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It also goes back to Ellen’s more religious side

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The box thing is also really interesting like her mom can’t be in the box because that would mean her mom isn’t at peace and Ellen is alone

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Yeah

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Yeah I agree, her mother dying didn't affect Ellen that much.

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Yeah they are trying to make her into something she isn’t but the annoying thing is it’s only for the day, when she needs to be presentable, then they’ll leave her

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The weird thing about her mother dying is that not much changes for her, she’s still independent and can take care of herself; maybe it’s more a lonely thing

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Everyone who should be caring for her and comforting her is neglecting her and trying to change her into someone she isn't.

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Yeah I agree

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Yeah Ellen knows things like other wouldn’t and she is tougher than other kids but deep down she is still innocent because she doesn’t really understand the world but she just tries to survive

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The sad part is that it isn’t even Ellens fault, it’s all her fathers, and him inflicting pain onto her mother.

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She has the mind of someone very old and experienced (like a war veteran). She has gone through so much, yet still finds a lot of joy in the little things in order to live happily

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Yeah I think that’s a better way to describe it. She has crazy dark thoughts but it’s being fed to her

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She isn't insane though, she has just been put in bad situations and she is trying to cope with those moments in her own way.

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death is very present in her mind after witnessing her mother's death

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She’s just mentally scarred as that other person said

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I mean, if you were tormented for your whole life and forced to put up with something horrible, you wouldn’t exactly be the most mentally sound

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But I wouldn’t say she’s insane all the time

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She’s insane when she’s like “i want to kill so and so”

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Someone said numb before and I think that’s a good word

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Yeah she is definitely confused with her emotions, but I don’t think she’s insane

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Yeah that’s a better word for it

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I don’t quite think that she is insane though, just mentally scarred

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There’s also a section when she describes her family’s as a roller coaster or something and that her parents just gave way to the spinning. (Page 2)
Katie

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Yeah i agree

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She’s complex, innocent at some times and dark at other times

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She is probably scared/worried but she doesn’t understand her emotions because she has gone insane

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But that’s the thing. Although she isn’t innocent 24/7, she is innocent when she talks about wanting to wrap a gift for her dad. Although she does not want to care about her dad, she subconsciously does because of her age. - rithwika

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She definitely is surrounded by a lot of death/ it make sense she would be seeing that in the ink
- Katie

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She might be worried

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Everyone keeps leaving her behind to deal with all of these issues, instead of offering to stay and help.

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Ellen isn’t very innocent like the other anonymous person said, she has had too much of a bad experience to still be all sunshine and rainbows

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Yeah she’s kinda insane at this point and it isn’t even her fault

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Rithwika-
I think in one part in the book, the book says it was time to share out loud and then she runs out of the room

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Yeah like specifically with page 39 she doesn’t tell Starletta’s mom that she had a bad experience

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Rithwika-
Yeah i agree with the person that said that she keeps bottling her feelings since she’s never had an outlet to speak, such as a therapist

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Yeah, I agree with that, Katie, I think it also ties into her mother’s side of the family labeling her as “bad”/ not caring

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Yeah I feel like she is actively trying to deny her father’s existence

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I think that Ellen also uses reading to escape her reality/her dark thoughts and almost forget what is happening with her dad

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Ellen is not looking very good from a psychological standpoint: she keeps all of her emotions and experiences to herself, yet has these dark thoughts. She may break down at some point; you can’t keep all of those negative emotions to yourself forever

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rithwika
She sees herself as more of a mother figure than her mom herself

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I feel like Ellen wants to be cared for because she has to be cared for everyone else but no one else really cares for her

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She thinks of herself as the parent and her father as the one who needs to be taken care of, roles are reversed

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I agree with Katie that she acts like an adult and has adult responsibilities. In this way she is independent.

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The fact that she got used to her father's abuse

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Hello