Elatsoe

by

Darcie Little Badger

Mushrooms/Willowbee Symbol Analysis

Mushrooms/Willowbee Symbol Icon

Mushrooms symbolize European colonialism and its many damaging effects, particularly on the environment and on Native Americans. Mushrooms form fairy rings, which, within the world of the novel, allow people to travel long distance nearly instantly. However, Ring travel is closely monitored and regulated, and for the most part, only people who are descended from fairies—that is, descendants of European colonizers—are allowed to use this method of transport. It irks Ellie that even though there are Ring Centers all over the U.S., including on ancestral Lipan Apache land (and ancestral land of other tribes), she’s not allowed to use Ring travel because she’s Lipan. This mirrors how, in the real world, European colonization of the Americas saw settlers not only pushing Native Americans off their ancestral lands but then denying those people rights, services, and access to land and resources that once belonged to their tribes.

Willowbee takes this symbolism to the extreme, as the town is dotted with mushrooms and can itself move from place to place. It has, over its 200-year history, moved all over the U.S., and it can settle wherever it likes with no regard for who the land belongs to or the fact that it’s hogging precious resources, particularly water, to keep its lush grounds and mushrooms alive and green. Additionally, Willowbee’s doctors have, throughout history, habitually transferred injuries to Native Americans and other vulnerable people, highlighting again how colonialism damages both the natural environment and the land’s original stewards.

Finally, the kind of magic that mushrooms use pollutes the environment by releasing greenhouse gases. Ring travel is one of the dirtiest forms of transportation, despite its convenience; and Trevor’s ghost suggests that Willowbee is also responsible for polluting the land. With this, the novel suggests that colonialism, and the technologies that colonists develop, don’t benefit anyone but the colonists themselves—and, indeed, are extremely harmful to indigenous peoples and the environment.

Mushrooms/Willowbee Quotes in Elatsoe

The Elatsoe quotes below all refer to the symbol of Mushrooms/Willowbee. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

Hopefully, it happened through a police investigation that led to an arrest that resulted in a successful trial by jury and a murder conviction. However, the justice system was imperfect. Many crimes remained unsolved, especially violence against Natives. Plus, Trevor’s death was so strange, magic might have been involved. That was a potential death blow against justice. Magic, as energy from another realm, corrupted and altered the fabric of reality. The defense for Abe Allerton could argue that any trace of magic at the crime scene negated his chance for a fair trial, since there was no way to trust the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Nine times out of ten, that argument worked for people with million-dollar lawyers. Strangely, it rarely worked for anyone else.

Related Characters: Ellie, Trevor, Dr. Abe Allerton
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

It took a while, but the Leech was finally dead. Ellie had finished Six-Great’s task.

It should have been a proud moment, but Ellie also felt profoundly sad. The Leech was the last of its kind. The monsters of her ancestors had been replaced by different threats. Invasive creatures, foreign curses, cruel magics, and alchemies. Vampires were the new big bloodsuckers.

Related Characters: Ellie, Trevor, Six-Great
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 63
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Ellie couldn’t use the rings, however, because all portal travel had to be approved and facilitated by fairy folk, and fairies didn’t like “strangers.” Strangers, in their opinion, constituted anybody without familial ties to at least one interdimensional person, commonly known as “fae.” That wasn’t Ellie. Every time she had to pay for an expensive airline ticket or miss a field trip, her disdain for the otherworldly snobs increased. It seemed cruel that humanoids from a different realm could discriminate against her—and others—on her own homeland. The “fair” in “fairy” didn’t stand for justice, however, and they didn’t care about any rules but their own.

Related Characters: Ellie, Jay
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

The lawn was speckled by white polka-dots, the heads of round mushrooms. Didn’t mushrooms usually sprout in moist environments? Exactly how much water did Dr. Allerton waste on his grass every day?

Related Characters: Ellie, Dad, Dr. Abe Allerton
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“Nathaniel Grace learned a lesson from the fire. He made friends with other Pilgrims by hurting the people who frightened them more than he did.”

Page five continued, with a picture of a boxy building, “Nathaniel Grace made a hospital with the money he earned. He saved many lives.”

[...]

