Ellen Foster

A detailed Summary of Ellen Foster


At the age of ten, most children are dependent on their parents for everything in their lives needing a great deal of attention and care. However, Ellen, the main character and protagonist of the novel Ellen Foster, exemplifies a substantial amount of independence and mature, rational thought as a ten-year-old girl. The recent death of her mother sends her on a quest for the ideal family, or anywhere her father, who had shown apathy to both she and her fragile mother, was not. Kaye Gibbons' use of simple diction, unmarked dialogue, and a unique story structure in her first novel, Ellen Foster, allows the reader to explore the emotions and thoughts of this heroic, ten-year-old girl modeled after Gibbons' own experiences as a young girl.

Kaye Gibbons' experiences as a child are the foundations for this

breathtaking saga of a young girl's tragic memories of her childhood. As with

Ellen, Gibbons' parents both died before she was twelve-years-old forming the

basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are re


Ellen's inner thoughts and the dialogue between characters. However, when

incredible stylistic element tells much about herself and the character that she

happiness now. Gibbons' uses this to convince the reader of the horrible pain

has modeled after herself. Ellen and Kaye Gibbons both struggle with the

horrible memories of their past lives, even though they live in pleasure and

Gibbons' and Ellen's harrowing past is related in the novel through

of correct punctuation shows the unimportance of the formal punctuation to both



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Approximate Word count = 739
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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