Point of View

The perspective of this novel is in the first person and in the past tense. The narrator shifts between Helen, Lily, and Karen, with the addition of Perley in the second and third Parts. The unreliability of each narrator is made clear through this shared narration. For example, Helen sees herself as a caretaker and an important part of the survival of the family, while Lily and Karen see her as a nuisance who is unprepared for their rural lifestyle. Perley’s perspective offers a unique point of view as he is a child. He uses ElfQuest and his parents’ survivalist rhetoric to understand the world around him, leading to his discomfort in social environments outside of the home. Perley’s narration makes it clear that his lifestyle is different from that of the other children at school, even when his own family forgets this...