The final page displayed an anatomically accurate drawing of a leech. It belonged in a biology textbook, not a historical biography. Brett concluded: “Nathaniel Grace is a great American because he saved the lives of many people like presidents and war heroes. Without him, the country would not be the same and there would be no Willowbee. He founded the town to be a good home.”

Related Characters: Brett Allerton (speaker), Ellie, Trevor, Dr. Abe Allerton, Nathaniel Grace
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 163
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

If the US had also controlled an army of dead hounds, there’d probably be no Lipan left alive. It was difficult enough to survive their deadly magic, powers that weren’t the same as ghosts. Magic came from an alien place, and the use of too much corrupted the natural state of the Earth. That’s what scientists were reporting, anyway. [...] In fact, that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Magic Use, which was backed by over two hundred scientists, published a warning that excessive magic posed an existential threat, one nobody understood completely and very few people seemed to take seriously.

Ellie’s ancestors had known—hundreds of years before any report by an intergovernmental group—the damage magic could cause.

Related Characters: Ellie, Jay
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 205
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

“He’s just one man.” Trevor leaned forward, rooted to the grave. “There are millions more who will continue to treat our family and land like garbage. Think of them like pests.”

“Pests...”

“Termites in your house. Locusts in your field. It doesn’t make any difference if you crush just one insect. The swarm will devour your home.”

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Trevor (speaker), Dr. Abe Allerton
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 254-255
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

“Everything I do tonight will be for him. For justice.” The exorcist corpse’s head flopped to one side, as if trying to study Ellie with its cloudy eyes. “He loved you,” the emissary said. “He loved all his family.”

“I love Trevor,” she said. “Always will.”

“Someday, you’ll be reunited,” the emissary promised. “If you want that day to come sooner rather than later, interfere with my vengeance.”

“Vengeance?” she wondered. “Didn’t you say ‘justice’ a moment ago?”

“In this case, they’re the same.”

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Trevor (speaker), Dr. Abe Allerton
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 296
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

“I am a neutral force,” Dr. Allerton said. “My healing balances my harm. Ellie, I tried to help you and your family. Did you know that I collected scholarship money for Trevor’s child? Well? Enough to pay for college! For grad school! You just wouldn’t let it go. Everything is a mess now.”

“Shut it,” Ellie said. “All the scholarships in the world can’t be a father to Gregory.”

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Dr. Abe Allerton (speaker), Trevor, Gregory
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 327
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

“There’s a lot I want to learn,” Ellie said. “My mother, her mother, and my grandmother’s mother taught me about the way of our land, our dead, and our monsters, but the times have changed. I need college to prepare for the next Willowbee.”

Related Characters: Ellie (speaker), Mom/Vivian, Jay, Six-Great, Grandmother
Related Symbols: Mushrooms/Willowbee
Page Number: 351
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Elatsoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Elatsoe PDF

