What does the last sentence mean?
No. I'm no relation to any of them. Lavinia's sister—Emma—married my father when I was little. That's all. Mother—Emma, that is—practically surrounded him, if the truth must be told. He didn't have a chance. You see, she brought up Lavinia, and it was a frightful shock to her when Vinnie upped and did something on her own. Especially anything so outré as becoming a best-seller. Emma looked round to see what else she could lay hands on that would do to go broody about, and there was Father, stranded with a baby daughter, and simply asking to be arrested. So she became Emma Garrowby, and my mother. I never think of her as my "step", because I don't remember any other. When my father died, mother came to live at Trimmings with Aunt Lavinia, and when I left school I took over the job of her secretary. Hence the line about packing for you.'

Does it mean the job of the speaker is to pack for the listener and alike?

Question

What does the last sentence mean?
No. I'm no relation to any of them. Lavinia's sister—Emma—married my father when I was little. That's all. Mother—Emma, that is—practically surrounded him, if the truth must be told. He didn't have a chance. You see, she brought up Lavinia, and it was a frightful shock to her when Vinnie upped and did something on her own. Especially anything so outré as becoming a best-seller. Emma looked round to see what else she could lay hands on that would do to go broody about, and there was Father, stranded with a baby daughter, and simply asking to be arrested. So she became Emma Garrowby, and my mother. I never think of her as my "step", because I don't remember any other. When my father died, mother came to live at Trimmings with Aunt Lavinia, and when I left school I took over the job of her secretary. Hence the line about packing for you.'

Does it mean the job of the speaker is to pack for the listener and alike?

Answer

The last sentence implies that earlier on the speaker (or someone else) said something about packing for the listener.  (I don't see other information about that in the paragraph, though - was there an earlier line?)

Answer

No.
It means that the speaker has told something in relation  to 'packing' to the listener and by this paragraph explains the reason why she had  said the line about packing.

Answer

She is explaining something she said earlier. We don't know what the line she said was, because it isn't quoted in your selection.

Okay, just looked it up ... From what I gather, Liz's aunt, Miss Livinia Fitch, had told Mr. Leslie Searle that Liz was going to pack for him, possibly as a slight gibe at her, since she works as a secretary for Emma, her sister.

Answer

The last sentence of the long paragraph you have there does not seem to make any sense to me unless the long paragraph still has a part where the narrator "packs" for whoever he/she is packing for.

For one, the last sentence refers to a statement that is already mentioned beforehand. If you may, it's best that you put here the rest of the paragraph which includes the part that the "packing" was first mentioned so others can help you easier.

Secondly, I'm sure that if this entry is a novel or something of a non-fictional writing, the narrator might be pointing to another character and not to the reader. But that's just me.

Answers · 8

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