What Alice Forgot

Moriarty explores the cyclical nature of resentment in marriage through Alice and Nick's mutual frustrations with one another. Often, the resentment of one party leads to decisions which increase the resentment of the other. Initially, Alice finds it impossible to fathom the events that led her and Nick to talk to each other so hatefully. When she begins to untangle the events and decisions that caused feelings of betrayal and resentment to arise between them, she finds they are mutually at fault.

Alice resents Nick working long hours; she struggles looking after three children on her own. When she regains her memory, she is struck by her angry thought that Nick was “never there” (419). Nick resents the way Alice treats him like a fool when he tries to help at home: “I’d be at work, where people respected my opinions … and then I’d come home and it was like I was the village idiot. I’d pack the dishwasher the wrong way. I’d pick the wrong clothes for the children” (383). This causes him to withdraw more from their domestic life: “I stopped offering to help. It wasn’t worth the criticism” (383). This leads Alice to feel even more resentful of Nick’s lack of involvement at home; she feels that Nick treats her like “the hired help” when he is home, reading the paper while she struggles to dress and organize the children and prepare food (420).