Point of View

Jean Craighead George tells her novel “My Side of the Mountain” from the first-person omniscient reflective perspective, by way of main character Sam Gribley. Sam is clearly narrating the events of his stay on the mountain some time after they occurred (how long after is never explicitly mentioned), for he references his notes made during the experience as evidence and greater explanation of his time in the wild. This is done for a variety of reasons. Sam’s reflecting on the past allows him to provide important information that was not available to him at the time of the experience, and means that there is no incorrect information in the novel about surviving on the land should a reader decide to go out into the woods and try eating cattails or catching rabbits. This also demonstrates that Sam has lived well beyond the timeframe of...