This section contains 1,213 words (approx. 4 pages at 400 words per page) |
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Point of View
The novel is set in first-person, switching with each chapter (as well as occasionally within chapters) between first-person singular and first-person plural. The change in point of view is announced by the chapter titles, with odd-numbered chapters all being titled “The Children,” and even-numbered chapters titled with the name of the narrator, who is in each case a member of the Nangi family (in order, Thula, Bongo, Sahel, Yaya, and Juba).
The collective narrator titled “The Children” goes through a transformation over the course of the novel. The Children are the age-mates of Thula, who begins the novel elementary-aged and ends the novel in her forties. This, in their first few chapters, the narrator is also elementary-aged, which affects the diction being used and the perspective being voiced. As the children age, the group referred to as The Children narrows down, ultimately, to a smaller...
This section contains 1,213 words (approx. 4 pages at 400 words per page) |
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