“..a bunch of wild flowers in the bushveld..” (p. 8, l. 1)
The story takes place in South Africa, because a bushveld is a well-grassed plain area in South Africa. Throughout the entire story Lucy wants to give her mother a gift. She decides to collect bunches of flowers, sell them and earn some cash, which she could give to her mother as a gift. When she has sold all the flowers, she walks home and counted her money. After a while Lucy goes to the bus to fetch her mother, who had been out shopping for food. When Lucy asks for chops, her mother asks where they would have the money from. Then Lucy shows her “present” to her mother and the mother breaks down. She commands Lucy to deliver the money back to the purchasers of the flowers and Lucy sadly obeys.
Lucy is a knee-high to a grasshopper and her age is not clear for us. But if we look at the way she speaks with her father, we can assume that she is about 10 years old. She is a girl, who loves her parents a lot and enjoys being with them.
”I was the only one who could spell illiterate” (p. 8, l. 19)
She is one of the best pupils in her class and she tells this to her parents, because she wants them to be proud of her and delighted of her performance.
Although she is not that old, she still thinks of the family’s economy and that might be one of the reasons why she tries to help by making money for her mother. As we read the story, we get more information about Lucy’s behavior and manners.
“I longed to give my mother something so beautiful and precious but shivered at the thought of becoming a criminal.” (P. 9, l. 59)
Here we see her good manner and her way of thinking. She has been brought up well by her parents and wants only the best to happen. If she was an undisciplined girl, she would have stolen