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Character Role Analysis

Lily Norene

Lily Norene is Abby's childhood best friend. Both girls take their studies seriously, and while Abby is the bolder and brasher of the two, they generally come across as pretty classic playmates, bickering occasionally but generally enjoying each other's company immensely. This side-by-side childhood really highlights the fork in the road they come to as they prepare to graduate from high school: Abby sticks with her studies to the bitter end, graduating with honors and then studying with Mother Barker, while Lily Norene jumps ship just shy of graduation, marrying an abusive man and finding herself feeling stuck and without options in no time at all.

Lily Norene serves as a sort of warning for the life Abyssinia could lead—there aren't a ton of options for young black women at the time, and Abby's success is far from a given.