Point of View

Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is written from the main character Razia’s first person point of view. At the start of the novel Razia has just finished the fifth grade, and will be entering the sixth grade following the end of Summer 1985. Therefore, Razia is young. Her youthfulness bleeds into and dictates the tone of her narration, particularly within the chapters of Book One. For example, in the section’s opening chapter, “Corona,” after describing the neighborhood boys and girls, Razia says, “But I was not one of them. My mother didn’t let me wear skirts, especially the short kind the other girls wore with their hairless legs and fearless way of flicking their hips. I watched them flirt with Julio, my back against the brick wall” (4). The way that she describes the world and herself is aligned with and defined...