Florida | Style

Florida Style

Point of View Schutt's Florida is told in the first-person from Alice's point of view. The first three parts of the book are written in past tense suggesting that the adult Alice is reporting events from her past that she remembers. In Part 4, Alice switches from section to section from past tense to present tense suggesting that Alice is describing some episodes from her memory and other events from her present life.

Although the Alice's story is told from the grown woman's perspective, the adult Alice seems sensitive to the way in which her younger self interpreted past events as they occurred and how her younger self responded emotionally to these events. There is evidence that the adult Alice is capable of recalling the younger Alice's experiences because in her narration of her childhood, she describes her younger self's anxieties about her loss of Father and her separation from Mother.

Setting Although not explicitly mentioned, much of Alice's childhood occurs in Minnesota. The only reference to the state in which the story is set is on page 19 where Alice refers to the state as the "land-of-lakes" state. However, Alice lives and visits many places over the course of the book.

After Mother is sent to the "San," Alice lives with her Uncle Billy. Uncle Billy's house is located near a lake. Alice lives with Uncle Billy until she is 13 years old. During this time, Alice takes annual trips with Uncle Billy and Aunt Frances to their vacation home in Arizona.

When Alice is 13 years old, she moves to live with Nonna in the "Big House" on the other side of...
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