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My dad would teach me how to get on in the world, so it wouldn’t matter that no one knew the truth about me...My dad and I would live in a house with place mats and picture frames, and we would volunteer at a soup kitchen on Sunday mornings when everyone else was at church.
In the early chapters of the novel, Maren demonstrates a child-like faith in the ability of her family to protect her. Whenever she gives in to her cannibalistic urges and consumes another child, she rushes to confess to her mother, hoping that Janelle can make the problem go away and shield her from trouble. Later, after being abandoned by Janelle, Maren maintains this idealistic view of the idea of “family.” After her failed attempt to reunite with Janelle in Edgartown, Pennsylvania, Maren decides to travel to Minnesota in order to find her father, Francis Yearly, whom she has never met. On her journey to Minnesota, she fantasizes about her father, imagining him as a “perfect” dad who will provide a better life for her. After years of instability, she imagines that life with her father will bring security, happiness, and understanding. Further, she suspects that her father might also be an “eater,” and she hopes that he will have the wisdom and experience to help her navigate the challenges posed by her cannibalism.
The man lifted a caterpillar eyebrow. “What you goin’ to Minnesota for?”
“That’s where my dad’s from. And I don’t know... maybe he’s still there.”
“Aint you been listenin’, Missy? I told ya, go pokin’ through the past and you’ll only come to grief.”
“Isn’t it better to know? [...] I want to know where he came from, and why he left us.”
In Pennsylvania, Maren gives up any hope of reuniting with her mother, but instead meets Sully, a wise an elderly “eater” who has spent many decades living on the fringes of society, where his cannibalism will not be so easily detected. Maren, who has never met another eater before, is eager to learn from his experiences. When he learns about her intention to travel to the Midwest to find her father, however, Sully expresses his doubts about her plan. Sully warns Maren that there is no point in “pokin’ through the past,” and further, that she might be unhappy about what she discovers about herself and her family. Maren, however, has an idealized notion of her father, and believes that he will be able to provide the answers she sees. In particular, she feels that she will learn more about herself if she gets to know her father. Though he has never been a part of her life, Maren feels that her identity is tied to him.
I wanted her to say, You aren’t alone, honey. You've got me. But Mama never said things just to make me feel better. She never called me honey, and she wouldn’t say anything unless it was true.
Maren’s difficult relationship with her mother is the focus of the first chapter of the novel. Janelle makes significant personal sacrifices in order to take care of her daughter, and to protect her from the steep consequences of her cannibalistic actions. Quickly packing up their things and moving to a new city whenever Maren commits another act of cannibalism, Janelle has a strong sense of her duty as a parent. However, Maren recognizes that her mother is motivated by obligation rather than love. Clearly horrified by her daughter’s actions, which claim the lives of several other children throughout her childhood, Janelle demonstrates little warmth or affection for her daughter, and their life together is a cold and practical one. When Maren admits that she wishes there were other “eaters” like her so that she might not be alone anymore, she notices that her mother does not attempt to ease her feelings of loneliness with any false words of comfort.
