Point of View

The novel is written from both the first and third person points of view. The majority of the novel is narrated from the main character Tookie's first person vantage. Though Tookie is on a journey towards renewed self-discovery throughout the novel, her narrative voice is assured and measured. Her perspective in the narrative present often comments upon her life and identity in the past, creating a double-I effect. This means that Tookie's perspectives in the past and present often overlap and inform one another. One primary example of this effect appears on the first page of the novel's opening section "Time In Time Out." When describing who she was at the time of her crime, Tookie says, "Although in my thirties, I still clung to a teenager's physical pursuits and mental habits . . . For many reasons, I didn't know who I was yet. Now that I...