Point of View

The novel is written from the main character Jin Han’s first person point of view. By writing the novel from Jin’s perspective, the author is granting Jin authority over her own story even when she feels incapable of claiming her experiences and her voice. In turn, the sum of the narrative action, tension, and conflict originates from Jin’s experience of the narrative world. Indeed, the way that Jin sees, processes, and understands her surroundings dictates her self-discovery journey and thus the narrative trajectory.

Because Jin is at a crossroads in her personal, marital, and artistic lives, her narrative voice is often questioning and searching. She is constantly trying “to kill this longing” she feels in herself “to risk, for a futile, single love, all the ties [she] rated high” (2). Therefore, her narrative sways between emotional and psychological extremes as she searches for...