‘The Parvenue’ is told in first person by a narrator named Fanny. She begins by explaining that she has been so bewildered by the events she is about to retell that she leaves it to the reader to judge her actions. The money troubles that plague the narrator’s family and their constant demands on Lord Reginald mirror in some ways Mary’s relationship with her father in her adult life. William Godwin reportedly requested money often from the Shelleys. (courtesy of mary-shelley-wikia.com)