# The Young Girl — The Mother character guide > The Young Girl in The Mother by Pearl S. Buck. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** the young girl, herself, hers **First appearance:** 0000-i ## Snapshot The eldest daughter in a house crowded with children, already rehearsing motherhood before she has any of her own. ## Who they are She is the girl in her father's household who runs to pick up a weeping child, whose smallness weakens her heart even when she shouts at the ones under her feet. That same instinct will follow her into marriage, where a husband alone is never enough and only a child growing inside her makes the act complete. Her hunger to hold and smell and fondle whatever is young and leaning on her is the deep, unexamined engine of the whole story. ## Relationships ### [The Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_mother) _psychological_ A possessive and manipulative dynamic, with The Mother viewing the young girl as both a surrogate daughter and a rival. ### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_man) _psychological_ A predatory and obsessive fixation, with the man viewing the young girl as an object of control and desire. ### [Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/child) _friendship_ An innocent but fragile companionship, often disrupted by the adults' manipulations. ### [Li The First](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/li_the_first) _social_ A superficial acquaintance, with Li The First viewing the young girl as a tool or obstacle in his pursuit of the mother. ### [The Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_mother) _psychological_ A possessive and manipulative dynamic, with The Mother viewing the young girl as both a surrogate daughter and a rival. ### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_man) _psychological_ A predatory and obsessive fixation, with the man viewing the young girl as an object of control and desire. ### [Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/child) _friendship_ An innocent but fragile companionship, often disrupted by the adults' manipulations. ### [The Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_mother) _psychological_ A possessive and manipulative dynamic, with The Mother viewing the young girl as both a surrogate daughter and a rival. ### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_man) _psychological_ A predatory and obsessive fixation, with the man viewing the young girl as an object of control and desire. ### [Li The First](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/li_the_first) _social_ A superficial acquaintance, with Li The First viewing the young girl as a tool or obstacle in his pursuit of the mother. ## In the story ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/i) The mother's daughter, who has sore, red-rimmed eyes and is comforted and fed by the mother despite her own suffering. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/ii) Has sore eyes sealed shut each morning; waits patiently for her mother to wash them. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/iii) The blind daughter who whimpers and beats on the door, then sits beside her mother holding her hands against her eyes. ### [The Letter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/vi) Clinging to her brother's coat, follows the crowd. ### [Spring's Longing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/vii) The blind daughter who helps with household tasks despite her impaired vision. ### [The Heat of Desire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/x) The blind daughter who sighs in the darkness of the house. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/xii) The blind daughter, excited yet anxious about the trip to town, reveals that she did not realize how little she could see until faced with the unfamiliar road. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/xiii) The blind daughter now fully acknowledges her blindness. She uses a staff and a small gong to move about, and she is clever in household tasks, though her mother feels both pity and pain when looking at her. ### [The Binding of the Blind Maid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/xv) The blind daughter; feels unwanted and asks her mother to be wed anywhere she is wanted. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/xvi) The blind daughter who is now dead; the mother finds her body and lays her garments neat. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters/the_young_girl - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mother_se/characters