Mother
Mother, or Clara Kwan, is a nurse and Iris' mother. Along with her husband, Mother immigrated from Hong Kong to Canada shortly after the 2019 Hong Kong protests, to seek political asylum as a former protestor, and to get away from her own mother. Mother is haunted by her homesickness for Hong Kong and her traumatic experiences as a protestor, which manifest in her sleepwalking. She is strict with Iris, as she wants Iris to have a better life than she did.
Personality[edit | edit source]
self-sacrificing and spiteful, jaded yet headstrong, pragmatic. paranoid
History[edit | edit source]
Hong Kong[edit | edit source]
In 2019, Clara was presumably a student, and was dating an engineering student named Jack. Clara joined in demonstrations against the Hong Kong government in 2019. During one protest, she provided first aid to a boy who had been beaten by police, suffering from a broken nose and tear gas. To her incredulity, the boy asked her for her number, and she gave him her father's instead. They met again at another protest where he was beaten again, and this time, under the guise of being his emergency contact, Clara gave him her real phone number, and they began dating at some point.
Despite the passing of the passing of a new national security law in June of 2020, Clara continued her activism, risking arrest. During one such activity, she and Father came across the body of a girl who had fallen from a building. Clara wanted to stay and wait for medical help to arrive, but was reminded to "Be water": a rallying cry for the protestors meaning to be adaptable, decentralised, and anonymous.
In 2021, Clara chose to emigrate and left for Canada with her partner.
Off To Another Continent[edit | edit source]
Clara gained nursing qualifications in Canada and began working, while her husband ran a noodle shop. Clara wished to have a child. Father says that she believed this was a way to "reclaim the dignity [they] lost", and although he disagreed, he was unable to tell her. In 2029, she gave birth to a daughter. She "raised her tough", enforcing discipline with harsh punishment. She trained her daughter to never cry:
MEMORY: "Mui mui, look around," she said. "Everyone is staring. You can't show such weakness in front of others."
MEMORY: You tried so hard to stop crying, but it only made it worse. When you asked why, your mother said, "Otherwise, they'll take everything from you."
MEMORY: "Why would they take my things?" you asked.
MEMORY: "Because it is in their nature. Never let threm see you cry, understand?" (ch1)
Many years later, Clara continued to be haunted by memories from the protests, and would relive these moments in her dreams, sleepwalking. Although this was a regular enough occurance that Father was prepared for this, he tried to hide this from her. It is implied that Clara may have refused psychiatric help.
After Jiao arrives in Vancouver, Clara has frequent conversations with her, and they bond over their shared memories of Hong Kong and the experience of immigrating to another country. These conversations are a lot warmer and friendlier in tone, and she donates some of Iris's clothing to Jiao.
A Different Occupation[edit | edit source]
During the early days of the outbreak, Clara would send supplies such as face masks, medicine, and supplements to her mother back in Hong Kong. Although she called regularly, her phone calls were often ignored and Clara would leave long voicemails for her mother instead.
In late 2047, they are visited by Johnson and Mimi The 50. They ask to take Iris with them, pointing out that civic infrastructure was rapidly failing due to the Occupants. They hope to be able to study Iris's apparent immunity to the Occupant's disease. Clara protests and refuses to have her daughter be taken away, remarking that she had come to this country for a reason. When Clara tells the 50s to leave, they point out that Iris is now a legal adult, so they do not need the parent's permission to take her. Against her protests, Iris agrees to go with them.
Iris goes into her room to pack, and barricades the door to prevent her mother from coming in. Clara continued to beat on the door, yelling at her daughter to come out and talk to her. Telling Iris that she had no idea what her parents had protected her from, Clara tells Iris that she can go, but to never come crawling back.
Seeing it was futile, Clara eventually gives up. Before Iris leaves, she makes a false promise to her parents that she would return.
Surviving At All Costs[edit | edit source]
Clara tells her mother to follow orders and stay safe, but when asked how Iris is doing, lies and says she is busy with her dad. After a while, Clara's mother no longer picks up the phone when she calls.
As the outbreak worsened, despite living with the doors to their apartment barricaded, Clara continued to go to work at the hospital right up until it was closed without notice in 2048. Despite the risks, and although she could hear crying and screaming from inside, Clara broke into the hospital in order to steal medicine and supplies for her family. Returning to the apartment, she mused that much like how Iris had been the only survivor of her school dance, every nurse working with Clara had fallen sick as well, except for her.
Clara continued to clean Iris's room, waiting for her return, and she makes Father leave behind a video diary for Iris to watch to show her how they'd been living without her. Her message begins with advice and reminders, but she tells Father to "make sure she knows we suffered".
