Ellie Character Analysis

Ellie is Tyler’s older sister, and one of the few sources of security and stability in her life. She is several years older than Tyler, and works part-time at Subway after school in order to earn money for herself and the family. She is extremely protective of Tyler, checking in on her regularly, bringing home food for her, and offering to let her sleep in her bed. She is openly resentful of both her mother, who she sees as an irresponsible caregiver, and her mother’s boyfriend Shane, whom she fears will try to abuse Tyler. She has a boyfriend named Luke, but is careful to keep him away from her family. She feels little attachment to her mother and aspires to escape her home life, but implies that she intends to stay connected to the house as long as Tyler still lives there in order to ensure that she’s safe. Because she is older than Tyler, she is more directly perceptive to the threats in her life—whereas Tyler never directly expresses why she finds Shane so threatening, Ellie’s warnings to Tyler imply that she is acutely aware of the possibility of sexual abuse. In this sense, she plays an important role as a caretaker in Tyler’s life. At the end of the story, she buys Tyler a set of the Derwent pencils she desperately wants.