 Academic Leona W. Fisher wrote in Children 's Literature Association Quarterly that the novel employs a seldom used yet ingenious literary technique : the story is told with " the sustained internal monologue presented almost exclusively in the present tense " . The mores of his society and the actions of adults are strained through Marty 's mind concurrently with his emotional agony and ethical judgments . The dialogue of the other characters tempers but does not counteract the " exclusivity of his linguistic point of view " because Marty is the sole narrator . Shiloh has a " compacted time @-@ frame , bounded by the past @-@ tense opening and closing " . Fisher noted that because the novel 's events are confined to several weeks in the summer , there is no need for a " panoramic sweep " of the actions . The reader can concentrate solely on Marty 's ethical crisis . <unk> the mood of the novel is also mostly confined to Marty 's thoughts and current action . Naylor uses the past @-@ perfect verb " had " on several occasions to depict the tones of the scenes . This usage conveys turning @-@ points in the story , transferring the reader from the " immediate tension " of the present to a growing cognizance . 
