The female protagonist of the story is Ginny (Giovannia), a young Maltese girl attending an Australian school who wants to become accepted by her peers - the setting for this plot is at Ginny's birthday party. The other main character is Mrs Aldonza (Ginny's mother) who tries her hardest to make her 'little girl' happy but has difficulty understanding the large cultural gap between her daughter and the other children who come from different social, economic and religious backgrounds.

The story is told from the third person limited point of view. "Giovannia was glad that her Mother was so enthusiastic. She had been a little worried..." (p.91) This is done so that the readers can see only how the protagonist is feeling as this is where the writer intends for readers sympathies to lie, but yet still allows audiences to

The mood of the writing changes throughout the short story. Readers can sense the mood in the writing through the main character and her mother. At the beginning of the narrative the mood is of nervous excitement of both mother and daughter "This was a great occasion for her little Ginny!" However, as the story progresses the mood changes to one of resentment and then finally ends in a hardened reflective state. The way that Wright changes the tone and mood of her writing allows readers to get a better understanding of the characters.

This symbolism is quite similar to the underlying message conveyed in the story told by Mrs Aldonza to the girls at the birthday party. Ginny tries to interpret why her Mother chooses to tell the story about the wild goose and comes to the conclusion that her Mother is trying to push a message "..perhaps that people, children, should not just be like everyone else all the time.." (p.93) Another possible conclusion as to the implied meaning for telling this story is that Mrs Aldonza is saying that Giovannia and herself are the wild geese that are trying to share their background (culture) and unless the others try to see both points of view they will continue to reject these 'wild geese' without even making an effort.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Giovannia Mother, Aldonza Ginny's, Mother Told, Robina Wright, Miss Bruce, Maltese Mother, Ginny Mother, Giovannia Maltese, short story, Handle Stories, mother told, mood writing, giovannia mother, story mother told, robina wright, implied meanings, mother daughter, story ginny, birthday party, short story mother, sympathies lie,
Approximate Word count = 1133
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)