Unhappiness/Longing

Unhappiness over one's circumstances in life lead to longing for what is perceived as missing. Many of Moshfegh’s characters demonstrate an unhappiness or longing regarding their circumstances, but are unwilling to do anything to better their situations. These behaviors of these characters demonstrate that people would often prefer to stay with what they know instead of making a change. Examples of these characters are found in “Bettering Myself,” “Mr. Wu,” and “Dancing in the Moonlight.”

Even though Miss Mooney’s ex-husband gives her additional money to stop harassing him, meaning she could live comfortably without working, Miss Mooney keeps the job she hates in the story “Bettering Myself.” Miss Mooney hates her job teaching what she considers to be the dumbest students at her school so much that she generally shows up for work drunk. She changes her students’ answers on their tests because...