eyes off them for days at a time, but then you read just one text message and it’s as if all your best moments never happened. No one goes to see a psychologist to talk about the times they weren’t hit in the head by a swing as a child. Parents are defined by their mistakes.”

Related Characters: The Man on the Bridge (speaker), The Bank Robber, Jack/The Young Policeman/The Boy, The Bank Robber’s Mom
Related Symbols: The Bridge
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Bank Robber’s Mom Quotes in Anxious People

The Anxious People quotes below are all either spoken by The Bank Robber’s Mom or refer to The Bank Robber’s Mom. 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:
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Do you know what the worst thing about being a parent is? That you’re always judged by your worst moments. You can do a million things right, but if you do one single thing wrong you’re forever that parent who was checking his phone in the park when your child was hit in the head by a swing. We don’t take our eyes off them for days at a time, but then you read just one text message and it’s as if all your best moments never happened. No one goes to see a psychologist to talk about the times they weren’t hit in the head by a swing as a child. Parents are defined by their mistakes.”

Related Characters: The Man on the Bridge (speaker), The Bank Robber, Jack/The Young Policeman/The Boy, The Bank Robber’s Mom
Related Symbols: The Bridge
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis: