Ellie is the novel’s protagonist, narrator, and self-professed “echo-girl.” She calls herself this because she feels the pain, hunger, and anger of the animals that she interacts with on the mountain. She even feels the grief of the carrots as they are pulled from their sheath in the earth. Ellie knows that she must survive on the mountain, and to do that she must utilize nature. This drive overrules her empathy, but she endures these acts with great difficulty and suffering. For instance, when Ellie goes to collect honey for Cate’s wound, she feels “besieged by the bees, by the need to steal from them” (127).

Ellie’s character arc develops the theme of The Force of Healing. Ellie begins as a naïve and curious girl, trying anything to wake her father, but over the course of the novel becomes a mature and knowledgeable healer who heals not only her father but her family and Cate as well. After her father’s accident, Ellie stays strong, taking the blame for everything and holding herself together for her family. She displays Persistence in the Face of Great Obstacles and revels in confronting challenges.