Point of View

Such Big Dreams is written from the main character Rakhi’s first person point of view. By writing the novel from Rakhi’s vantage point, the author is able to access Rakhi’s most profound and intimate thoughts and feelings. She introduces this dynamic within the opening page of the novel’s opening chapter. Chapter 1 begins as follows: “This time, the flames are everywhere—licking the walls, sweeping across the tin roof of my one-room hut. I bolt upright in the dark, a full-body scream ready to erupt from somewhere deep inside my lungs. My hands reach for my throat as I gasp for air” (3). Over the course of the scene that follows, Rakhi explains her attempts to recall and to practice “Dr. Pereira’s bad-dream exercise, the one she told me to do each time this happens” (3). The author is using this opening scene...