Point of View

Nina LaCour’s novel We Are Okay is written from the first person point of view. The narrator is named Marin, and there is only one narrator, staying constant throughout the narrative. This single narrator [Marin] is seen in the narrative acting as the main character. The reader has access to Marin’s interiority but hers alone, giving a limited-omniscient perspective. This narrator is also biased, for her narration is a report of her personal reaction to events. The narration is written primarily in the present tense; however, instances of past tense occur in chapters that are set in the past, giving insights into why the present-tense narrative proceeds as such.

Language and Meaning

LaCour makes use of rhetorical devices in her novel. For example, she employs anthropomorphism; she writes, “The dark pressed against me [Marin]” (168). In this instance, she describes an object [the dark...