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    Literature Companion: Ellen Foster
    Literature Companion: Ellen Foster
    Literature Companion: Ellen Foster
    Ebook53 pages44 minutes

    Literature Companion: Ellen Foster

    By History World

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    About this ebook

    “Ellen Foster” by Kaye Gibbons was first published in 1987. This novel by the American author was an instant success. Both critics and readers admired the writing style and the presentation of the story.

    In October 1997, “Ellen Foster” was selected in Oprah’s Book Club. The story revolves around the title character Ellen Foster, the first person narrator and protagonist of the novel. She happens to be a young white American girl. She lives in adverse conditions somewhere in the rural South.

    “Ellen Foster” is not written in Standard English. There are numerous but deliberate grammatical errors such as wrong spellings, incomplete sentences, etc. because the story has been presented from the perspective of a nine-year-old girl who reaches the twelve years of age by the end of the story.

    Literature Companion: Ellen Foster
    Copyright
    Chapter One: Introduction
    Chapter Two: Plot Overview
    Chapter Three: Characters
    Chapter Four: Complete Summary
    Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRaja Sharma
    Release dateApr 10, 2015
    ISBN9781310430855
    Literature Companion: Ellen Foster

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      Book preview

      Literature Companion - History World

      Literature Companion: Ellen Foster

      Copyright

      Literature Companion: Ellen Foster

      History World

      Copyright@2015 History World

      Smashwords Edition

      All rights reserved

      Chapter One: Introduction

      Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons was first published in 1987. This novel by the American author was an instant success. Both critics and readers admired the writing style and the presentation of the story.

      In October 1997, Ellen Foster was selected in Oprah’s Book Club. The story revolves around the title character Ellen Foster, the first person narrator and protagonist of the novel. She happens to be a young white American girl. She lives in adverse conditions somewhere in the rural South.

      Ellen Foster is not written in Standard English. There are numerous but deliberate grammatical errors such as wrong spellings, incomplete sentences, etc. because the story has been presented from the perspective of a nine-year-old girl who reaches the twelve years of age by the end of the story.

      Ellen, the protagonist, is relatively uneducated, but she is highly ambitious and clever. It is presumed that the novel is set in the late 1970s.

      It can be concluded through the fact that Ellen presents during the story that her teacher lived in the sixties. She describes that her teacher could be a flower child but now she is low key so she can hold a job.

      The story covers two time periods: one is Ellen’s present in which she is living with her new mama, and the other is from the death of her mother leading up to Ellen’s present.

      At the end of the novel, Ellen happens to be about twelve years old and the two time levels are united.

      The novel covers more than two years of Ellen’s life. After the success of Ellen Foster, the author published a sequel The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster. It was published in 2006.

      Chapter Two: Plot Overview

      Ellen Foster, an eleven-year-old girl, is the title character and the narrator of the novel. At the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Ellen’s mother committed suicide by overdosing on her medication. Now Ellen must find herself a loving home and a family to adopt her.

      Soon after the death of her mother, Ellen has to endure repeated physical, psychological, and sexual abuse by her alcoholic father. She is compelled to pay the bills, bring groceries from the market, and cook for herself.

      When Ellen can’t stand anymore, she seeks refuge in her friend Starletta’s house. She wants to be away from her abusive and food-grubbing father and his flesh-grubbing friends.

      Starletta and her parents are black. They live in a small cabin which does not have an indoor bathroom.

      One day, when Ellen’s teacher notices a bruise on Ellen’s arm, she intervenes and eventually sends Ellen to live with Julia, the art teacher at school, and her husband Roy.

      Both Julia and her husband are young. They happen to be liberal hippies who begin to take care of Ellen as best as they can while she is living with them.

      When it is Ellen’s eleventh birthday, they celebrate it. Starletta also joins them. Ellen had nearly forgotten her birthday.

      Ellen’s grandmother fights a court case and eventually wins the custody of Ellen. Now Ellen has to leave Julia and Roy although she does not want to do so.

      The court order says that Ellen must live with her grandmother who happens to be a cruel and miserly old woman. It transpires that

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