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
That night, Ellie dreams that her family stands in a line, holding hands, just out of reach of a tree with branches that reach for them. Vivian tells Ellie to turn away and not listen to or touch “him” (Trevor), but Trevor’s voice interjects. Ellie can’t help but look at him, half-buried under the tree. They argue about how long their family line is going to last, and Ellie tries to assure Trevor that Dr. Allerton will answer for his crimes. But Trevor argues that there are more bad people like him, who are actually “pests” and who will continue to hurt the family. Ellie turns away, refusing to help Trevor.
These dreams seem even more concerning in light of what Ellie learned about what drove Six-Great to visit the underworld and never return (her murdered husband visiting her in much the same way). Trevor takes a much broader view of justice here, as he basically suggests that it’s important to stamp out any and all people who take advantage of others—and he uses extremely dehumanizing language to do so.
Themes
Trevor begins calling for Gregory, and Ellie turns when she hears Gregory squealing happily. Gregory crawls to Trevor and grabs his finger. This is bad: now that Trevor has touched a living soul, he’s not connected to the underworld. Trevor stands, picks up Gregory, and hands him over to Ellie. He makes her promise to teach Gregory the family secret and says that he’ll see her at the party. The dance there will be their last.
Trevor’s spirit finally gets what it wants: a path back to Earth, thanks to innocent and unaware baby Gregory. He also seems to threaten everyone planning to attend the ball Dr. Allerton is throwing for Willowbee’s bicentennial, setting up the novel’s climax.
Themes
