Point of View

The story is told from the first-person point of view of protagonist and narrator Chan Kim. That point of view is defined by several key aspects of Chan’s identity. He is a teenager, the son of Korean immigrants, and a new student at a conservative, mostly white school. All three of these elements challenge him in terms of understanding his identity, challenges that shape both the plot and themes of the story. Chan is also an older brother, albeit by only a few minutes. This, along with engrained cultural perspectives, leads him into a place of being very protective of his sister, an aspect of his point of view that plays a particularly important role in the narrative’s final chapters. Finally, Chan is an athlete, more accustomed to physical activity than the mental or artistic activities that define his sister’s identity. This...