"Secrets"

Jean-narrator of the story; she never names herself, but we find out her name fromother people addressing her The action of the story follows her-we see only what happens to her and those immediately around her

Jean begins the sortie in a state of deep depression--she stays home for two weeks because: "each small thing, like brushing my teeth or putting on knee socks, now made me tired." Her world has been upset and she doesn't know how to cope

On the bus--nancy's conversation about her boyfriend emphasizes how alienated Jean feels from normal life. She goes to school, and walks with detachment. Although people try to comfort her, they evoke no emotion from her. Only the adults try to comfort her. When she approaches her friends, they stop talking when she approaches.

The beginning of normalcy--starts when Jean returns home. Her mother explains how each will have to accept responsibilities previously reserved for Father. When Jean's mother "snaps" or yells at her brothers, Jean starts to think that life will settle to a new normalcy, and she is able to accept that it is "OK" to have a normal life without her father

"Secrets"--at first, the secrets are the true feelings of grief the family hides from each other. As the story develops, it becomes the grief Jean hides from herself. Also, it may be the "secret" to actually dealing with the loss of her father, either a secret she must already know or some secret everyone else is keeping from her. By the end of the story, she has learned one secret is that her life will continue, although in a different pattern from when her father was alive.