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
When Vivian and Ellie reach the Ring Transport Center, Jay comes out with four women in matching cargo pants and trench coats. One is Ronnie, and the other three are her basketball teammates and bridesmaids, Jess, Martia, and Alice. Everyone crams into Vivian’s van, and Vivian says that when they arrive, Jay and Ellie will stay with the car while she, the women, and Kirby go in.
Vivian is willing to let Jay and Ellie come along, but her priority is still protecting them—she sees them still as children. They have more to learn before they can take on dangerous tasks, she believes.
Themes
The weather is beautiful as Vivian drives through Willowbee. Everyone checks their cellphone batteries, and they discuss whether Trevor’s ghost can cut phone signals. People are milling everywhere in town, and the mansion is similarly crowded. Everyone gets out of the van, and Ronnie hands Ellie Al’s sweater. Kirby sniffs it and disappears, yapping a moment later. He leads Vivian, Ronnie, Jess, Martia, and Alice toward the mansion while Ellie and Jay sit in the shade and watch Vivian’s livestream. They can see several circus performers and food stalls, and Vivian says that Kirby entered the house. Just then, a gate guard scolds Ellie and Jay for being in the parking lot, but he seems to accept that they’re waiting for friends.
The crowds speak to how much of a fixture Dr. Allerton is in Willowbee, and seemingly in the surrounding area given the number of out-of-towners here. But while the carnival outside looks relatively innocuous, Ellie suspects that Dr. Allerton has something to hide—and this is why the gate guard takes issue with Ellie and Jay. Still, the group gets some hope that they’ll experience success when Kirby seems to easily locate Al in the mansion.
Themes
As the guard walks away, Ellie notices that Vivian got into the mansion. A woman shows Vivian, Jess, Ronnie, Martia, and Alice into a room where one of the women, who pretended to feel faint, can rest. Ellie and Jay notice a face in a mirror as Vivian’s video passes over it, and it doesn’t seem to reflect anyone actually in the room. Terrified, Jay calls Ronnie to tell her to get out, but her answers don’t make sense, and she hangs up on him. Ellie figures that Trevor wants her to enter the mansion. Jay refuses to be left behind, so they hurry together toward the mansion.
Clearly, Trevor’s ghost can interfere with cellphone signals, given Ronnie’s responses to Jay. As Trevor reached out to Ellie with his last breath, it follows that his ghost is far more interested in seeing her now than even Vivian: she’s been his connection to the living world for a week now.
Themes
A group of jesters block Ellie and Jay’s path. Ellie and Jay say they need to get into the house to see Ellie’s sick mother, and politely covering his mouth, one jester offers to take them in the servants’ entrance. As they reach the door, the jester implies that most people here know who Ellie and Jay are, and that Dr. Allerton wants them “dead. Not alive.” Ellie and Jay realize the jester is actually a vampire (Glorian), but Glorian throws them through the door before they can run. He reveals that nobody was fooled by the fainting spell and that they all know about Kirby.
The implication of Ellie and Jay using the servants’ entrance is twofold. First, Glorian lords Ellie and Jay’s own insignificance over them: they don’t matter, and they’re not supposed to be seen. Then, it’s also an entrance that will lead Ellie and Jay to a bunch of Dr. Allerton’s other cronies, not the possibly sympathetic public who may be touring the rest of the house.
Themes
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Glorian isn’t swayed by Jay’s insistence that they’re just here to help Al. In fact, he reveals that he’s centuries old, thanks to Dr. Allerton’s work—and he implies that Dr. Allerton uses young vampires like Al to keep wealthy old vampires like Glorian youthful and functional. Ellie attempts to use Vivian’s trick of banishing Glorian from Lipan tribal land, but Glorian shares that he was born Lipan. He’s no longer connected to the culture, but this land is still his home and Ellie can’t banish him. With this, Ellie and Jay run.
Glorian, as a formerly Lipan vampire, inhabits an interesting space. He fully supports Dr. Allerton’s work, as he’s wealthy and connected enough to benefit from it—and he clearly doesn’t care that Dr. Allerton preys on Native Americans to facilitate his healing. But while he’s given up everything that makes him Lipan in that regard, he still maintains some connection to the land—one that he exploits as he taunts Ellie and Jay.
Themes
