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
Vivian questions her choice to bring Ellie here as she waits with Ronnie and the bridesmaids—Ellie is young and isn’t wise yet, so she’s at risk. It’s been 10 minutes since the butler brought the women to this green room, and she encourages the young women to settle down and tell her why they’re wearing matching trench coats. Ronnie opens hers to reveal silver stakes as Martia and Jess explain that old, wealthy vampires visit Willowbee often. They might have to fight to get out of here. Vivian asks if the young women have ever killed anyone. She explains that she has, and then she begins to share the story of how her mother, Ellie’s grandmother, got the idea to raise a mammoth’s ghost to train as her companion. When Vivian came of age, she learned to command the mammoth, too.
For now, Ellie is managing fine on her own, but this doesn’t mean Vivian doesn’t worry about her daughter—she realizes that Ellie still needs support (and Ellie realizes the same thing; that’s why she called Vivian in the previous chapter). While Vivian can’t counsel Ellie at the moment, she can counsel Ronnie and the bridesmaids while waiting in the green room. As she often does, she does so by telling a story. The story will likely entertain and contain an important message, but for now, it’s unclear how it will apply to their current situation.
Themes
It’s only been three minutes since Vivian began her story, but it feels like it’s been much longer. Ronnie tries to rush Vivian to finish her story, but Vivian deems this “sacrilegious.” She describes going for walks along a quiet road in the New Mexico desert. Once, when Vivian was 13, she saw a truck and figured it was yet another lost tourist. Overly confident, Vivian approached—and the man pulled out a knife and told her to get in the car. Vivian called for the mammoth, who seemed to know Vivian was in trouble and threw the man to the ground without being told to. Then, the mammoth stomped on him until he was mush. Vivian knows the man planned to kill her, but witnessing his death is still the worst thing she’s ever seen. She’d prefer people keep their innocence as long as possible.
Vivian and Ronnie’s small spat about hurrying the story helps highlight how much weight Vivian places on stories: they’re almost sacred to her, and rushing them—distilling them down to a neat moral and cutting out the rest of the story—is totally inappropriate. In this story, Vivian acknowledges several truths. She can be glad she survived, thankful for the mammoth, and disturbed by the man’s death all at once. Through this, she suggests that if the bridesmaids have to kill anyone tonight, it likely won’t be a fulfilling experience—they may feel justified, but it’ll still be disturbing to take another life.
Themes
Ronnie, Martia, Jess, and Alice seem to understand Vivian’s implication. Checking her phone, which now reads after nine at night, she figures ghosts are messing with the signal—but then, Al bursts into the room. He and Ronnie hug, and then Al explains that Trevor’s ghost is making trouble and Jay and Ellie are in the ballroom. Missed call notifications from Dad in the last four hours appear on Vivian’s phone as she approaches the ballroom door. Inside, people are screaming and trying to escape. Vivian shouts for Ellie, but she, Ronnie, Al, and the bridesmaids can’t get the door open. Vivian begins to call the mammoth, but she realizes it’s not safe to do so and loses her connection with Below. She shouts for Ellie to call the mammoth.
Vivian’s story has the desired effect: Ronnie and the bridesmaids seem more willing to think through what it would mean to kill even someone they consider evil, and how they might feel about having done so. As phone signals return and time lines back up again, Vivian finds herself unable to do much to help her daughter—calling the mammoth in an enclosed area isn’t safe. This continues to point to Ellie having to figure out how to solve this problem on her own, thereby bringing about her coming of age.
Themes
