Moshfegh has stated she set out to write "a mainstream book a normal person could read" saying in an interview with Harper's Bazar, "I wanted to attract the reader who might reach for something commercial to read on an airplane. Something that looked like it would transport the reader to another place, but maybe not teach them anything or challenge them...I thought, if I could get the reader to come with me to this place, and then startle them with some frank realities, then maybe consciousness could shift a little bit".[8]
The character Rebecca is named for the title character in the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca. In an interview, Moshfegh said the film is one her favorites and that "[w]hen I was writing Eileen I was thinking of her, of Rebecca, and the power that she has as this untouchable beautiful woman who seemed to be this way and then turned out to be that way".[8]
Reviews, criticism, and discussion of Eileen often focused on the "disgustingness" of the character.[9][10][11] Moshfegh's characters frequently focus on their bodies, with Moshfegh saying "I find it to be a crucial element of character, how someone is embodied in their physical self".[12] However, "Moshfegh intended readers to experience her protagonist as more self-loathing than repellent".[13] She was surprised by the focus on the body elements, telling The New Yorker "[t]hey wanted me to somehow explain to them how I had the audacity to write a disgusting female character...It shocked me how much people wanted to talk about that".[13]
