Themes in Ellen Foster The title of the novel Ellen Foster is self explanatory. Ellen Foster was the main character in the book. It is a story about a child, Ellen, who has many experiences with deaths of members in her family. This causes her to move from house to house looking for a final, stable environment to live in. She is belonging to no one and she must fight to maintain her own spirit. Her counselor questions her at school about her name change. Ellen changed her last name to Foster because she felt that the new family was her’s now. She didn’t understand that foster was the type of family where lost children were taken in and lov