Narrator and point of view

The short story “Way of Talking” by Patricia Grace is told from the point of view of a first-person narrator who is also a main character, Hera.

The other characters in the story are seen from her point of view. The narrator views Rose as “the hard-case one in the family, the kamakama one, and the one with the brains” (ll. 6-8), and Jane’s children are seen as “nuisance” (l. 41). Also, the narrator adds her comments and interpretation of others’ words. For example, when Rose speaks to Jane about her university life, the narrator thinks that “Jane seemed deeply interested. Almost as though she was jealous of Rose and the way she lived, as though she felt Rose had something better than a lovely house and clothes and everything she needed to make life good for her” (ll. 48-51). 

However, the narrator’s ...