"She smiled, but in the way that wasn't just happy, and said, "You sound just like Dad.""(43)
This quote is telling us that even though Oskar's mom believes that he and his father have something in common, it pains her to hear his voice, and as stated at the beginning of the book, Oskar believes that his mom would of wanted him to be in the collapsed Twin Towers instead of his dad.
Oskar and his mom seem to have a poor, if not sad, relationship. Especially after his father's death, Oskar seems to act almost rudely around her. When Oskar and his mom are arguing about Oskar's dad's old razor, his mom rational stated that "[they] can't save everything", while Oskar rudely blurted "so it will be OK if I throw away all of your things and forget about you after you die?" to her.
Oskar shows that his feelings towards his Mom are not as good as towards his dad, an example of these feelings is shown with the quote; "If I could have chosen, I would have chosen you." (171) This quote shows that Oskar would have preferred his that his mother had died instead of his dad.
I feel like Oskar might have some resentment towards his mother, not only for her moving forward after his father's death but also maybe for not being both a mother and father to Oskar. I also felt this when Oskar lashes out at his mother for not being the one who died. I don't feel like this is because he doesn't like her, but I think it's because Oskar thinks he wants either both parents or none.
"3. Mom"
Oscar lists the people he loves in order and his mother is third. In the book oscar shows some hatred towards his mother.
Oskar's mother seems to be busy with other things and doesn't seem to worry about him. For example, whenever he wanders around the huge city of New York alone his mother never questions him or asks where he was shows that she does not seem to care about him the way his father did. I think that Oskar's father was the most important person in Oskar's life and when he lost him he was upset with his mother for not showing as much grief as himself.
"He told me he was on the street, that he'd gotten out of the building. He said he was walking home."
"But he wasn't."
Was I angry? Was I glad?
"He made it up so you wouldn't worry."(324)
This part is when Oskar's mother first says something she has done to protect him. She did not tell him about the message, even though it hurt her, causing her to cry.
Oskar won't tells his mom about the last phonecalls from his father. Therefore, directly linking them.