Friend of My Youth | Characters & Character Analysis

Friend of My Youth Characters

The Narratorappears in Friend of My Youth

The narrator of Friend of My Youth is unnamed, but we know that she is the daughter of Flora Grieves' friend, a schoolteacher who came to live on her farm. The narrator's mother is referred to only as "my mother" throughout the story. The narrator has been dreaming about her deceased mother lately, which is what sparks memories of the story she used to tell about Flora. In telling Flora's story, the narrator begins to merge Flora with her mother in her mind. She realizes that just as she knows nothing about Flora, and could easily have got all her feelings and reactions wrong, so she knows very little about her own mother. She is forced to conclude that no-one can ever know another person completely. There will always be surprises and hidden depths.

This epiphany has come to the narrator too late, and she regrets that she could...
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