The Marrow of Tradition

Let’s talk about Ellis. Ellis is probably the saddest of all the characters we’ve met thus far. Now, I don’t mean sad as in, “Ellis is sadder than every one else.” I mean that Ellis is the most upsetting, the most irksome, and the most pathetic (in my opinion).

Here’s why: He has so much potential to be a good person. He genuinely loves Clara; he is a hard worker; he is a gentleman; and he doesn’t bad mouth Tom when he could have/should have. And yet, even though he possesses all of these good qualities, he is a racist. He believes in white supremacy just as much as the little boys club trifecta.

It’s always easier to swallow when someone awful is consistently awful in every aspect of his life–it’s easy to hate that person. But when you find someone who is a good person but he has that one critical failing in his character, it’s just sad and disappointing.