Toan is shown as a primary narrator in Toan’s story on page 112-115. Toan describes the story about Kieu’s life in the camp using 3rd person and descriptive language and past tense. He is a primary narrator because the story relates to him mostly. That shows how Kieu affects him a lot. The first person is used in Linh’s Story on page 115-116 more often than Taon’s story. It conveys that Linh makes herself involve in the story.
Point 3(b)
Brian Caswell has called Toan an ‘observer’ in the novel because he is usually out side of the trauma. For example, when Linh’s father disappeared, Toan was very young so that he did not feel sad. When Kieu left to Pulau Bisa, Toan was sad. However, it was not such a thing if it was compared with Linh’s mother’s death.When the first person is used, he makes himself outside of the event to describe what is happening to the people, and observes what the people’s feelings and perspectives are.
