Pauline Mole is Adrian's mother. Just as Adrian is grappling with all the new experiences with which adolescence is presenting him, Pauline, his mother, is undergoing changes too. In England, in the 1980s, women were beginning to question their role as stay-at-home mothers and housewives. Influenced by these ideas, Pauline starts to wear overalls and has her ears pierced in an effort to reflect her new sense of herself. She reads The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, at that time, the most influential book in England about women's liberation. Pauline tries to convey to Adrian some of the new ideas she is encountering in books like this. She tells him that for some women, marriage is like a prison. But Adrian, who doesn't understand that his mother is speaking metaphorically (i.e., using a word to suggest a likeness), says he sees women on the street all the time.