“A simple exchange of Niceties” is a story about a girl who has very few contents in her life, and who feels insufficient. It is about how your childhood affects you for the rest of your life, and how important the confirmation from a parent can be. And finally it is about how coincidences can change your life and how much influence a stranger can have on it.
The narrator is convinced that her mother does not love her. When the lady, she meets on the bench, claims, that children always love their parents, and that parents always love their children, the narrator says, referring to her mother: “She would have exchanged me for a week’s holiday at a three-star resort” - (l.101).
When the narrator tells her mother that she is pregnant, but is not going to keep the baby, her mother says that she “don’t dare give her granddaughter away” - (l. 156). The mother’s reaction surprises the narrator, she is really touched. For the narrator it is a big confirmation from her mother, and it shows, that despite what the narrator thought, the mother thinks that there is something about the narrator that is worth keeping.
When the narrator lies in the hospital bed with the new born child and her mother says “what a beautiful girl” - (l. 170) she does not even care if the mother is referring to her or the baby, because the baby is a part of her.
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