First-Person Fiction

The narrator comes out saying that he has a story to tell about a lesson he learned when he was only sixteen years old. Les learned that pain and suffering is an important lesson to learn in life. Whether it be an animal dying and suffering in a pond, his mother’s feelings and heart being broken, or losing his father. The narrator’s perspective is him telling this story at the age of forty -one where he doesn’t hear from his mother much. But he starts by telling us about a flashback event he had when he was only sixteen and living with his mother. He thinks that the story is about him learning how to hunt geese for the first time. But he is mistaken because the story is really about how much his other cares about his well-being. She worried that he would fall down the same path as his father, that’s why she would always say something along the lines of Les was not taught and raised by crazy parents. She wants him to be successful and happy even if it is hurting her in many ways. Just like when she didn’t want to go on that hunting trip knowing that she and Glen would not last but she knew it meant a lot to her son Les. I feel that the story was a reflection of a lesson he learned at a young age. But also an explanation of what his mother was trying to do for her son.