Point of View

The author writes The Golden State from Daphne's first person point of view. The narrative perspective remains close inside Daphne's mind throughout the novel. This vantage grants the reader intimate access to Daphne's thoughts, struggles, and anxieties. Not only does The Golden State follow Daphne's experiences as a mother, but as an academic, an intellectual, as well as a profound thinker and searcher. Daphne's first person narrative moves frequently between the annals of her consciousness and memory and the complications of her life in San Francisco and time spent revisiting Altavista. In this way, the author creates a particularized narrative world shaped by Daphne's distinct voice, modes of processing, and difficulties confronting the unresolved facets of her past and present.

Because Daphne is removed from her typical urban life in San Francisco for the majority of the novel, it makes sense her voice should dictate...