Ellen Foster Essay Topics
Choose one of the following topics to write an in-depth analysis of Ellen
Foster. As you read the topics, please note that each on asks several
questions that you will need to address in your essay. Initially, you may want
to think of answers to the different questions and quotes from the book
that support your answers. Please see the example below.
Example of a text-supported answer that is related to the lists Ellen keeps.
While Ellen’s personal life is chaotic, she tell the reader that she makes lists. One
of the first lists is related to her dad; Ellen narrates, “When I was little I would think of
ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this way or that way and run it down through my
head until it got easy.” (Gibbons, 1) This list is not handwritten; rather, it is a mental
account of clever ideas for her father to die. Ellen uses dreaming of ways to kill her dad to
escape of her grim reality; it gives order to her rather turbulent life.
Also, at the end of your essay, include the following bibliographic
information:
Gibbons, Kay. Ellen Foster. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1987.
1.
“The South’s violent history of slavery, war, and racial hatred is the unstated
background for this story. How does Gibbons make us aware of its silent
presence? To what degree is Ellen herself aware of it? Is the contemporary
black experience, as she observes it, still based of the fact of slavery, paid or
unpaid? What is Ellen’s way of personally coping with this tragic history?
2. Why have none of the concerned adults in Ellen’s life- the teachers, Starletta’s
parents, Julia and Roy, Mavis- been able to rescue her from the dreadful and
dangerous life she leads with her own family? How does this failure reflect upon
the nature of Ellen’s society? What is it about the life of even a small
interconnected community that keeps people from being able to help a desperate
child? Is the legal system at fault? The social one?
Ways to get all your points for content:
 Address each question in the topic with supportive details
 Use quotations to support your answer
Other items to note:
 Avoid using the following: I, you, me, yourself, myself, us ourselves, I think, my
opinion
 Avoid contractions (can’t, won’t, ect.)