Euphemia

Euphemia is the narrator of the story. She was born in the 1930s in rural Canada. She grew up on a farm owned by her parents, and as a young adolescent, she was excited by the prospect of attending high school. However, her parents forced her to remain home and help around the house. She ran away from home at the age of 15 to live on her own in town and work as a waitress. She attended night classes to learn typing and bookkeeping, and she was eventually hired by a real estate office. She eventually married and had two sons, but she divorced her husband for reasons that are not specified in the text.

Much of the narrative and thematic explorations of the text are based around Euphemia’s reflections on her parents, her relationship with them, and her ultimate rejection of their values and lifestyles. For...