Structure

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Beginning

The short story begins with direct speech, catching readers’ attention and introducing them to the main character, Donna: “ ‘The best mink is blonde.’ This was a favourite subject of our mother’s.” (l. 1).

A short description of Donna hints that she is a stay-at-home wife who is probably Italian and who appreciates elegance: “Donna Byrd, maiden name Sarto, wasn’t like other mothers. Our mother! Even washing my father’…

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Middle

As with the exposition, the rising action is very loosely structured. There is not a clear order of events. Instead, the rising action is comprised of various memories Bea (the narrator) has about her mother and the mink coat.

For example, we find out how the mother would spend Sundays cooking with girls and talking about fur: “If the Sunday roast had been a leg of lamb, Donna’d set us up to mince any leftovers. We’d clamp the clunky steel mangle to the kitchen table…” (ll. 29-30).

The story also shows how the mother fascinated the girl and introduces a first conflict between the daughters’ personalities: “This was power. I practised making eyes at myself in the mirror, dipping my head like a moorhen. When Ricky tried too, she just looked fierce.” (ll. 44-45). This is the first hint that the two dau…

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Ending

The falling action jumps ahead even further to the present day, after Donna has died. Cleaning their mother’s house, Bea finds the mink coat: “The mink was in a plastic dress bag in the cupboard by the downstairs loo when I was at Donna’s last house, clearing it out, three months ago.” (ll. 1114-115).

The character is briefly conflicted about what to do with the coat, knowing how much it meant to her mother: “Throwing it away seemed the only thing to do. But it also seemed a terrible betrayal of Donna’s carefully executed plot.” (ll. …