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
Ellie’s family has relied on animals, including dogs, since ancient times—and as she calls them in every language she knows, they leap through the walls. It looks like Willowbee’s residents are drowning in a sea made of ghost dogs. Approaching Dr. Allerton, Ellie puts a hand on his shoulder and thinks of how alike Earth and the underworld are: they’re both “vast and frightening.” Slowly, the dogs appear as Jay disappears. Ellie picks up Kirby, kisses him, and promises to play fetch with him tomorrow. By now, Dr. Allerton is free of the pile of dogs, and Ellie tells him he can go.
Ellie has been afraid to call her ancestors’ dogs for some time now. In calling them, she takes a step toward coming of age, as doing so shows her her own competence and connects her more completely with her culture and ancestors. Abandoning Dr. Allerton in the underworld shows Ellie again taking a risk and relying on her cultural knowledge, believing that she has the power to return home thanks to her connections to her still-living loved ones.
Themes
Certain Ellie is safe, the dogs leave the room through the windows or the walls. Dr. Allerton, afraid to move, sees that Ellie moved his mansion—and he can see mesquite trees outside. Ellie meditates on home to try to return, but Dr. Allerton begs her not to leave him here. He offers to cover her college tuition and says that “they” are everywhere outside. Faces look in the windows, and though they look human, Ellie is pretty sure these are emissaries of Dr. Allerton’s other victims—there are so many, they don’t fit in the ballroom. She insists to Dr. Allerton that he tried to kill her, and he killed Trevor. So now, she’s leaving him here to protect the people he now won’t be able to kill.
Again, Dr. Allerton tries to fix everything with money—but Ellie rejects his offer. Instead, she suggests that true justice is punishing Dr. Allerton himself (rather than all of Willowbee, even though all residents are complicit). Removing Dr. Allerton from the picture on Earth means that there won’t be any more emissaries added to the group here, something that, within the world of the novel, is extremely positive: potential future victims can now live full lives and die peacefully.
Themes
As the emissaries charge, Dr. Allerton leaps at Ellie and grabs her braid. She can’t return like this, she knows: he’ll follow her. With Trevor’s Swiss Army knife, Ellie chops her braid off, and Kirby attacks Dr. Allerton. Ellie thinks of home and calls Kirby, but when she reaches for him, she finds Vivian’s hand. She’s outside the mansion, and Dr. Allerton and the emissary are gone. Ellie confirms that all her living friends and family are safe (Dad is here too), and then she calls for Kirby. He doesn’t respond, and Ellie sobs.
The Swiss Army knife might not have been able to protect Trevor, but it—combined with Kirby’s bravery—saves Ellie. Ellie is able to return to Earth thanks to her strong connections to her parents and Jay—it’s no accident that she returns to Earth holding her mother’s hand. Kirby’s sacrifice points to the strength of his love for Ellie, and it forces Ellie to reckon with his loss, something she hasn’t really had to do since she so quickly brought him back as a ghost after he died.
Themes
