Elsie Dinsmore

Elsie Dinsmore. How many of you know that name?

She's a fictional female protagonist with an entire series of books named after her. Martha Finley, the author, starts the series off with Elsie as an eight-year-old whose mother has died and whose father she has never met.

Elsie is just the absolute sweetest little thing you could ever hope to meet. She's a much stronger Christian than most adults, and she puts up with a ton of abuse from the people around her, as well.

Let's start at the top and work our way down, shall we? There's her grandfather, who cares absolutely nothing for her. He thinks that because she refuses to get angry and insist upon her rights, she's weak; so he basically ignores her except when he needs a truthful witness to some questionable event or other.

Then there's Elsie's step-grandmother. The woman despises Elsie based off of her beauty and considerable inheritance, fearing that her own daughters will be outshone. So the step-grandmother, anytime Elsie is accused of even the smallest and silliest thing, always takes the side opposing Elsie.

Elsie's father, Horace, is the oldest child of Elsie's grandfather, and the only child not belonging to Elsie's step-grandmother. More on him later, since at the beginning of the book he and Elsie have yet to meet.

Hmm, shall we speak of Elsie's aunts and uncles yet, or her teacher? I think I'll tell on her teacher, and save the other brats for tomorrow. Miss Day is the teacher's name, and basically is a classic bully all grown up - so a bully with more power than usual. She hates her job, because anytime she expects to punish one of her students (Elsie excluded), Elsie's step-grandmother interferes and gets her children off scot-free. So in order to vent her frustration, Miss Day does everything in her power to fail Elsie or punish her in some other way, knowing full well that no one with any power will interfere.

That's not even the worst of Elsie's troubles, and we haven't even gotten to the beginning of the story yet! More to come tomorrow, then.