Literary Devices in Ella Enchanted
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Getting the Lay of the LandNot even a geography nerd will be able to find Kyrria on a map. Well, duh. It's fantasy. The author, Gail Carson Levine, simply made up the place. But hang on—being mad...
Narrator Point of View
Pretty much everything we see in this novel is from Ella's point of view, because she is the "I" narrating events as they happen to her. This helps us sympathize with what would otherwise be some v...
Genre
All right: main character, a teenager. She's got family woes, romance woes, and growing-up woes. That makes this a shoo-in for young adult literature. (Not that all adults have that growing-up thin...
Tone
Despite the fact that we see plenty of magic in Ella Enchanted, the narrative attitude is generally one of realism and honesty. Unlike most teenagers, Ella doesn't OVERREACT TO EVERYTHING !!!!!1! s...
Writing Style
How can a writing style be clever? Does it tie your shoelaces into knots when you're not looking? We wouldn't put it past Ella Enchanted, because if you're not paying close attention, you just migh...
What's Up With the Title?
Ella Enchanted follows the grand tradition of naming books after the main character (think Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist). However, since it's not just called "Ella," we have to assume that the "Encha...
What's Up With the Ending?
After Ella heroically disenchants herself, the ending practically writes itself. She and Char are married within the month, and her stepfamily is most definitely not invited. However, all their oth...
Tough-o-Meter
This is not a terribly dense or complicated book, though it brims with novelty and humor. Some of the humor is rather subtle, as with the joking flirtation between Ella and Charmont, or Ella's inve...
Plot Analysis
Obedience, ShmobedienceElla is "blessed" with obedience as a baby, and this colors her entire life. After a childhood playmate finds out about her spell and abuses it, Ella's mother forbids her fro...
Trivia
We love a good inspiration story: Gail Carson Levine came up with the idea of having Ella be under a curse because she was annoyed by Cinderella's obedience and kindness to her awful stepfamily. Th...
Allusions
Since Ella Enchanted is set in Kyrria, a made-up fantasyland, we weren't expecting to find many references to stuff from our world (philosophy, literature, etc.). However, there were a lot of refer...