Homesick for Another World

“There was a church attached to the back of the school—a cathedral with great big mosaics of people holding up a finger as though to say, Be quiet. I thought I’d go in there and leave my letter of resignation with one of the priests. Also, I wanted a little tenderness, I think.”

Throughout the story, the Ukrainian Church is established as a foil to Mooney’s chaotic behavior, as when she vomits in the nun’s bathrooms. Here, the church is both a scolding presence (in the mosaics) and a place of refuge, where she can leave her letter with the priests and receive affection in return. This desire for reformation is reflected in the story’s title.

“Most people were huddled in random patterns, gazing up at the menu boards, eyes glazed over, touching their chins, pointing, nodding.

         ‘Are you in line?’ I kept asking them. Nobody would answer me.”

This passage highlights the isolation Mooney, and many of Moshfegh’s characters, face in daily life. Although Mooney is the one high on cocaine and in mental distress in this scene, the passage depicts the people around her as animalistic and disconnected from reality, moving senselessly. Her inability to connect with these people heightens the tension of this climactic scene.

“The woman had one flaccid hand that reminded Mr. Wu of a large prawn. He shuddered and gagged whenever he saw it. He felt sorry for the child, held and fed by that twisted, thin, limp, and red-skinned tentacle.”

Mr. Wu’s disgust with the human body is central to the story that bears his name. Here, he describes the appearance of his neighbor’s wife’s hand with astonishing cruelty. Although he views it with disgust, the tender, loving embrace described here is more contact than Wu receives from the object of his affection, who he knows views him with disgust.