In 2048, they are shown to be relying on firewood for heating. When Father returns from an excursion empty handed, she criticises him for failing, and Father mutters that freezing to death would be better than being trapped with her, showing the tension caused by their continued isolation, and increasing danger. She shows some degree of denial and paranoia, leading Father to snap at her that all their neighbours had died and would not spot them. Despite supplies dwindling, they manage to survive together into 2049. Clara continues to leave the apartment to scavenge, although she becomes fixated on hoarding items of questionable utility such as plastic bags and napkins.
FATHER: What do you feel? What do you want?
MOTHER: What a stupid, impractical question. (ch.7)
On one night, Father breaks through her shell and uncompromising vigilance. They kiss, dance, drink and sing together and reminisce about the past. Clara confesses that she regrets leaving Hong Kong and their protests, saying that it had been futile and only led to the Chinese government responding with more force. Father reassures her that thanks to them, their resistance had gone down in history - a legacy that would be passed on through Iris. Reminding Clara that she had been the one to tell him that, she concedes, saying "Then I guess I believe it too."
Some time later, Father has fallen ill. Clara leaves to search for IV drip medicine, and when she returns, she is surprised to find the door open and lights off. She looks around for Father, assuming he is hiding, and reassures him that she is alone and hadn't been followed. She goes to Iris's bedroom, and finds that Father had recorded a video before leaving.
Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing
The following sequence of events were presented to Watcher through a communion. Since it is revealed later in the story that Principal has tampered with the memories in the communions, the events within this sequence may not fully reflect the truth of what happened.
During Watcher's communion with Bang Bang Fire, Iris is depicted returning to their Vancouver apartment, presumably after her excursion to her high school. An Occupant can be seen outside the window, and Mother is in a trance or sleepwalking, speaking to Father and berating him. She mutters "thought you were afraid of heights", implying she had found his body after his suicide, and ends by saying he can sleep in all he wants.
Although this scene is not outside the realm of possiblity (presuming that she does, in fact, share Iris's immunity to the Occupant's disease and managed to survive the 30-odd years), during the impossible conversations Iris apologies breaking her promise and never coming back home, even though she had the chance to, making the canonicity of this scene dubious at best. Considering that this communion was designed by Principal to radicalise Watcher against ALLMO, it is possible that this moment was faked by Principal, although her motivation is unclear.
Relationships[edit | edit source]
Iris[edit | edit source]
MOTHER: Turn your back on your family... Once you leave us, I don't want to see you ever again. (ch. 7)
its complicated
IRIS: ...did you ever regret...having a child?
MOTHER: Foolish question. Next.
IRIS: But Iris was... I was...
MOTHER: Regret? Mui Mui. Or, whoever you are... We are poor technology. The human body and brain? Too capable of storing clutter. Too desperate to hold onto things. You just have to move forward.
MOTHER: If you are tired? Doesn't matter. If you are bitter? Doesn't matter. I do not forgive my daughter for having left me. Doesn't matter. I do not forgive my husband for having left me. Doesn't matter. So, I keep moving.
IRIS: I didn't go back.
MOTHER: What?
IRIS: I promised you and 爸 (dad) I would come back home. And it was a lie. I even had a chance. But I couldn't go back. I could only go forward.
MOTHER: ...
MOTHER: ...... Good girl. (ch. X)
reconciled but still complicated
Father[edit | edit source]
add quote of her calling him lazy (ch. 2?)
text
MOTHER: How did I balance the work hours with the thanklessness of parent at the same time as the insomnia and severe post-traumatic paranoia?
IRIS: ...Yes.
MOTHER: Easy. 爸 (dad). He kept me going. We kept each other going. (ch. 10)
its also complicated
Jiao[edit | edit source]
MOTHER: I know that moving here is very hard.
JIAO: It is! There's just nothing to do here at night...
MOTHER: I remember struggling with this when I first came.
JIAO: All the shops close so early!
MOTHER: And the restaurants, too.
JIAO: Nowhere to eat, nowhere to hang out! And the convenience stores?
MOTHER: Not even convenient! (ch. 2)
friends, they connect over the immigrant experience
Grandmother[edit | edit source]
MOTHER: 我放棄一切係因為你呀, 去擺脫你呀 (I threw everything away because of you. To be free of you) (ch. 2)
the cyclessss
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Mother and Father moving into the new apartment (ch. 2)
Mother in her nurse's uniform (ch. 2)
Mother and Jiao talking about Iris (ch. 2)
A communion that shows Mother and Father, during a protest in 2019 Hong Kong (ch. 2)
GRANDMOTHER: 永遠都唔會知你阿爸同我為你犧性哇機多 (You'll never know what your father and I sacrificed for you). (ch. 2)
MOTHER: I dream every night of going back home. Haunted by a place that doesn't exist. (ch. 4)
Mother, after the outbreak (ch. 7)
Mother at the stairwell in the mass-communion
Clara seen in flashback during the protests
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Mother's text color is #C391DD
References[edit | edit source]
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