How can we describe the narrator in the short story "The Leap"?

Compared to Anna, her mother, the narrator of "The Leap" is a shadowy and indistinct figure. That itself gives us a clue to how she should be described, namely as someone very much in the shadow of her mother. 

We see the narrator reflecting back on her childhood and seeing herself to a great degree as a vulnerable and passive youngster protected by her heroic mother. As an adult, she is still somewhat in awe...

Compared to Anna, her mother, the narrator of "The Leap" is a shadowy and indistinct figure. That itself gives us a clue to how she should be described, namely as someone very much in the shadow of her mother. 

We see the narrator reflecting back on her childhood and seeing herself to a great degree as a vulnerable and passive youngster protected by her heroic mother. As an adult, she is still somewhat in awe of her mother, and appears slightly uncomfortable with the role reversal occasioned by her mother's blindness. 

She appears to be a prodigal daughter who left home for somewhere in "the West" and has recently returned to care for her mother. She explains her return as follows:

Since my father's recent death, there is no one to read to her, which is why I returned, in fact, from my failed life where the land is flat. I came home to read to my mother, to read out loud, read long into the dark if I must, to read all night.

This explanation suggests two things. The first is that the daughter considers herself a failure, especially when compared to her mother, and the second is that she has a strong sense of obligation, or perhaps even guilt with respect to her mother.