Ellen Foster was written by Kaye Gibbons, and the book is narrated by a young girl named Ellen Foster, telling the reader about the unique childhood she experienced, filled with an abusive father and many different homes and experiences that a ten year old child typically wouldn’t have. When interpreting the book Ellen Foster through a social power lense, you can see that the power of the society and the way Ellen grew up, and the experiences she had under the power of her elders, really pushed her to overcome her moral challenges and become a better person. If Ellen was raised in a normal home, she probably wouldn’t have stayed friends with Starletta, or overcome the internal racism that everyone possessed in the period that the book was written.
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Her grandmother, who Ellen had to listen to, exercised power over her in many ways. One of these ways is when she made Ellen go out to work in the fields with her black servants. The experience of working in the fields and befriending the black servants, like Mavis, really helped Ellen understand and see fully the racism that existed at the time, and see how foolish it was. She saw how hard they worked, and how her grandmother treated them. “My mama’s mama did not pay them doodly-squat. I saw the amount she had written on the envelope she handed Mavis every Friday” (Gibbons 66). Ellen had seen how little the black servants were paid for so much hard work, and this really showed her how unequally black people were treated at the time. With this experience, Ellen began to fully understand the racism of the time, and she wouldn't have been able to do that without her grandmother making her work out in the
Her grandmother, who Ellen had to listen to, exercised power over her in many ways. One of these ways is when she made Ellen go out to work in the fields with her black servants. The experience of working in the fields and befriending the black servants, like Mavis, really helped Ellen understand and see fully the racism that existed at the time, and see how foolish it was. She saw how hard they worked, and how her grandmother treated them. “My mama’s mama did not pay them doodly-squat. I saw the amount she had written on the envelope she handed Mavis every Friday” (Gibbons 66). Ellen had seen how little the black servants were paid for so much hard work, and this really showed her how unequally black people were treated at the time. With this experience, Ellen began to fully understand the racism of the time, and she wouldn't have been able to do that without her grandmother making her work out in the