Norway

Norway is the destination Elfrieda Von Riesen is preparing to reach at seventeen, combining a recital with advanced piano study in Oslo. In the novel, the journey makes a geographic departure carry a larger meaning: Elfrieda is leaving home, and her younger sister is watching her move toward a life beyond it.

Destination and Purpose

At seventeen, Elfrieda has finished high school early and is on her way to Norway for a recital and to study with an elderly teacher she calls the Wizard of Oslo. Her departure follows an exceptional run of academic and musical achievement: honours in every subject, six piano scholarships, and a Governor General of Canada prize for the highest marks. Norway is therefore both a performance destination and the setting for the next stage of her musical education.

Departure from Home

The journey is described through her eleven-year-old sister’s memory of Elfrieda leaving home again, this time for good. Their exchange turns the trip into a moment of separation as well as opportunity: the younger girl jokes that a Norwegian might become Elfrieda’s new page-turner, while Elfrieda offers an even more improbable alternative, hitchhiking barefoot to the west coast. Norway is the actual destination in the account; the west-coast plan remains a fanciful possibility.

Narrative Significance

Norway and Oslo give Elfrieda’s departure a concrete direction, but the scene is also shaped by the family she is leaving behind. Her father tries to redirect conversation when the west-coast plan comes up, while her mother refuses to dismiss it outright. Against these different parental responses, Norway represents a route outward that has been earned through Elfrieda’s talent and achievement. The remembered departure also establishes the distance between the sisters: the younger one is left at home with a book Elfrieda gives her, while Elfrieda heads toward a world of study and performance.