Section 2 Summary

In this section the narrator fills in more of the details of Almeda's life in 1879. Almeda lives in the home built by her father and the town is filled with people under the age of fifty because no one any older would want to come to an unsettled area. As in any town there are undesirable areas such as the Pearl Street swamp where the underprivileged people live and where gangs of boys roam the streets looking for trouble. Almeda is always careful to conduct herself with propriety and notes that the sight of the swamp from her window in the morning is really quite lovely with the mist surrounded by all the tall majestic trees.

Section 2 Analysis

Almeda's social status is validated in this section as she is removed from the undesirable elements of the town and maintains her distance physically and...