Narrator and point of view

The narrator in “Tell Me” by Zoë Sharp knows what Grace thinks and feels and has insight in her oldest memories as well: “She thought of her own mother, who lavished praise and nurtured self-confidence in her only child. Ironic, then, that the pre-adolescent Grace had always been so desperate to win the approbation of her more distant father.” (p. 40, ll. 38-41)

However, the narrator also confines himself/herself to the girl’s perspective at times, knowing what she thinks and feels: “ ‘Spose.’ The girl shrugged, darting a little glance from under her ragged fringe to see if her attitude achieved the desired level of sullen cool” (p. 40, ll. 1-3).

The narrator knows the girl was killed from the very beginning. In fact, the “crime scene” (p. 39, l. 3) is mentioned in the first lines of the story.

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