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Ellen Foster Character Analysis

915 Words4 Pages

Ellen Foster Ellen Foster is the story of a girl who comes from a broken home. The story comes to us in the view of a little girl named Ellen. Ellen’s mother commits suicide by overdosing on heart medication from that point on, Ellen bounces between different relatives and foster families. Her only friend is an African American girl who Ellen has to tell her how to behave and act. While looking through the lense of social power, Ellen believes that she is above the others around her due to change of the status Ellen gives herself and the people around her. “Get back in the bed, I say to my mama. Mama’s easy to tend to. Not a bit of trouble.” …show more content…

Once Ellen’s grandmother wins custody of her, she is forced to leave the family she could actually see love from to her grandmother who hates her, although never truly stated, we believe the cause because of the similar features of Ellen’s and her father’s faces, Ellen then again sees herself as better as the care given of her. Her grandmother soon dies after becoming ill. Ellen has battled with who has the power in her life and her actions, when her grandmother becomes the caregiver of Ellen she tries to take the power from her. Ellen does get her wish when her grandmother dies and she takes the control again. Her father dies as well from his addiction. “When I was little, I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” (Gibbons 1.) Since the father was not a father figure and more of a warden who beats and sexually abuses her, she has never seen him as someone with power who can control it. She took care of both of her parents and anyone who was actually supposed to be her

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Abuse Of Helen Foster's Life In Ellen Foster By Kaye Gibbons

435 Words | 2 Pages

She is not only abused physically, but sexually, emotionally and is also neglected several times, by not only her father but other characters in the novel. One of the first signs of abuse in the novel is when Ellens dad threatens Ellen, she says “He would kill Me and my mama both with a knife” (Gibbons 9) when Ellen tries leave the house to find a phone to help her mother who has just overdosed on her prescription heart pills. Ellens father is the one to sexually abuse her. One night Ellen's father threw a New Year's party with “a whole pack of coloured men” (Gibbons 36) they talked about ellen when her father brings her up.

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707 Words | 3 Pages

Through the loss of contact along with her sudden realization of what Mathew had done, Ellen went crazy, deciding to leave him to die. Likewise, in “The Lamp at Noon,” Paul’s selfishness triggered Ellen to spiral into insanity. “You’re a farmer’s wife now. It doesn’t matter what you used to be, or how you were brought up. You get enough to eat and wear.

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Ellen Foster is a book about a young girl who is living in terrible conditions and her father is sexually abusive, verbally abusive and even hits her. Her mother ends up killing herself by overdosing on medication so Ellen has to find a home. After her mother dies, Ellen experiences abuse from her father, and because of that she is forced to pay the bills, shop, and cook for herself. The writing style is a memoir of Ellen Fosters life, and it’s a great learning book. It shows how greatful I should be, just like in A Long Way Gone.

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Literary Devices In Ellen Foster

184 Words | 1 Pages

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons is a realistic fiction about an eleven year old girl, named Ellen, who suffers through physical, psychological, and sexual abuse from many adult figures throughout her childhood. Her best friend, Starletta, who is a disadvantaged black girl indirectly aids Ellen through some of her worst times. The story is a first person narrative that consists of many grammatical errors. There are also two time periods in the novel, one being Ellen’s comfortable present and the other is her difficult life beginning from her mother’s death and leading up to the present. Kaye Gibbons writes a fantastic piece of writing that many people can learn from.

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1548 Words | 7 Pages

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