The Narrator

The narrator is never named in this novel, but is addressed as scholar or maestro because he was once a teacher in the secondary schools. The narrator is a man who is about to turn ninety and is reflecting on his past. The narrator was born to a successful businessman and his Italian wife. The narrator was a pampered child who was given everything he desired and protected from the realities of life by his adoring mother. When the narrator's mother died of tuberculosis, the child was left with lovely memories and an emotionally distant father. When his father died, the narrator was left with his childhood home full of belongings to which he had little emotional attachment. The narrator sold all his parents' belonging over the years, except for the books and his mother's jewelry, in order to pay for the upkeep of the large, expensive...