Viji, the 11-year-old main character, narrates the story as she writes to her sister. She is bright, cautious, proud, and quite protective of her older sister, Rukku. Viji runs away from her village home with her sister to find a better future. Specifically, she dreams of being a teacher. Often, her situation becomes so desperate and degrading that she pushes aside those dreams.

Viji’s emotions are transparent and clearly expressed throughout the narrative. At different points she expresses anger, joy, surprise, and jealousy. She never allows her emotions to overwhelm her own decision-making process, however. The reader learns before Viji ever leads Rukku away from their home that she is proud and determined, two qualities she maintains throughout the story. When she comes at length to live at Celina Aunty’s school, Viji is confronted about her prideful attitude and unwillingness to let go of the remorse she believes she is due because of her part in Rukku’s illness and death.

The primary question Viji wrestles with throughout the narrative is the reality of an imminent God. She expresses cynicism about religion many times, in that it seems to her neither her mother’s Hindu prayers nor Arul’s Christian prayers are ever answered.