Character Analysis
Mrs. Meany is Owen's mother. We hear barely a peep out of her throughout the novel, but she has a powerful presence – she just plain creeps us out in a lot of ways. Mrs. Meany spends most of her days in an almost catatonic state, sitting by the window and staring blankly ahead of her. She's always wearing this pair of pilot's headphones to block out the noises from the granite quarry. John suspects that she may be mildly mentally retarded.