Girl, Stolen

Girl, Stolen is written in the third person, but the chapters alternate between Cheyenne and Griffin’s perspectives. Chapter 1, told from Cheyenne’s point of view, focuses on her thoughts and feelings, while Chapter 2 focuses on Griffin. This pattern continues through much of the novel until Chapter 23, when the perspective sticks with Cheyenne for multiple chapters. The alternating perspective allows the reader to experience the same events from two points of view, creating sympathy for both characters. Even though Griffin is a car thief and kidnaps Cheyenne, his thoughts reveal his moral ambiguity. Like Cheyenne, he is a teenager with a traumatic past.

The shifting perspective also reinforce the suspenseful quality of the storytelling and narrative structure. The chapters are short and plot-driven, often ending on cliffhangers or, as in Chapter 3, with open-ended questions, such as, “But if Cheyenne couldn’t see, how could she escape?” (15). The alternative viewpoints also allow a slow reveal of narrative details, with Griffin’s perspective revealing information that Cheyenne, whose perspective is limited given her blindness and kidnapped status, is not privy to. For example, in Chapter 2, which is written from Griffin’s perspective, the reader knows that the cigarette lighter is not actually a gun, but Cheyenne does not become aware of this until Chapter 26.

The opening chapters also introduce Cheyenne’s challenges as a blind person and establish how she has learned to rely on her other senses. She is highly observant, often noticing things that others may not, and this give her advantages. She especially relies on her senses of hearing, touch, and smell. Over the course of the novel, both Griffin and the reader are educated about the ways the blind adapt to circumstances. In Chapter 3, for example, Cheyenne explains how she identifies bank notes by a system of folding: the “twenty was folded the long way, the ten the short way, and the ones weren’t folded at all” (13).

These chapters establish a connection between Griffin and Cheyenne that will continue to develop. They are both teenagers who have difficult relationships with their families: Cheyenne’s relationship with her stepmother is strained, and Griffin is afraid of his father. The parallels between their experiences are critical, as these similarities allow them to sympathize with each other as they get to know each other better. It is important for them to be seen by each other, and the by reader, as human, as exemplified when Cheyenne forces Griffin to look at her and tells him her name. Though Griffin is introduced as a dropout and car thief, hints of humanity and morality are revealed over time, such as when he refuses the money Cheyenne offers and Cheyenne notices that it “was almost like he was hurt by her accusation” (13). By the end of Chapter 4, it is clear that Griffin feels a connection to Cheyenne, as he’s protective and even shows signs of affection, like when he gives Cheyenne a cough drop and “unconsciously rubbed his fingertips together, the ones that had touched her lips” (20). Such moments foreshadow their budding relationship, building a foundation for trust and empathy between them.