Point of View

Cynthia Lord relates her novel Half a Chance in the first-person narrative mode from the point of view of main character and principal protagonist, Lucy. The novel, in effect, becomes Lucy’s recounting of her first summer on the lake in New Hampshire at her family’s new home. Lucy guides readers through the summer, describing and revealing her experiences to readers in a very personal and direct way. Because of this, readers walk right alongside with Lucy, and are able to understand and experience things exactly the way she has understood and experienced them.

At the same time, Lucy is struggling to find who she is. Lord allows Lucy to tell her own story in her own voice, in effect ensuring Lucy can explain who she is – but also allowing readers to understand that they, too, are their own main character in their own...