Perspective

The story is presented in first person from the perspective of Ning Lao Lao but the reader should be aware of the fact that the book is actually written by Ida Pruitt. The book is written by Pruitt "from the story told her by Ning Lao Lao." The presentation in first person is a journalistic tool and it is used well by this author. The perspective is limited to Lao's point of view and her explanations are sometimes so limited that the reader may have trouble following both the story and the logic. For example, Lao tells the story of the last beating she took at the hands of her mother. She says that her mother beat her brutally and then says that her mother did not want to beat her. She says, "After that I needed no more beating for I knew that my mother loved me...