Point of View

Our Missing Hearts uses alternating point of view. While the majority of the book is told from Bird’s perspective, multiple passages in Part II switch to his mother Margaret’s perspective. This technique is intertwined with the book’s genre—the alternating perspectives give the reader greater insight into the dystopia. The reader first observes the society through the perspective of a 12-year-old child who is naïve and does not question the world he was brought up in. Bird’s perspective creates dramatic irony, as the reader can see how disturbing the society is while Bird largely cannot. Conversely, Margaret grew up in the pre-Crisis and pre-PACT society, so she expressly reflects on the development of the dystopia over time. This perspective complements Bird’s naïveté and allows Ng to weave context about the dystopia into the narrative itself.

The alternating point...