Point of View

The majority of the novel is told in first-person, past tense narration from Ninny Threadgoode’s perspective as she looks back on her life in the months before her death in 1988. Most of the reminiscences are told to Evelyn Couch, Ninny’s friend, when she comes to visit. While Ninny Threadgoode and Evelyn Crouch appear to be the novel’s protagonists, the novel’s main plot events take place in Mrs. Threadgoode’s memories, in which Idgie Threadgoode is the clear star. In fact, the child version of Ninny rarely even appears in the recollections, suggesting that the stories live on as family legend rather than Ninny’s own specific memories.

It is interesting to note that despite the fact that Ninny grew up during a tumultuous time in American history – the segregated South during the Great Depression – almost all of her memories portray a...