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Chapter 17
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
After perusing the exhibit for another 20 minutes and reading about the high success rate at Willowbee’s clinic, Ellie and Jay get ice cream and sit at the park. Jay squishes mushrooms in the grass as they discuss whether Trevor might have discovered the Willowbee secret. They reason that he didn’t—Dr. Allerton’s attack was a surprise, and Trevor was just trying to help when he saw a car accident. Suddenly horrified, Ellie asks Jay to scour Texas newspapers from 1906 for reports of a bear attack, as well as unexplained deaths near Willowbee from any year.
The mushrooms everywhere in Willowbee are as strange and concerning as its lawns, which are too lush for the Texas desert—they suggest, too, that there’s something suspicious going on here. Ellie gets closer to solving the mystery as she realizes that someone might’ve died of a bear attack, even if it wasn’t Roosevelt—just as someone died in the car crash, and it wasn’t the person Trevor pulled over to help.
Themes
Jay suggests they check out the clinic while they’re here. Ellie is hesitant, but she reasons that they’ll be safe since they’re visiting in broad daylight and will be on public property. But after holding eye contact with a staring waitress for several seconds, Ellie suggests they shouldn’t proceed without Kirby. She hasn’t called Kirby in days, and she misses his company. Jay asks to get a second cone for the road, mostly to see how the waitress will react.
The staring townsfolk continue to make Jay and Ellie feel uneasy, as they’re literally being watched. This opens up the possibility that, at the very least, Willowbee isn’t very friendly or used to tourists who aren’t here for medical treatment—it could also suggest that the townsfolk know more about Ellie than she realizes.
Themes
While Jay gets his ice cream, Ellie calls Ronnie. Ronnie doesn’t want to burden Ellie, but she asks Ellie to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Ellie doesn’t know what bridesmaids do, but she accepts. Ronnie, a basketball player, says Ellie is part of her “starting lineup” now: this this means that if Ellie needs help, she can message the wedding party group chat for assistance. With this, Ronnie hangs up, and Ellie shares the news with Jay.
Ronnie formalizes her relationship with Ellie by asking her to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. While this, of course, gives Ronnie the support she needs for the wedding, she also makes it really clear that the relationship is reciprocal: Ellie now has Ronnie and the other bridesmaids to call on if she needs anything.
Themes
Ellie watches people as she drives through Willowbee. Everyone does seem to stare. When Jay remarks on how weird it is, Ellie shares with him that a tribal elder, Dan, is visiting this week because something else weird happened: she accidentally visited the land of the dead. Jay clearly doesn’t understand that this isn’t a good thing. They sit in silence at a red light, and Ellie wonders what the world would be like if everyone could train dead pets. She suspects it wouldn’t be good. The U.S. government massacred most of Ellie’s tribe after the Civil War, and they could’ve killed all of them if they’d had ghost dogs. The government already had (and still has) magic, which is extremely powerful. It also pollutes the Earth, so much so that an intergovernmental panel just warned that magic is threatening the world. Few people seem to care, though.
If Jay is going to help Ellie with her paranormal investigator business, he has a lot to learn about the dead and how to safely and respectfully interact with ghosts and other supernatural beings. As Ellie considers her own knowledge of how to raise the dead and compares it to the government’s magic, the novel points to the difference between indigenous knowledge and magic (or, more accurately, institutional power). Ellie’s knowledge allows her to help herself and others, while the government’s magic is dangerous and is harming the planet and people. The government, she believes, would also corrupt and abuse Ellie’s knowledge if it had access to it.
Themes
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Jay pulls Ellie out of her reverie by pointing down Grace Lane toward the clinic. Wondering if there’s anything obviously off about the clinic in person, Ellie considers turning around. Her parents, though, would be so upset and afraid for her. But, figuring that Dr. Allerton wouldn’t threaten two teens, she proceeds onto Grace Lane anyway. She suggests they livestream their visit so Ronnie can watch and step in if needed.
Though Ellie realizes this isn’t the smartest choice, her curiosity gets the better of her. But livestreaming so they can call on Ronnie also shows that Ellie isn’t being totally naïve about it: she’s doing exactly what Ronnie asked, and she’s calling on her for help in a time of need.
Themes
