Dara, the protagonist and first-person narrator of The Clay Marble, is a twelve-year-old girl who has recently been liberated, along with two relatives, from the brutal workcamps of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime. Dara has spent over three years in a near-constant state of hunger, exhaustion, and fear. She has no clear memories of what life was like before Cambodia’s civil war, which began when she was about two. Both her father and grandmother died during the regime, and these traumatic losses have made Dara value family all the more.

At the beginning of the narrative, Dara seems somewhat typical for her time and place, as a young female in a traditionally male-dominated country and caste. Her brother, who is about six years older, has assumed command of the family, and she is mostly a quiet follower. She does, however, show signs of spirit, as when she first meets the slightly-older Jantu, who teases her about her looks. Dara gives as good as she gets, responding that Jantu’s baby brother is cute, “not like you” (26), earning Jantu’s respect. But Dara has not yet discovered any personal strengths or skills to make herself feel special or particularly useful; she mostly lives in awe of others, such as her knowledgeable brother or (especially) Jantu, who has an extraordinary talent for both storytelling and handcrafts, which to Dara seems like a form of “magic.