Ellen Fosters
Uploaded by Becky0914 on Apr 23, 2002
In the book Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, the main character Ellen is a young girl growing up in the south who tries to understand why her relationship is so complex with Starletta who is black. The pressure that Ellen’s family puts on her makes her think twice about her friendship with Starletta. In the final passage of Ellen Foster, Ellen says, “I came a long way to get here but when you think about it real hard you will see that old Starletta came even further.” (Pg. 126) Ellen has arrived at a level of maturity based on her life struggles with racism and growing up.
The book Ellen Foster is very deceiving because Ellen appears to be an adult because of experiences such as having to give her mother pills when she is sick, cooking, paying the bills, and running the house hold, but she is really just a child. Ellen reads to escape and to keep her mind off of what is going on in her house. Reading allows her to hide in her own world and forget about everything else that is going on in her life. “I could lay here and read all night. I am not able to fall asleep without reading. You have that time when your brain has nothing constructive to do so it rambles. I fool my brain out of that by making it read until it shuts off. I just think it is best to do something right up until you fall asleep.” (Pg. 10) This proves Ellen is a child because a child doesn’t know how to deal with problems so they hide from them.
Ellen is also naive about the fact that when she went to go stay at her Aunt Betsy’s house for the weekend she thought that she was moving in forever. “Home she says.” Aunt Betsy says. “I say I told you I wanted to come and stay with you and you said fine. Now I am here and I got all my stuff that I brought from the other place back in the bedroom closet.” (Pg. 41) Ellen says. Ellen spends the entire book trying to find a loving family. In general, children who haven’t had the proper love and affection when they are young try to find a loving family to improve or chance their lives without love.
Throughout the book, Ellen struggles with...