Childhood Home

The narrator makes repeated allusions to her childhood home throughout the novel. In Chapter I, for example, the narrator recalls that the house in which she grew up had very few books. The books that she and her family did have were secreted inside cabinets and other pieces of forbidden furniture. Other memories of her childhood home pepper this opening section. For example, she recalls bringing her library books out to the lawn with her or watching her mother read books while smoking on the patio.

School

The majority of Chapter II is set at the narrator's grade school. She particularly recounts her experiences in Mr. Burton's class. While she initially liked Mr. Burton because he was amusing and clever, she eventually became tired of his constant joking and camaraderie with her male classmates. Therefore, to exact her revenge on him one day, she encouraged her classmates...