Narrator and point of view

The short story “Waiting for Her” by Amina Henry is a first-person account of a 12-year-old girl. The girl narrator presents events, feelings, and thoughts directly, from her subjective perspective: “There is this girl. Me. My name is Victory Barnes and I hate it.” (l. 3); “I don't know how to feel about the whole thing, so I decide not to feel anything at all. Look at me: tall, skinny, secretive…” (ll. 21-23)

The narrator has a limited knowledge perspective. She only knows how she feels, what she observes, or what others tell her: “ ‘You look just like your mother did at your age.’ ” (l. 190); “My mother told me that she named me Victory because that's what I was, born just before she got sent away to prison for selling drugs.” (ll. 6-8)

As a...