Point of View

The entirety of the memoir is told from a first person point of view. The author, Mary Laura Philpott, takes readers through different events in her life in a first person narrative. Importantly, Mary writes from a perspective that is reflective on the events in her life. When describing past experiences, she gives the reader a narrative background while also providing her own commentary on the story. This means that many of her stories take on a reflective nature, analyzing herself and her actions through a future lens that allows her to be critical towards herself. For example, when describing her relationship with her mother, Mary begins by acknowledging that “It seems we can’t discuss the way we are without assigning some responsibility to the generation before” (27). She then proceeds to work her way through her childhood experiences, trying on different perspectives of viewing...