The Last House on the Street

At the outset of the double narrative, Ellie Hockley, the second of the two protagonists, is a 20-year-old pharmacology major at the University of North Carolina in the spring semester of 1965. Ellie is intelligent, idealistic, and highly motivated. Ellie’s recently deceased mentor was her Aunt Carol, a New York transplant with liberal ideals. Motivated by the vision that Carol imparted to her, as well as the desire to atone for the accidental death of her Black childhood playmate, Ellie is inexorably drawn to participate in the SCOPE program to register Black voters in the South. Ellie resists the dissuasion of family, friends, community leaders, and even SCOPE officials in her drive to volunteer. Once within the program, her resolve increases exponentially. This character development tracks alongside her Ignorance of Racial Disparity; at first, Ellie is interested in civil rights but naive about their need, but she becomes increasingly aware of racial disparity as the novel progresses.

Ellie’s romantic subplot catalyzes the conflict of the novel and builds toward the climactic murder. Moving into the program, Ellie leaves behind her long-time boyfriend, Reed, whose chief objection to her SCOPE participation comes from his longing for Ellie. As he says, he is more invested in their relationship than she is. Among the volunteers she canvasses with, Ellie meets Win, a Black college student. The longer they work together, the greater the attraction they feel and eventually reveal. While both are aware of the strict rules against romantic relationships, they eventually give in to their mutual attraction. Although Ellie experiences great personal pain during the tragic end of their relationship, she essentially escapes unscathed. Chamberlain hence draws attention to white privilege as Ellie is able to forge a new life.

Chamberlain reintroduces Ellie’s new life in the 2010 timeline. After 45 years in San Francisco, Ellie returns to Round Hill to care for her indigent mother, Pat, and incapacitated brother, Buddy. She has remained a civil rights activist, a community organizer, and a yoga instructor. Ellie is not pleased to be thrown back into her old community, despite having made peace with her antagonistic former best friend, Brenda. By reintroducing a new Ellie to her old life, Chamberlain highlights both her character development from the beginning of the 1965 narrative and the stagnant characterization of the bigoted people around her such as Pat and Brenda.

Winston Madison, who is part of the 1965 storyline, is a young Black man. He is a junior at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, when he volunteers for his second summer as a freedom fighter, this time with the SCOPE program. Ellie perceives him as being intelligent, serious, and committed to the civil rights movement. She senses that Win carries deep, unspoken anger. Chamberlain’s construction of Win’s character highlights the burdens and personal costs of white supremacism.

When Win and Ellie are paired for the purpose of canvassing houses, Win takes the lead, sharing his expertise in field work. The two quickly become an effective team, causing the SCOPE leadership to allow them to continue working together. Over their time together, Win develops romantic feelings for Ellie. Chamberlain hence constructs a conventional star-crossed lovers plot which prompts emotional engagement with the racism-fueled conflicts of the novel. Before they act upon their attraction, the two share their personal stories, intimately revealing their deepest motivation to one another. These intimate moments make Win a sympathetic figure before he receives a serious beating from Ellie’s brother and is, finally, murdered by the Klan, heightening the sense of tragedy in his death.