Point of View

The point of view of the novel is mostly third person, though it occasionally slips into first person. The view is omniscient and reliable, in that the narrator can accurately describe the actions and emotions of the characters, but it is not always consistent. On occasion, the point of view transfers into the mind of a particular character, usually Cotton. As the emotional and spiritual growth of the boys lies at the heart of the story, this point of view is effective in showing the reader their development as individuals and as a group.

The story is told in sections. The first section of the book, roughly half of the story, shows the first part of their quest—the journey. It is interspersed with flashbacks to events that took place earlier in the summer at the boys' camp and earlier in the boys' lives at...