39 pages • 1 hour read
Elvira WoodruffThe Orphan of Ellis Island
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 29-33Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 29 Summary
As they wait in line for inspection, Francesco uses a pin to draw the image of Violetta into the stone of a pillar.
When the boys get their turn with the inspector, miscommunication causes the official at Ellis Island to change the Candiano name to Cantori. Dominic witnesses the origin of his real last name. He realizes that Francesco is his great-grandfather.
Chapter 30 Summary
As the Cantori boys wait to meet their new foster families, Dominic begins to feel extremely sleepy. He settles in for a nap.
Chapter 31 Summary
Dominic wakes up in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. He has returned to his real life, and a park ranger has found him. Dominic grabs the audio narrative phone for Francesco’s story. He listens to the elder Francesco’s voice.
Chapter 32 Summary
Dominic tries to speak to Francesco through the audio guide. The ranger suggests that Dominic has had a vivid dream. Dominic wonders if the ranger is right. He runs to the case displaying immigrant graffiti and finds Francesco’s sketch of Violetta, confirming that his experience wasn’t a dream.
Chapter 33 Summary
Dave Santos, Dominic’s caseworker, has found him another foster family. Dave is confident about this family because they already have two sons adopted through the foster care system. Dave knows Dominic will like them because the father is a veterinarian, so they have a lot of pets.
Dominic takes comfort from his key. He has learned about his family, and even though he is no longer with them, he will neither forget them nor feel as isolated and unrooted again.
Chapters 29-33 Analysis
In the final chapters of The Orphan of Ellis Island, Woodruff uses revelation, plot twist, and the hero’s return home to emphasize the themes of The Immigrant Experience, The Importance of Family, and Identity and Self-Discovery.
Dominic figures out that Francesco is his great-grandfather and brings all the pieces of the mysterious puzzle together: “If Francesco’s new name was now Cantori, and if he kept the key to give to his son, and that son gave it to his son, and it eventually came to Dominic, then…could that mean…that Francesco was Dominic’s great-grandfather?” (154). Francesco guides his brothers to America, and his voice guides Dominic to find his family and connection. This plot twist is important because it strengthens Dominic’s character development. Dominic has always wanted a family, and knowledge of his family gives him roots that help him understand who he is.
Dominic’s return to reality is yet another journey. Reacclimating himself to life without a family is difficult, but it’s not as lonely as before. Now that Dominic has traveled through time and met his family, he feels the comfort of having a family history. His embarrassment of being an orphan recedes, and he reflects on finding familial love again: “Dominic thought about his modern American dream family. Then he thought about his famiglia in Italy. How would he ever find a family he could love as much as he’d loved them?” (165). Dominic succeeded in his quest to find acceptance within a family. By resolving his internal conflict, Dominic is prepared to join a family in New York. He resigns himself to life without Francesco and Antonio, but this character journey is rewarded by the hope of a new adoptive family whose composition is like the one he had while time traveling.
The Orphan of Ellis Island is a novel geared toward children. Therefore, an important trope that Woodruff follows is the story's moral, as presented in the book's final moments. She ends the novel with a positive learning experience, a life lesson that her intended readers can extrapolate: “Maybe the key had unlocked a treasure after all, he thought. For now, he understood how he had always been and would always be a part of a family. And he could never lose those he loved, not completely” (166). Dominic lets go of his resentments of not knowing who he is. He holds on to memories of family without necessarily requiring the presence of that family. Dominic goes on a fascinating and inspiring journey by opening his mind and heart to the possibility—the knowledge—that everybody comes from somewhere.
