Point of View

The novel is written from the main character Sami’s first person point of view. This means that Sami is telling his story from his own perspective and in his own voice and words. Therefore, the ways in which Sami sees, understands, thinks about, and processes his life and circumstances define the shape, atmosphere, mood, and trajectory of the narrative from beginning to end.

Because Sami is only in the eighth grade at the start of Boy, Everywhere, his youthful point of view defines the contours and parameters of the novel. However, although Sami is just 13 years old, he does understand that “Most of Syria [has been] torn apart because of the war” (6). In Chapter 3, Sami reveals that his father has tried explaining his country’s political situation, a tumultuous dynamic that has come to unsettle and disrupt Sami’s sense of peace and security...