Point of View

McFadden uses a third person omniscient narrator to tell the story in Praise Song for the Butterflies. This narrative stance moves in closer to certain characters in the novel depending on the action in each chapter, but most frequently the stance is closest to the perspective of the female characters. The narrative stance often reveals the thoughts and feelings of Abeo, when she is a child and later as an adult. The novel also reveals the thoughts and feelings of Serafine and Taylor Adams, the American woman who starts the Eden Rehabilitation Center. This has the effect of helping the reader empathize with the female characters in the novel, especially Abeo. McFadden helps readers imagine what it would feel like to be a 9-year-old girl sold into slavery and then, later, what it would feel like to be an adult trying to cope with this...