Point of View

The novel is written solely from the third-person perspective of Hanako, a young girl born in America to Japanese parents. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the American government imprisoned most people in America with Japanese ethnicity, even if they were American citizens like Hanako and her family. Though Hanako is only in sixth grade, her life has been filled with tragedies which has affected her perspective. The people she interacts with on a regular basis, specifically her father, has also had an effect. There are multiple examples of how her perspective has changed. For example, Hanako sees the many soldiers who are on the train when she and her family first arrive in Japan. These soldiers are not properly clothed, demonstrating just how difficult their lives have been. Just by looking at them, Hanako realizes that these men have seen things more terrible...