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
Glorian charges at Ellie, but something invisible throws Ellie to the ground. She sees that Kirby is biting and attacking Glorian, so she takes the opportunity to find blood in the room’s big freezer and pass a bag to Al. Glorian, meanwhile, is using a walkie-talkie to call for backup and an exorcist. When he’s finished, he pulls out a gun, but Al kicks the metal coffin lid into Glorian, and the gun shoots into the wall. Al and Kirby fight Glorian while Ellie gets a bag of blood for the vampire in the coffin next to Al’s. Lily drinks and then takes Glorian’s gun, empties it, and suggests they lock Glorian in a coffin.
Despite not being trained as an attack dog, Kirby is still loyal and willing to defend his friend. That Glorian has a gun symbolizes his affiliation with Dr. Allerton and with white settler culture; recall how earlier, Vivian said that “only one kind of monster uses guns.”
Active
Themes
After Ellie, Jay, and Al discuss that Dr. Allerton heals old vampires by transferring their curses to healthy young vampires, Al asks Jay to be his best man. Jay agrees. Al begins to lead the kids out, but he stops short when Jay says that Ronnie is in the mansion. They decide to go rescue Ronnie, the bridesmaids, and Vivian. But as Ellie warns Al that the mansion is haunted, he opens the door to a dead body, its head facing backward.
Jay and Al continue to strengthen their relationship as Jay agrees to be Al’s best man—suggesting that as Al and Ronnie marry, this generation of their family is going to be more accepting and supportive than Ronnie’s parents have been thus far.