Who is the smiling man in ellen foster

I was sore from tensing in a hard chair for so long and didn't feel like touching right then, but I didn't want her to take it as I was upset about the movie and do the kind of out of her way thing she was prone to do and suggest we follow it to the next town.

I was also guilty from being relieved I didn't have to sit through Willy Wonka and come out jangled up after two hours of watching overly eager singers and have to fix my face. Sweaty and sticky candy factory children hopping and singing around the chocolate vats, like they just happen to be living out the words to the songs, could irk you.

I get more of a bang out of stories of realism that take place in the house or in the city, nothing on the open range, no forest or jungle except for Heart of Darkness, and except for Moby Dick, no man versus nature. I was glad to feel her fingers on my hair though when I remembered the dark undersoul Willy Wonka had in the book and wondered if they'd allowed enough of him in the movie that you'd come out nervous about opening candy bars. People my age are old enough to know better, but I know some on my road, including myself, who're jubus about unwrapping a new cake of soap because of the nightmare possibility of seeing an innocent, trapped face staring up at you, permanently pressed there after a bad snatched hostage ordeal at Old Soap Molly's house.

If you've lived a certain way and already have a lasting set of damages, you avoid what frightening fantasies you can. It was only ten miles, but the weight of Laura's hand on my head and the tires underneath us knocked me out. I went straight to bed and just as I fell away, I was jerked back by the idea that the government was an expert at making you wait. I was facing another span of time I'd had to get to the other side of, not live wholly inside.

After a month had passed, Laura called the Social Service lady, who said she couldn't help the backup, but remember the tests were only formalities. I wanted to shout and ask her if she'd ever needed permission to call her home a home or been jolted out of ease she'd trusted would come because the world couldn't possibly keep turn Books Best Sellers. Award Winners. New Releases. Coming Soon. Buy eBook Now. Also available in:. K Author. Gibbons lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

When I got back and saw Laura running my pencils through a motorized sharpener, her tight method of movement and the way she dashed back her hair made her favor Ava Gardner, definite-edged in the midst of murky people, like in The Night of the Iguana when she's managing the old maid and the traveling women. I was also guilty from being relieved I didn't have to sit through Willy Wonka and come out jangled up after two hours of watching overly eager singers and have to fix my face to say I'd just had a red-letter time of my life.

Want the latest Email Address. Gradually, she transforms from an unsophisticated child into a mature young woman, and she develops a crush on a white boy from school. Read an in-depth analysis of Starletta. Ellen's foster mother. She is everything for which Ellen could have hoped. New Mama is kind, caring, nurturing, always has enough money to pay for groceries, and has plenty of love to give Ellen and the other children she fosters. Ellen's grandmother. She is old and miserly and treats Ellen with the utmost cruelty, as she vehemently hates Ellen's father and seeks vengeance on him through Ellen.

After winning custody of Ellen in court, she immediately sends her to work the fields with the black field hands on the farms she owns in the scorching summer heat.

At the end of the summer, she dies of illness, even after Ellen has taken extraordinary good care of her. Read an in-depth analysis of Mama's Mama. A kind field hand on Ellen's grandmother's farm.

Mavis takes Ellen under her wing and teaches her how to row the land and how to stay cool in the unbearable summer heat.

She tells Ellen of how she had known her mother as a child and says that Ellen looks very much like her. Mavis has a large, happy family that Ellen admires and wants to emulate. Ellen's aunt on her mother's side. Nadine is false and pretentious and lies to herself that she is wealthy and successful to gain confidence. She is forced to take Ellen for a short period of time, though she eventually kicks her out of the house on Christmas day.

She dotes on her daughter Dora and treats Dora like a small child, although she is the same age as Ellen. Ellen's cousin and Nadine's daughter. Dora is a sheltered, spoiled brat who gets everything she wants when she wants it. She is a chronic pants-wetter, though she is the same age as Ellen.

Ellen's grade school art teacher who temporarily cares for Ellen after another teacher learns that she is being abused at home. Julia is a hippy raised in the northeast, who has migrated to the south after college with her husband, Roy. She is very liberal and encourages Ellen in her artistic endeavors. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Important Quotes Explained. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics. Summary Chapters 3—4. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3.

Analysis The issue of race relations and racial tension becomes more evident in Chapter 4 , when the funeral train passes through a "colored town" on its way to the church. Previous page Chapters 3—4 page 1 Next page Chapters 3—4 page 3. Test your knowledge Take the Chapters Quick Quiz. Popular pages: Ellen Foster.