Mushrooms/Willowbee Symbol Timeline in Elatsoe

The timeline below shows where the symbol Mushrooms/Willowbee appears in Elatsoe. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2 
Justice Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
Storytelling Theme Icon
...he says he’s dying, explaining that a man named Abe Allerton from the town of Willowbee murdered him. Trevor is too weak to tell Ellie the details of what happened, but... (full context)
Chapter 3
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...staying with Vivian, Lenore, and Gregory to investigate. They’ll leave in two days. They locate Willowbee on the map, though it’s printed strangely, as though there was a printing mistake. It’s... (full context)
Chapter 7
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...useless to practice magic—she worries about its environmental impact. He insists that fairy rings, or fungi-powered magical portals operated by fairy folk, is way worse for the environment. Ellie can’t use... (full context)
Chapter 8
Justice Theme Icon
...dangerous. Ellie is glad to pick up Jay’s call just before she and Dad reach Willowbee. Jay says that Abe is a seemingly perfect, and obviously wealthy, man: he leads the... (full context)
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...mesquite trees. From the backseat, Kirby barks—a warning that there’s danger ahead. A sign announces Willowbee’s city limits and population, and “Texas” on the sign looks like it’s been painted over... (full context)
Chapter 9
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
Jay texts Ellie a picture of Abe with Willowbee’s mayor, who tattooed Abe for charity. Abe is conventionally attractive—but his smile chills Ellie. Soon... (full context)
Chapter 13
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...200 years old, and the Lipan helped settlers before the Civil War. They never helped Willowbee. (full context)
Chapter 14
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...whether it’s a good idea for Ellie and Jay to visit the bicentennial exhibit at Willowbee’s library when Lenore gets home, her hands crusted in dirt. She admits she was digging... (full context)
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...leech accompanies the report’s conclusion, which is that the U.S. wouldn’t be the same and Willowbee, “a good home,” wouldn’t exist without Grace. Ellie knows this is important, but she can’t... (full context)
Chapter 15
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
In the morning, Ellie invites Jay to visit Willowbee’s library with her. He texts that he can’t; Ronnie accepted Al’s proposal, and their parents... (full context)
Chapter 17
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
The next day, as Jay and Ellie prepare to visit Willowbee’s library, they discuss using fake names. Ellie reveals her real name, Elatsoe, which she somehow... (full context)
Justice Theme Icon
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Ellie and Jay reach Willowbee and stop to let parents and their toddler cross the street. The pedestrians all smile... (full context)
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
...to the exhibit. Quietly, Jay reveals to Ellie that he considered asking the librarian if Willowbee experiences lots of unexplained deaths, and he also shares that lots of people were openly... (full context)
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Storytelling Theme Icon
...the portrait of Nathaniel Grace. It turns out that he was the real founder of Willowbee, not just an honorary founder. This makes no sense, though, as he was a New... (full context)
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...since Roosevelt was never mauled by a bear. Ellie speculates that Dr. Allerton—and all of Willowbee’s previous doctors—have continued to protect whatever secret Nathaniel Grace had. The clinic may seem to... (full context)
Chapter 18
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Ellie watches people as she drives through Willowbee. Everyone does seem to stare. When Jay remarks on how weird it is, Ellie shares... (full context)
Chapter 19
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...they park along the street. So far, Ronnie is the only viewer. Like elsewhere in Willowbee, the grass is lush and dotted with mushrooms. Jay and Ellie approach the white building... (full context)
Chapter 20
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...asks when to pick Jay up from the Ring Center, Jay says he recognizes the mushrooms in Willowbee: they’re the kind that form fairy rings. (full context)
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
That evening, Ellie looks up Willowbee on a satellite map. It takes her computer a while to process the request, but... (full context)
Chapter 21
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...to his waist. He says the drought is “the consequence of greed.” He continues that Willowbee has taken all the water—and it'll take “everything” eventually, like a leech. Trevor brings up... (full context)
Chapter 23
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...to his car, and hoped he’d die. Trevor wasn’t Dr. Allerton’s first victim: all of Willowbee’s doctors, since its founding, have been swapping injuries and illnesses. She offers Roosevelt’s thank-you note,... (full context)
Chapter 26
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...that friends of friends sent A1 to a bar in Austin. The bartender knew about Willowbee, and Al never came back from the bar. According to the bartender, Ronnie says, young... (full context)
Chapter 27
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
The weather is beautiful as Vivian drives through Willowbee. Everyone checks their cellphone batteries, and they discuss whether Trevor’s ghost can cut phone signals.... (full context)
Chapter 30
Justice Theme Icon
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...case, justice and vengeance are the same thing, and he wants to murder everyone in Willowbee. He continues that Willowbee “puts a bounty on the Indigenous, the poor, and the vulnerable,”... (full context)
Chapter 32
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
Dr. Allerton says that everyone in Willowbee knows who and what he is. They all know why it was necessary for Trevor... (full context)
Family and Friendship Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
Ellie and Jay pull themselves up as Dr. Allerton and Willowbee’s residents limp toward them. There’s a wood sliver stuck in Dr. Allerton’s chest, and as... (full context)
Justice Theme Icon
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Healing Theme Icon
...says it’s easy enough to spread lies and convince people to forget this—and they’ll move Willowbee again. This, Ellie realizes, explains why the town looks like it belongs in New England:... (full context)
Chapter 36
Justice Theme Icon
Cultural Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
Colonialism and Monsters Theme Icon
...are working on a bridge model for physics class, but Jay notices another article about Willowbee in their stack of newspapers and clips it for his scrapbook. This is one is... (full context)