Point of View

The point of view is derived from the same person - Katrin - who relays events in first-person perspective. Katrin is the narrator as well as a character in the narrative. However, point of view differs significantly depending upon the frame story versus the story proper. In the frame story, Katrin is a mature, adult woman, someone with the wisdom to deconstruct the past and extract valuable lessons and values from it. It is "adult Katrin" that guides the reader into taking something away from the fable-like episodes which comprise each chapter. Through adult Katrin's eyes, the reader is able to realize that Mama's Bank Account was a convenient fiction concocted in order to save the children from worry or fear. It is adult Katrin who also realizes the depth of Mama's optimism even after twenty or so years have passed, when Mama is able to...