Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Elatsoe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family and Friendship
Justice
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age
Colonialism and Monsters
Death, Grief, and Healing
Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
Dad has flown home, and Lenore and Gregory are visiting Lenore’s parents. Vivian interrupts Ellie’s research into Abe Allerton to share that Chloe Alamor, the celebrity psychic, is coming to check out the site of Trevor’s accident. Vivian doesn’t seem thrilled about it, but it’s the best option they have right now. Jay calls just as Vivian goes back inside, and Ellie and Jay discuss how every review for Dr. Allerton calls him a miracle worker. Jay wonders if he can heal with magic, but Ellie notes that it isn’t possible. She tells him about Chloe Alamor’s visit tomorrow, but Jay warns her that his aunt Bell is a psychic—and her gift isn’t usually very helpful. Hopefully Chloe, a celebrity, is better. They discuss whether Ronnie has seen the proposal (she hasn’t) and hang up.
Chloe Alamor may or may not be able to come up with any useful information about Trevor’s death—and her celebrity opens up the possibility that Trevor’s death is then going to get more attention than Ellie’s family would like. Still, in what’s perhaps indicative of their youth and naivete, Ellie and Jay hope that Chloe is a better psychic than Aunt Bell. Really, she may just be more charismatic and famous.
Themes
Ellie wakes up in the middle of the night under a juniper tree, extremely thirsty. She approaches a river to drink—but Trevor’s face is in the water, trapped, begging her for help. Ellie wants to help, but she knows the face isn’t Trevor: it’s a monster. Lenore wakes Ellie up from the dream to get ready to meet Chloe Alamor, and then the two women drive to the road where Trevor died. There’s already a camera crew and Chloe’s RV there, and in the parked car, Lenore apologizes for asking Ellie to bring Trevor back. They watch the film crew for a moment, and Lenore curtly explains that Chloe films everything, though this won’t go on TV. Lenore laments that she agreed to come at all, but Ellie offers to deal with Chloe. Lenore accepts.
Given that Ellie’s dreams of Trevor seem to always be more than dreams—they’re actually Trevor trying to communicate with her—this dream is extremely disturbing. On some level, Trevor’s spirit has already become monstrous, and despite everyone living following standard grieving rituals to avoid waking him up, Trevor is, in fact, trying to wake up. Lenore’s grief still paralyzes her, and at least for now, she sees Chloe’s reading as more traumatizing than helpful.
Themes
Ellie gets out and, as she’s speaking to a cameraman, Chloe Alamor comes out of her RV. Chloe spreads her arms and says she can feel “terrible energy” and a secret, and she asks Ellie to get Lenore out here; Lenore will help her process the impressions left here. Lenore shakily gets out of the car and, when prompted, says Chloe has her permission to proceed. Chloe goes still, mouths some words, and then falls to her knees. She says she can see Trevor driving home to work on lesson plans. She also sees a woman’s ghost in the road. The car isn’t responding, and the angry ghost causes the car to swerve off the road and crash. Ellie interjects that a ghost didn’t kill her cousin, and Chloe’s crew hurriedly drives away.
The implication here is that Chloe is acting, and that Ellie, due to her knowledge of ghosts, would know if a ghost were responsible for Trevor’s death. That Chloe and her crew hurry to leave only reinforces that she’s a fraud: she’s not going to stick around to get called out. Chloe not being able to help represents another dead end for Ellie’s investigation, making the possibility of getting justice for Trevor seem even less likely.
Themes
Lenore doesn’t believe Chloe’s reading—Chloe is a scammer. Ellie suggests they have to be missing something. Later, as she’s poring over Abe Allerton’s patient reviews again, she finds a review left by a Justin Alamor. She calls Jay, who agrees that the Alamors must know Abe Allerton. Allerton probably pressured Chloe to get involved and lie to get Ellie’s family to stop fussing. Ellie asks to “borrow” Jay’s Aunt Bell.
It’s impossible to know how willing Chloe was to help Dr. Allerton by doing the fake reading at the site of Trevor’s death. Either way, her connection to Dr. Allerton points again to how powerful and connected Dr. Allerton is—and how difficult he’ll be to bring to justice.
Themes
Get the entire Elatsoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
