Normal People
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
1. January 2011 2. Three Weeks Later (February 2011) 3. One Month Later (March 2011) 4. Six Weeks Later (April 2011) 5. Two Days Later (April 2011) 6. Four Months Later (August 2011) 7. Three Months Later (November 2011) 8. Three Months Later (February 2012) 9. Two Months Later (April 2012) 10. Three Months Later (July 2012) 11. Six Weeks Later (September 2012) 12. Four Months Later (January 2013) 13. Six Months Later (July 2013) 14. Five Months Later (December 2013) 15. Three Months Later (March 2014) 16. Four Months Later (July 2014) 17. Five Minutes Later (July 2014) 18. Seven Months Later (February 2015)
Themes
All Themes Love, Inexperience, and Emotional Intensity Identity, Insecurity, and Social Status Miscommunication and Assumptions Money, Class, and Entitlement
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Marianne Connell Lorraine (Connell’s Mother) Eric Rob Rachel Alan (Marianne’s Brother) Denise (Marianne’s Mother) Joanna Peggy Jamie Lukas Niall Miss Neary Helen Sadie
Symbols
All Symbols Nude Photos The Scholarship
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Normal People

by

Sally Rooney
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Eric Character Analysis

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:
Love, Inexperience, and Emotional Intensity Theme Icon
).
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: Eric (speaker), Marianne, Connell
Identity, Insecurity, and Social Status Theme Icon
Page Number: 80
Explanation and Analysis:
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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:
Love, Inexperience, and Emotional Intensity Theme Icon
).
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: Eric (speaker), Marianne, Connell
Identity, Insecurity, and Social Status Theme Icon
Page Number: 80
Explanation and Analysis:
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