Toliver's Secret

In this section, the rising action begins. Since this is a book for younger readers, Brady uses a narrative convention where she embeds an outline of the story’s action into the narrative itself. This technique provides young readers with clear expectations for story structure as they learn the common trajectories of narratives. Brady does this by having Grandfather explain to Ellen what her journey will look like if she decides to take his message. While Grandfather explains the journey to Ellen, he is effectively explaining the plot of the novel to the audience as well.

Grandfather sets the expectations for Ellen’s journey. For instance: “You walk down to the docks near Market-house and get on a farmer’s boat—or an oysterman’s. They come over early every morning and they go back to Elizabeth-town at eleven o’clock” (45). Being introduced to the expectations of Ellen’s journey in such a clear fashion also helps young readers understand the concept of a plot twist, which is an unexpected development in a story. The plot-twists are any time that the following narrative action does not follow Grandfather’s predicted trajectory. For instance, when Ellen reaches the docks and asks a man where the farmers’ and oystermen’s boats are, he says, “Not many of them came over today. Food is scarce and the oyster catch was poor” (68). This unexpected development is the first large plot twist of the story, and it cues Ellen having to overcome the first major obstacle in her journey.

As she faces her first challenges, Ellen’s character is still timid and afraid. Before she starts her journey, but after she agrees to go, she says, “I can’t do it, Grandfather. I just can’t. I’m too scared and I might make a mistake” (52-53). After the two boys steal her bread and chase her, she is plagued again by self-doubt: “She couldn’t go out on the streets and roister about like a boy. She couldn’t go sailing across the Bay to a place where she had never been and find a man she had never seen” (64). In both cases, Ellen’s fear creates obstacles for her before she has a chance to try to accomplish her goal.

She has preconceived notions about what she can and can’t do. When she finds herself in action, however, Ellen is able to conquer the challenges that come to her. When she leaves the house, she is immediately afraid that people “were watching her and wondering why she was dressed as a boy” (55). Experience proves this fear to be unfounded. Ellen realizes that, due to the expectations people have around Traditional 18th-Century Gender Roles, certain types of clothing cue peoples’ perceptions of one’s gender. People see a young person in trousers and automatically assume she’s a boy. Even people familiar with Ellen, like Dicey, are fooled by her disguise.

After Ellen flees from the boys and has a chance to gather her thoughts, she realizes that despite her fear, she accomplished a feat of bravery. She thinks, “Not only had she raced them and beaten them but she had saved her grandfather’s message” (65). She subverted the misfortune she thought she would have and demonstrated her adeptness. Her heightened emotions immediately after the confrontation made her think that she couldn’t succeed in carrying the message, which obscured the fact that she already succeeded at protecting the message.

Ellen begins to use logic to help her out of challenging circumstances. When running from the boys puts her into a part of town she doesn’t know, she thinks forward in her plan to adapt the actions she had expected to take. She knows that the boats dock on the East River and that no matter where she is in town, she needs to head east. She looks to the sky and observes that “the sun is on my left side that must be the east. And the East River would be that way” (66). This logical reasoning provides a good model for young readers on how to get out of tough situations. Ellen doesn’t let her fear overwhelm her or get the best of her. Instead, she thinks about the lessons her Mother and Grandfather have taught her about telling directions and lets her wisdom guide her.

This newfound assertiveness helps Ellen stand up to Dow. It also endears her to Higgins, who later becomes a mentor figure and friend to her. Higgins provides external validation to Ellen, calling her a “spunky little rogue” (79). This shocks Ellen, who has never been characterized as such. These are indicators of Ellen’s shifting character as she begins Finding Self-Confidence in Adverse Circumstances.