One of the themes Lingard advances in the novel is that of adolescents developing a moral conscience and social objectivity.

By using Kate as narrator, Lingard opens a window into the adolescent mind and allows us to watch this development. Kate is at a crossroads in life, caught between childhood and adulthood, and her world is at a crossroads of social and political change.

Telling the story from Kate's point of view allows Lingard to create sympathy for Kate; she needs to reconcile what she sees with what she feels, a need felt by any adolescent in any place and at any time in history.

Telling the story from Kate's point of view also allows Lingard to convey that the girls gain understanding by learning to decipher the confusing signals they receive from the world around them. Telling the story as a flashback allows us to...