Ellen Foster Book Report Essay Example For Students

Ellen Foster Book Report Essay Author BiographyKaye Gibbons was born in 1960 in Nash County, North Carolina. Growing up she loved to write. She graduated from Rocky Mount High School in 1978 and went on to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. While in college she wrote her first book, Ellen Foster, it was a huge success. Ellen Foster won the Sue Kaufinan Award for First Fiction from the Academy of Arts and Letters and many other awards. Also, it has recently been translated into many languages and gained recognition worldwide. She has written other books one being, A Virtuous Woman, which has also gained recognition. Kaye Gibbons is married and has a daughter. They live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Besides writing she is working on her degree at UNC. Setting and AtmosphereThe novel, Ellen Foster, takes place in a small town in the South. There are not very many people but the people that live there are very segregated and there is a lot of discrimination. The discrimination is one of the key points throughout the novel. Ellen, the main character, travels between many houses within this little town. The first, is in a house where her, her mom, and her dad live together. Then she moves to a house with her teacher, then she moves in with her grandma, and then she moves in with her aunt and cousin. Finally, she moves in with her newMama. The novel is a story told by Ellen. Ellen is a smart and calm young girl. It is told in a manner that nothing major ever takes place but actually many important events happen. You would think that these events would effect a young girl much more than they affect Ellen. She tells each event calmly which makes the atmosphere very calm. Main CharactersEllen- Ellen is the main character and the narrator in the novel. She is a young white girl who lives in the South. She has a very difficult life. Her mother is fatally ill and eventually dies, her dad is an abusive drank and she hates him. Her family does not like her and she does not like them. Through all of this I believe she is a very strong girl and has had a very tough life. Starletta- Starletta is Ellens best friend. She is black and pretty. She is the same age as Ellen and they are great friends. She lives in a very loving family but they are very poor. They live in a one-room house but have good lives. Ellens Dad- Ellens father is a horrible father and man. He is the worst thing to happen to Ellen. He is the one to blame for making Ellens life a disaster. He is an abusive drunk and scares Ellen to death. He basically caused the death of Ellens mother. Julia- Julia is the art teacher from school. She takes in Ellen after Ellens mother dies. She is married to a man named Roy. This family is the first bit of happiness Ellen has and finds out what a real family is like. Ellens Mamas Mama- She is Ellens Grandma. She is a very evil and cruel woman. She hates life and everything associated with it. When Ellen goes to live there she is forced to go work in the fields and when her grandma gets sick she tends for her. When her grandma dies she leaves to go live with somebody else. Nadine and Dora- This is actually two people but in can be considered one person. Nadine is Ellens aunt and Dora is her daughter. They both think that they are perfect and they both believe that the world revolves around them. Ellen lives with them for a while until she yells at both of them and then she is kicked out. Ellens New Mama- Ellens New Mama is a foster parent and raises orphaned children. Ellen moves in with her and she accepts Ellen with open arms. She is the best thing to happen to Ellen. She is very loving and caring. PrecisThis novel is a story told through the eyes of an eleven-year-old girl. The story is about events that took place in the past and events that are happening now. The girl is Ellen and all her point of views are very honest and innocent. Essay on The Triggers Of Madness : Hamlet Analysis EssayAlso, it is different how she develops the characters. There are only good or bad characters none in between. All the characters that are on Ellens side such as Starletta and her New Mama the reader likes. All the characters that seem to be against Ellen such as her dad and Nadine and Dora the reader dislikes. Finally, the one point in the novel that is the most important is that an eleven-year-old girl narrates it. This fact influences whether or not the reader will understand the story. Overall, Kaye Gibbons style is unique and interesting and I enjoyed her style a lot. Quotes1. Page 20Starletta and her mama both eat dirt. My daddy slapped me for eating dirtThe significance of this quote will not hit one, as the reader, until later on in the book. But for now one would see it as Ellens opinions on black people. By her saying this it shows how they are definitely negative opinions. 2.Page 29As Fond as I am of all three of them I do not think I could drink after them. I try to see what Starletta leaves on the lip of a bottle but I have never seen anything with the naked eye. If something is so small it is bound to get into your system and do some damage.Ellens view towards black people at this time is that they are dirty. This is someone weird considering that she has a friend that is black. By her saying this exemplifies the fact the she is proud to be white and will accept black person as a friend but will never lower herself to the same level as one. This opinion will soon change. 3. Page 32She came at me with a biscuit in her hand and held to my face. No matter how good it looks to you it is still a colored biscuit.This shows again how Ellen is putting aside a human necessity to feed the separation between herself and black people. These thoughts and ideas will soon be non-existent as she matures with age. 4. Page 66Somebody riding by here in a car could not see my face and know how I was white. But that is OK now I thought to myself of how it did not make much of a difference anymore. Suddenly all of these traumatic things that Ellen has been through may have changed her opinions from an early different Ellen. This helps to underscore the theme of Rites of passage or coming of age. It shows how once she was immature and ignorant and thought that black people were different. It now shows that she is beginning to think that they are not as different as she is. 5. Page 85I wonder to myself am I the same girl who would not drink after Starletta two years ago or eat a colored biscuit when I was starved. It is the same girl but I am old now I know it is not the germs you cannot see that slide off her lips and on to a glass then to your white lips that will hurt you or turn you colored.This quote of Ellen has definitely shown that she has made a large rite of passage and with her coming of age she has realized things that many other older people of this time have not realized. She has fully realized that she is no different than a black person. In the quote above she didnt fully realize that she was no different than a black person. She just thought that it didnt matter anymore. ThemeThe theme that I believe best represents the novel, Ellen Foster, is Rites of Passage (Coming-of-Age). I think this is the best theme for many reasons. First because Ellen continued to grow throughout the story. She was able to deal with many situations in the way she wanted to and took control of her own life. She was also able to deal with death a lot easier than would be expected of an eleven year-old. Also, she is able to handle tough situations as an adult would. She is very grown up for her, age and is a very compelling child. That is why we like her so much.