What if Oskars mother had met Eli?

[paranormalogramm]

How would Oskars mother had reacted if she had met Eli before or after what happened at the pool.

[sauvin]

How would Oskars mother had reacted if she had met Eli before or after what happened at the pool.

Before: "Oh, you're Oskar's little girlfriend? That's so sweet. Would you like some cookies?"

After: "Um, I was nice to him! I promise! Tell her, Oskar! I was nice...!!"

[Ash]

Oskar's mum would worry, because that's what she does best. Probably about her little boy growing up and eventually leaving home.
As for his dad, that's a different matter. He'd probably be proud of Oskar....then celebrate by getting totally paraletic.
I sometimes wonder if his mum is concerned about Oskar's safety for his sake, or out of fear of being left alone. She doesn't appear to have any friends.

[metoo]

.. She [Oskar's mum] doesn't appear to have any friends.

I too got the feeling that she has few friends. That might, however, be an effect of not being told very much about her at all. What do we know? She seems rather obsessed with her only child. But she is not totally isolated. She sings in a choir, and participates in the choir's social activities. She also is acquainted to other women in her neighbourhood, she for instance knows Tommy's mother well enough to talk to her about Tommy's health.

[paranormalogramm]

In the Novel Oskar thinks about why he doesn't want that Eli meets his mother. She could notice about Eli beeing something "evil" and wouldn't allow him to meet Eli any more. But I don't think that had happened, or am I completely wrong with that?

[intrige]

I do recall him almost telling his mom when she asked about why he was sitting by the jungle-gym all evening, waiting for Eli. He stopped himself. I have the novel with me of course, and I'll check on it

[EEA]

I think she probably saw Eli with Oskar when she calls out to him from the window and Oskar yells at her.
Then when Oskar is waiting by the window I think she a little upset because is the night were they watch tv together and she has cooked some crepes.
Plus she did have a chance to see Eli and Oskar together. All she had to do was watch from the window.

[a_contemplative_life]

Oskar was paranoid about his mom finding out about Eli. But as far as his mom goes, I think it would all probably depend on the circumstances of the encounter. An initial encounter would probably be smooth enough, but after repeated contact, she would probably grow more and more inquisitive, and Eli would have to start lying to her, too. And I think over time, that would become problematic, given how protective Oskar's mom was of him.

[Wolfchild]

I think Oskar knew how his mom would react to Eli:

He didn't want to see her anymore. She was scary. What happened in the basement was -

She showed her true face.

- there was something in her, something that was ... Pure Horror. Everything you were supposed to watch out for. Heights, fire, shards of glass, snakes. Everything that his mom tried so hard to keep him safe from.

Maybe that was why he hadn't wanted Eli and his mom to meet. His mom would have recognized it, forbidden him to get near it. Near Eli.

Being a twelve year old, he was willing to overlook much of Eli's strangeness. He sensed some of it immediately. As he got closer to Eli, his attraction allowed him to overlook everything - up until the basement. Even so, some part of him knew that he was willfully overlooking certain things. That same part knew that his mom would not overlook anything.

Even if he gets very frightened of Eli, he never really wants to give him up. I'm willing to trust Oskar's opinion. I think that if his mom had ever met Eli, she would have done whatever she could to separate him from Oskar. I think that this would be true before and after the pool - but after the pool she would be a tad bit more hysterical about it.

Oskar's mom would not care about his concerns. She would care about how much Eli means to him. In fact, she might even be threatened by it.

"Of course you can go to school. But after school you come straight here and you don't leave this complex until I get home."

"Big deal."

The pain in his mother's eyes mixed with anger.

"Do you want to be murdered? Do you? You want to go into the woods and be killed and I have to sit here and worry while you're lying out there in the forest and ... you're being butchered by some bestial ..."

The tears welled up in her eyes. Oskar put his hand on hers.

"I won't go into the woods, Mom. I promise."

His mother stroked his cheek.

"Little sweetheart, you're all I have. Nothing is allowed to happen to you. I would die too."

"Mmmm. How exactly did he do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know. The murder."

"How should I know? The boy was killed by some kind of maniac with a knife. He's dead. His parents' lives have been ruined."

His mom's identity seems wrapped up in being a mother. Not being Oskar's mom, just being a good mother. Oskar is the prop holding up her identity. She is shown not being able to bear losing him to maturity, and she certainly won't lose him to Eli.

Now, I will admit that this is a very cruel view of Oskar's mom, and probably not entirely true of what John intended her character to really be. I'm purposely exaggerating these things that I perceive in her in order to point out the things that Oskar must sense about her, or at least suspect. Since the novel shows us this about her, and since the novel also tells us that Oskar also knows his mom can never meet Eli, I think that I'm with Oskar.

[cmfireflies]

I would go with Wolfchild on this. It seems as if Oskar's mom is not aware of how lonely her son really is. She would most certainly express an interest in Eli and if Oskar was really happy with Eli, Mom would certainly notice. That would probably lead her to ask Hakan over for dinner, leading to the most awkward experience imaginable.

This might be asked before, but: Parents of We the Infected would you want your 12 year old to be friends with Eli?