Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

Main Characters and Their Development

• Simone — the heroine and narrator, whose inner life is revealed with remarkable subtlety: from a shy, dreamy girl, eagerly absorbing knowledge and craving approval, to a young woman daring to challenge conventions, doubts, and fears. Her journey is one of self-discovery, overcoming familial and societal constraints, and becoming a person in search of truth and freedom. Simone's mother — a strict, religious, yet vulnerable figure, whose love and anxiety for her daughter color the family atmosphere in complex shades. The father — charming, ironic, but emotionally distant, whose influence on Simone is twofold: he inspires her intellect but leaves an emotional void. Sister Hélène — a quiet shadow, gentle and devoted, bound to Simone by a delicate thread of sisterly closeness and difference. Childhood and adolescent friends — Zaza, who becomes a symbol of tragic loss and the impossibility of reconciling with the adult world, and other companions, each reflecting different facets of growing up, self-discovery, and female solidarity. All the characters are woven into the fabric of memory, their personalities and destinies revealed through the prism of inner struggle, doubts, and hopes, creating a vivid, polyphonic portrait of an era and spiritual formation.