The Protagonist’s Mother Character Analysis

A minor character, the protagonist’s mother is nevertheless a force of change throughout the story. As Great Aunt Mary lies dying in the opening scene, the protagonist’s mother removes the old woman’s dentures, causing the lower half of Mary’s face to seemingly “collapse” and thus moving her closer toward the undignified appearance of death. In the protagonist’s flashback to his childhood, his mother is often tidying the house, sorting “useful items that had to be kept” from “paper scraps torn in quarters and bits of rubbish.” In doing so, the protagonist’s mother contributes to the household’s attitude of secrecy about the past: rather than holding on to physical remembrances and sharing them with the family, the protagonist’s mother throws away anything that does not have immediate utilitarian value in the present, even tearing paper scraps in quarters to conceal any secrets they may reveal. After Aunt Mary has died, this same attitude drives the protagonist’s mother to burn all of Aunt Mary’s papers to make room for the protagonist, thus erasing much of Mary’s physical legacy. In this way, although the protagonist’s mother cared about Mary, she moves on relatively quickly after Mary’s death, representing the constancy of change in life as well as the family’s dismissive attitude toward the past.