Ellen Foster

These chapters set up the dual narrative of the plot and the contrast that structures the book, with the difference between Ellen’s previous living situation and her present one. The care and comfort provided by Ellen’s “new mama” is juxtaposed with the loss of her biological mother, while Ellen’s observations on her neat and clean new home, with plenty of warm and delicious food, highlight the lack of comforts in her childhood home, especially after her mother dies.

Ellen’s voice drives the novel, and her character emerges quickly as a girl who has constructed a tough, guarded, even antagonistic exterior over a warm heart that longs for affection and relationship. The prose style is deceptively simple, with a rhythm and vocabulary that reflects Ellen’s age and level of maturity. For instance, she hears “romantic fever” instead of rheumatic fever, a childhood infection that can cause permanent damage to the heart. The disease, now treatable with antibiotics, was once common among children in the 1940s and 1950s. This, along with other hints, suggests the story takes place somewhere in the late 1970s or early 1980s in the United States.

Ellen’s declarations about her own character are presented as firm and definitive, as in her insistence to the school counselor that she may be nervous but is never scared. They also ring as largely true, as Ellen is self-aware and self-possessed. She is well-read, as evidenced by her enjoyment of novels by the Brontë sisters and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. At the same time, Ellen’s grammar, phrasing, and choice of images often hint at turmoil beneath, requiring the reader to look carefully for subtext and suggestion. For instance, the “big holes” Ellen sees in an ink blot test demonstrates fear or loss of control, while the perception of the funeral director hiding her mother’s body hints at the confusion and struggle of a child to comprehend the finality of death. Ellen uses the image of spinning when her emotions become overwhelming, which captures the physiological effects of highly emotional and traumatizing incidents. Throughout the book, Ellen tries various tactics to avoid confronting or dwelling on her feelings, choosing to avoid upsetting thoughts, for instance, by reading before bed.

At the same time, Ellen’s character is pragmatic and strong-willed in her fantasies about getting rid of her father, which hints at The Effects of Abuse and Trauma from which Ellen is trying to protect herself. She understands her father has warped the image of the patriarch of the family, picturing him as an ineffectual king, a comical Santa Claus, and a large baby. When he passes out from intoxication, Ellen takes authority over his incapacity with a sense of resignation combined with anger and resolve.

Ellen also understands that roles have been reversed with her mother, whom she watches over, protects, and tends, introducing the theme of Motherhood and Nurturing that runs through the novel. Ellen tries to intervene with medical help when she understands her mother has overdosed on medication that can kill her. Ellen lies in bed with her dying mother, remaining in bed after her mother’s heart stops, illustrating her clinging to a dying hope for protection, nurturance, and love. This image contrasts with that of Ellen lying in bed in her new home, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and the smells of cooking, a sign that she is being nurtured.

The theme of Racial Prejudice and Discrimination emerges with the introduction of Starletta, a young Black girl who is Ellen’s friend and who offers another contrast to Ellen’s situation. Starletta is introduced by her habit of eating dirt, which makes a particular impression on Ellen. Geophagy, the consumption of soil, dirt, or clay, continues in the American South to the present day. Kaolin, a clay mineral deposit found particularly in Georgia, has medicinal benefits that include soothing indigestion as well as a taste that some enjoy. In the novel, Ellen’s daddy attaches a stigma to eating clay, using it to impress upon Ellen she is different from or intellectually superior to their Black neighbors.

The novel’s use of racial slurs, including the n-word, has explosive connotations, as the word is an extremely offensive racial slur when directed at Black people. In the Jim Crow South, which lingers in the setting of Ellen’s story, white people would direct the word toward other white people for the purposes of degrading them by the comparison with formerly enslaved persons. For Ellen’s grandmother, it is the most offensive term she can think of, over and above “trash,” to direct at Ellen’s daddy. The use of this term reflects her grandmother’s vitriol as well as the culture of continuing anti-Black racism within which Ellen lives.