comment on point of view

The novel is written from Francie's first person point of view. By telling the story from Francie's vantage point, the author grants her narrative agency, despite the lack of control Francie has felt throughout her life. By telling her story in her own words, Francie works to reconcile her childhood past with her understanding of her present self. Francie's first person voice also creates an intimacy between her and the reader that Francie shares with few people in her life. Even when Francie is withholding her feelings or interpretations of reality from her family or friends, she reveals her true emotions and thoughts to the reader. The reader learns Francie's tendencies to self-isolate and detach from others in Chapter 9. After communicating with a friend via text, she says: "you had to tell a person just enough information to get them to stop asking" (51). From this point on, the reader observes this habit playing out in each of Francie's memories and actions. In order to keep her family from worrying about her mental health, Francie tells them only partial truths. She similarly tells herself only portions of certain stories, believing that she will thus be able to stop asking herself the questions she most fears answering.