Point of View

This novel is told from the first person point of view of Turtle, the main character and protagonist of the novel. Turtle’s point of view is crucial to the novel because Tallent wants to portray the mindset of a victim of abuse. He does this beautifully as he lets Turtle tell the reader through her thoughts why she does not want to leave her father even though he is abusive. Turtle even gives insight into her belief that her father’s abuse is actually a punishment for some something that is lacking in Turtle’s personality or moral makeup.

Tallent is also able to demonstrate by using Turtle’s first-person point of view to tell the story of how Turtle comes to the conclusion that her father is abusing her. Turtle first admits that there is something about some of her father’s behavior...