Ella Character Analysis

In “Gaps in the Hickory,” Ella is Delores’s neighbor in New Orleans. She’s a young Black girl whose family isn’t all that well off. Delores sends her home with food when it seems the family doesn’t have enough to eat, but she tries to act nonchalant about it so that Ella isn’t embarrassed. Ella acts out sometimes and can be snarky with Delores, but they care about each other and make a good, if rather unusual pair. They often have “beauty days,” where they paint their nails and do their hair. Though Delores doesn’t realize it for much of the story, Ella knows that Delores is transgender, but she accepts her completely and assures her that everyone else in their building does too. Ella also knows about Carter’s situation in Mississippi (Carter is transgender, and his father Jackson is bigoted and potentially violent) and pleads with Delores to rescue Carter and bring him back to Mississippi. When Carter’s mother, Jeanie, drops off Carter at Delores’s building at the end of the story, Ella eagerly welcomes him home.